Potty Training part 2

So Sunday ended being a HUGE fiasco. We thought after the day he had on Saturday he would do alright...maybe an accident here or there due to the distraction of traveling and playing with cousins...but we didn't think it would be as bad as it turned out to be.

The trip went great. We stopped twice along the way and we got to mom and dad's accident free. YAY Noah! We actually thought that would be worse than actually being there. Boy were we wrong. I don't think in all the times we took him to the potty there was a single time we went there without wet undies. Poor guy. He was too distracted and having too much fun to even consider going to the bathroom. How can you blame him though. He has had uninterrupted play for the past 4 years. He's never had to even consider the idea of going peepee in the toilet. By the end of this day though, Kevin and I were ready to throw in the towel and put him back in diapers. On the way home I was practically in tears because I just kept thinking about how Kevin had to go back to work on Tuesday and there was just no way my back could take that "heavy lifting" all day. I was in pain just from the few times I tried to help out. So we discussed some more options and the one that seemed to make the most sense was for Kevin to spend all day Monday (Labor Day) in the bathroom...literally...with Noah.

That he did! He set up a blanket, picnic style, on the floor and we put tons of books that Noah likes to read, games (candy land is his favorite right now), prizes for good potty time, and lots of snacks and juice/water. The night before we bought a doll at Walmart (for $9) that could drink a bottle and then go peepee. We heard this was a really good way to show the kids how to go on the potty themselves. I took Kayla and went out for a while. When I came back I heard lots of yelling going on and I couldn't quite tell if Noah was crying and upset or if they were playing. I found out later, they were playing candy land and Noah was screaming out what he was getting on his cards. SO CUTE!!! He was having so much fun and Kevin was doing such a great job of showing Noah how to go potty by making a game of it.

By about 4 in the afternoon, Kayla was down for a nap and I was on the computer, Kevin came out from the bathroom and said Noah had fallen asleep. I got very nervous, but Kevin seemed as cool as a cucumber. He said Noah so far had remained dry. Noah stayed asleep for about an hour or so and remained dry the whole time. Kevin put him on the potty right away when he woke up and he went a lot. SUCCESS!!! He was learning how to hold it for the potty. What an amazing feat!

Today I was a little nervous sending him off to school because he wouldn't go before he left. So I put a pull-up over his undies, just in case. This is the note I got home after school: Noah wouldn't go on the potty, but he remained dry all day. WOW. I am so shocked that he remained dry without ever even going to the bathroom while he was at school. I had a guy here from out gas company when Noah got home from school today. SO I wasn't able to take him right to the bathroom...but when I did, his pull-up was a bit full. Oh well, we'll just keep plugging away. He's remained dry since we took that pull up off. We have had one good trip to the bathroom so far.

SO AMAZING!!! I am so proud of him. I think this is really great considering we got a late start on the potty training business!! GO NOAH GO!!!

Magic Potty Day

Yesterday was a big milestone for Noah. Potty training! Up to this point he has shown absolutely no interest whatsoever to going peepee on the potty like a big boy. But we figured, at 4 years old, we just couldn't wait any longer for him to be "ready". They say that one of the biggest signs to look for is a child "asking" to go potty. Well, Noah just never did that. As a matter of fact, when we would ask him if he would like to try, he would begin to really fuss about it. Noah has gotten so big though, that I am really struggling to change his diaper anymore. So we felt it was time, plus with kindergarten right around the corner we need to get this under wraps.

The day yesterday went pretty well. We started off strong. We had a couple accidents through out the day, but we were trying to be very consistent about going every 10 minutes and just working our way up from there. He was all about the praises when he would go peepee on the potty and I even made a chart for him to mark his progress using NEMO stickers. I think he really liked that. He really wanted a DORY sticker, but those stickers are bigger/puffier so we thought we would save those for a big event (like poopoo). So we began to try and bribe him with a DORY sticker for that. We are also telling him, no downstairs (his play room) until he goes poopoo. We are nervous that he'll get down there and go in his pants because that is normally where he goes, because its private for him. I think towards the end of the day he was starting to understand that he needed to tell us when he needed to go, except that he was telling us just as he was beginning to go in his pants. I am sure we will get that part of it down before this long weekend is over. By the end of the day we were all very tired. LOTS of running back and forth to the potty yesterday, but I must say, we did feel successful. I think 4 accidents for a first day is pretty remarkable.

Today we are really going to try and push poopoo on the potty and we are starting out the day with 30 minute intervals. Also, today we are going out to visit my parents, so that puts a little more challenge in the training for us. But I know he can do this. We have already mapped out a couple places to stop and go potty.

We are so proud of our Noah!!! What a big boy!!!