I'm writing about this milestone (much to my own annoyance) mainly for one reason. To help myself and Beau out when it comes Walker's time and we, no doubt, don't remember a thing! In fact, I'm not considering any of this advice b/c every child is just so different but if you find just one thing in here that helps, great!
We have had incredible success, y'all. Like, I'll even say that this has been easy for us. I say that knowing that accidents and setbacks will happen and that no one can really take credit for any of it. It doesn't make us experts or mean that Grayson is so smart. We just got lucky, I think! But if I had to think of the things that helped us, it would be the points below. We are now on Day 7 (Day 2 at school) of rocking the potty train (see what I did there?).
I'm attributing Grayson's ease of potty training to three factors:
1) His age. I'm so thankful that we didn't cave to opinions on what age anyone thought we should be doing this. Grayson is 2 years, 10 months and I truly don't think he was ready any earlier than this. It worked out well - he's old enough to converse and reason with, to communicate with us, undress and dress himself (for the most part) and to really understand the sense of accomplishment that comes with this. Also, he doesn't really like being dirty, where before this, I can't say he would have cared - ha! :)
2) Incentives. We've all heard of M&M's for each successful potty trip but I took it a step further b/c I KNOW what speaks to Grayson. And it's not stickers or check marks. It's presents. It's toys. It's presents that are toys. And since everyone has told me that #2 is the REALLY challenging part of training, I wanted to be sure to incentivize him. So, $20 for 20 toys at Dollar General later (I had SO much fun with this part!) and I was hopeful that this would appeal to him. Will this work for everyone? No. Just find what speaks the language of your little one. We kept a chart in the bathroom to keep track of his successes. I simply googled and found one with Spiderman on it. Win.
So we did an M&M for each successful "pee pee in the potty" and then a toy for:
1) each successful #2 trip (which are still few and far between :/ )
2) every 5th successful #1 trip
3) every 5th time he pulled down his own pants
4) and each time HE told US that he had to go, not just us constantly asking him if had to go
5) Every 5th time he washes his hands after. Because he needs to know that this goes hand in hand (get it?? I'm on a roll here) with going to the bathroom. And because I'm not trying to have his pee pee hands on my face (he was so excited one time after he went that he put his hands on my face and squeezed my cheeks after he went - I wasn't ready for that!)
I love the idea of the Dollar Store toys b/c as he loses interest, I can throw them away and not feel bad about it. They were still cool enough to be an instant reward. Example: a glow stick - fun for a couple of hours one evening, was burned out and in the trash by morning and he never thought twice about it!
3) Beau. Having him here and an active part helped so much. I think it helped, not only so that the whole process wasn't testing just one person's patience (we alternated trips to the bathroom - even the countless ones where #2 didn't happen), but because Grayson and his Dad have a special guy bond that I just won't have with him. Grayson looks up to him, tries to impress him, tries to be like him, etc. The usual Father/Son stuff. I would even say that most of Grayson's confidence building, accomplishment-feeling, successes happened with Beau in there, not me. It wouldn't have been the same experience without him. I'm sure this wouldn't apply much at all to potty training girls - just a thought. :)
Status: Three accidents in 7 days, two of those were on Day 1. Not bad, Grayson! Undies during the day, Pull-ups at night although he has awakened (is that right?) dry each nap and morning with the exception of nap on the first day. He calls out to us when he wakes up saying he needs to pee pee in the potty. As I mentioned, I'm sure he may digress some or have a bad night here and there, so we will continue with pull-ups until we all feel comfortable without. I have NO idea how to potty train someone's subconscious (how do adults know not to go at night?). I won't know what to do if he starts wetting at night. So again, we are just lucky so far and hope that he keeps it up!
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| Who wouldn't want to spend time in this bathroom?! M&M's, extra undies, toy tub, Pull-ups (Not pictured: Lysol wipes, carpet cleaner, hand soap, etc. :) ) |
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| There is something about seeing your baby in big boy undies that can put a smile on your face :) |
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I picked the most beautiful weather weekend this year to stay couped up for 72 hours (sigh) so
he had some fun building random ramps on the back porch. :) |
Probably the funniest story through this process was this....a couple of days into the whole thing, Grayson really understood that the result of checked boxes meant he got to pick a toy. We were all in the kitchen when we noticed Gray slowly sneak off with one of his markers. I just KNEW he was going to expedite the process ;) Sure enough we caught him red handed...
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| Checking off boxes (with a little bit of sass, btw) |
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| So proud of his idea |
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| I never would have noticed ;) |
The surprising thing to me through all of this is how hard Grayson has been on himself when he has had an accident. Despite Beau and I telling him that they will happen and that it's okay, he really takes it hard. To be expected, I guess, when he's been so prideful during the good moments. He's such a little man already :)
