Lessons from the Potty

We are about 80% potty-trained. Well, I should say Daddy and Mommy are 100% trained, and Shepard is 80% trained. He does almost all of his #1s and a fair amount of his #2s in the correct place at the correct time.
He was his usual strong-willed self throughout the process, and I'm sooo thankful for his preschool teachers who had lots of patience and helped us immensely with tips and tricks...and changed a LOT of wet/poopy underwear. There has been a ton of laundry at our house as well. But, it seems that the message has gotten through. Mostly through. There has been lots of candy and some big prizes and an entire weekend of watching Elmo's potty video over and and over and over and over...

Especially this little rap about the toilet paper factory. I might be able to do this from memory now:




Catchy, huh?

Here are a few tips that I should share, since they were no where in any book, online article or Elmo video.

1. Y'all. CROCS. Or any variation thereof. Sooo handy to clean and dry when accidents happen. Plus, he can take them off and put them on by himself. Just rinse those things off or even run them through the washer...but they made the accident-zone a much better place.

2. Move an entire clean-up and supply system to the bathroom. This might be a no-brainer for some of you, but I was unprepared for messy clean-up the first few times. In the drawer right next to the potty, we have: gloves, wipes, pull-ups, clean underwear, arm & hammer odor-shield bags and disinfecting/cleaning wipes and some potty-time books to read. Stock it daily. There is a reason I didn't do cloth diapers. But, I can say that my poop-tolerance is fairly high now. No gagging or screaming or crying.

3. Make toilet paper a line-item on your budget. Bless him. He just can't pull off two squares. He has to pull 11 and then swirl them around in the water. We're working on it. Until then, cha-ching! Compounded more when your puppy finds the long, dangling end of the paper on the ground and completely unwinds the roll before you find him. Yes, puppy. I need to post about that, don't I? We just believe in potty training and manner-training lots of creatures at once.

4. Some basics that we did that you can find in other resources: start talking about it early. We got several fun books (this and this) at the 2-year-old mark. Boys apparently take longer and start later. His school encouraged us to use ONLY underwear (no pull-ups) during waking hours so he could get used to the feeling of wet. Make it fun, and don't dwell on accidents. We used stickers and candy as rewards and he got to go pick out a "poopy prize" after he pooped in the potty the first time. Let them watch you, particularly see the same-sex parent (if possible) go to the bathroom to allay any fears and to help them see everything in action. We had to wait on him a little to actually let me put ON the underwear, but it was helpful that we had been talking about it and practicing a little for about 8 months.

I'm still cute when I covered in poop.

5. Elmo video and book are great. Be sure to look through the book and practice the songs before you bust it out with your kid, though. YOU are the singer...it's basically a back-up track with words printed. Be ready to sing the songs A LOT while he/she sits on the potty.

5. One thing I read AFTER we had transitioned to underwear (so too late for me) was to place the child on the potty while they were making a poop, even if they were wearing a diaper. It just made the association of sitting up there while doing that. Of course, I'm pretty sure Shepard would have balked at that and jumped down...but it's worth trying.

6. There is hope. As with every stage of development that seems to take FOREVER, I just tell myself, "well, I can assume he won't still be wearing a diaper or (insert baby behavior here) when he goes to college..." Now, instead of sending home three or four sets of wet/yucky clothes at the end of the day, I'm usually getting NONE or one. And I'm getting a raise to the tune of $30/month that we spent on diapers. #Winning.

Next up: nighttime training. He woke up dry this morning and tinkled first thing. So, who knows? Also, I have put a little portable potty in his room so he doesn't have to go wandering down the hall in the middle of the night. Anybody have some pull-ups coupons? Or good ideas?