Potty Training

I was going to start out talking about bed time, but I am in the middle of a couple of books. So I will wait on that and talk about potty training first. I wish I (Mama or Sarah) could take any of the credit for it, but really it is all his doing.

Week 2, day 1: After we brought him home, Kurtis and Jessica gave us a baby toilet. So we sat him on it and showed him what is was for. We said “Mama and Papa go pee-pee in the big toilette (as he says it in Creole) and Droiy goes pee-pee here.”

Week 2, day 2: “Mama, Droiy pee-pee la!” Meaning he wanted to go pee in his new toilet.

Week 2, day 3: “Mama, Droiy toilette la!” Meaning he wanted to do #2! After a few rounds of cleaning out the little toilet, we got him a more convenient toilet seat for the big toilet and pull-ups. From then on there was no stopping him. He had no more #2 accidents and just went pee-pee in the pull-ups

Week 6: Mama is home with Droiy and he had successfully mastered the pull-ups - on to big boy underwear! He thought that was the coolest thing ever. We had about 3 accidents a day for the first 3 weeks (all #1), mostly because he could not be convinced that it was worth stopping playing to go pee.

The biggest challenge right now is trying to make the pee-ing exciting. I don’t want to fight with him about it since he is so ahead of schedule on the potty training. Also, his big thing is CONTROL. He needs to have control or else he doesn't want to do something. And since this is not a requirement yet, he can have control here. He is down to 1 accident a day at the most, sometimes none. I reward him at the end of the day with a sticker or a sucker if he has gone the whole day without pee-ing his pants. Besides that, he is not very food motivated and we are trying to keep it that way. The big thing I have learned in my research is to not give children food or sugar rewards – this is partially what is leading to the Obesity Epidemic of today.

He loves showing off! So if he can show Papa, Nana, Grandad, or Grandma how he can pee standing up, he gets really excited. If he can do it outside on a tree, he thinks that I so much fun! Or if he knows we get to go somewhere and I tell him all he has to do it go pee-pee then we can Foi-ley (baby Creole for leave) then he is happy to comply.

I have to say he is very impressive. He naps without wetting himself and wakes up most mornings with a dry diaper. He tries to convince me every night that he should go to bed with his underwear on instead of the pull-up, but I think we will wait on that until he has the daytime mastered. If any of you experienced Mamas or Papas out there have any suggestions, I would really appreciate your comments.

Hooray for my almost potty trained SUPER HERO!!