Potty Training Dylan: Magical Day 7

Day 7 - Thursday April 9, 2020

One week in and we were considering calling it quits or at least letting him wear a pull-up since wet pants didn’t seem to bother him anyway so it seemed pointless to let him wet his pants and make a mess for us.  But I kept going back to this sentence in the book, “When going through Hell...keep going…”  The author talks about how we have no idea how our child is processing all of the information we are giving him and each new day he is taking everything in and you never know when it’s going to click.  Well this happened for us on Day 7!

Day 7 started out like the past 4 days.  He woke up wet, didn’t want to sit on the potty, didn’t even want to wear pants.  He had an accident a few hours after he woke up and then we let him go pants-less after that. We were beginning to think maybe our earlier success on Day 3 had been a fluke and he was really still in Block 1.  During his nap, I started reading more of the book for answers and re-read this part about over-prompting and backing off, where she talks about how striking this balance will solve most problems you are having.  I could tell we were obviously over-prompting and also hovering but it was hard to believe if we backed off, he would actually self-initiate.  She talks about how you need to give control over to your child, even though they haven’t proven they can handle it yet.  I am definitely a bit of a control freak and I knew we were over-prompting, making it too big of a deal and also sitting there, watching him and waiting for him to pee!  We finally tried what she suggests: prompt and then walk away.  It’s so hard to do especially when you know they have to go and leaving them could mean an accident.  But after nap, we tried it and an amazing thing happened!!  He ran to the potty, pulled down his pants and PEED!!!!  We were in shock!!  Then he did it again later and pooped!!  It was just a small one but we were so excited!!  He was so proud of himself and we did our potty song and dance and made a big deal of it.

So turns out, he just wanted to have the chance to do it himself, haha!  Of course, that’s Dylan!  So we kind of took the backing off thing too far though because we knew a big poop was coming (he hadn’t pooped in a day & a half) but we got too comfortable that he would just go on his own so during dinner he ran to the pantry and Mark went to find him and saw him squatting in there but instead of putting him on the potty, he asked him if he had to go poop and when he didn’t, we just left him alone. Well he proceeded to hide under the table later and pooped a huge log while we were eating dinner!  We smelled it immediately and he was able to get a little in the potty but it was kind of hilarious.  We still are feeling SO proud of him though and today, the backing off has really worked like a charm.  I am really going to try and remember to take notes at the end of each day.  It’s taking longer than with Clark who started to “get it” on Day 2 (Clark HATES being wet and dirty!) but I’m confident Dylan is progressing and is well on his way to being potty trained!

Potty Training Dylan: Days 4-6

So once we added pants, Dylan's progress came to an immediate halt.  We started keeping the pants off but even naked, he was just refusing to sit on the potty, especially when we saw signs that he really needed to go!  If he sat down at all, it was only for 5-10 seconds and he wouldn’t pee but then would have an accident moments later.  Or if we gave him a phone or put on a favorite show of his, he would sit forever but still wouldn’t pee.  Except one time I let him sit and watch a show for over an hour while I was working and when I finally let him get off he had peed but neither of us had even noticed.  He just was really resisting the potty and wasn’t going even if we tricked him into sitting on it.

We learned Dylan is really good at holding his pee!  He would have a few dribbles sometimes but mostly he would hold his pee (and poop) until the second we put a pull-up on him for nap and night.  The book says this is a great sign and shows that your child is well on his way to being potty trained.  We were still feeling really discouraged though.  Day 6 was super rough for me.  I let the boys go outside and so I put pants on Dylan and almost as soon as we went outside, he was riding his bike and I saw him look down and knew he had peed.  I tried to get him to sit on the potty to finish but he just refused.  He didn’t even want me to take his wet pants off!  I can be stubborn too so I let Clark go inside but wouldn’t let Dylan go in until he peed in the potty.  Then he started playing in the mud so now he was covered in mud and pee.  I was disgusted by him and didn’t even care anymore.  I told Mark we should just let him live outside and bring him food & water like a dog, haha!  After an hour of staying outside and still refusing to sit on the potty I finally hosed him down outside and the water was freezing, which I felt bad about later but he was so gross!  Then we came inside, had lunch, and he got a pull-up for nap.

So at this point we were starting to feel really unsure about the whole thing, thinking maybe Dylan wasn't ready.  Waiting until 30 months was starting to sound really tempting but I was just determined to do it now while we were stuck at home.  With this method, you can't really leave the house for very long for the first month and with my parties and Clark's activities (SPARK, Music class, playgroup) there really wasn't going to be another time we could do it, at least not as convenient as this.  So we decided to stick it out a little longer and we are so glad we did!!  Day 7 was amazing!!!  Stay tuned.

Sorry no pictures, we've been too busy watching Dylan like a hawk to take any!  But here's a cute video of the boys sharing a popsicle!

Potty Training Dylan: Days 1-3

I have known Dylan has been ready to use the potty for awhile now.  He has shown all the readiness signs...telling me when he's wet, going to the bathroom or a private place to poop, being able to communicate his needs to us even if it's just a word or two, and one of the signs from this book we follow is being able to sing the ABC song and I'm not sure if he knows that one but he knows every song in Frozen!!  So I knew he was ready!!  And with the stay-at-home order in place, I really couldn't think of a better time!

With Clark we followed the book, "Oh Crap: Potty Training" and it worked extremely well! He was potty-trained in about 3 days, with some accidents those first few weeks but after about a month he was pretty much accident free and then proceeded to train himself for night!  We trained Clark at 30 months, which is on the end of the "readiness timeline" according to the book.  Dylan is 26 months, so a little younger than Clark was, but I knew he was ready and I was very excited to start!  Well, we are one week in and it's been a whirlwind.  I took notes the first 3 days so I will go from there and share our experience since when I asked my mom how she potty trained us she had completely no idea.  Then if Clark or Dylan need advice potty-training their kids someday, voila!

DAY ONE: Thursday April 2, 2020

A week before our start date we began telling Dylan we were going to throw away all the diapers and he was going to use the potty like Clark.  So after breakfast we told him today was the day we were getting rid of the diapers and he and Clark put all the diapers in a big trash bag and Dylan put them in the trash can.  Then we took his diaper off and told him we were going to teach him to use the potty and it was going to be fun!  He looked at us very skeptically.

We found out very quickly Dylan is a camel like Clark.  Several hours went by and no pee.  I had been watching him carefully, looking for any sign the pee might be coming.  Mark had gone upstairs with Clark and when they came down, I looked up for a second and was talking to Mark.  Suddenly I heard what sounded like water hitting the floor, looked at Dylan and he was peeing.  I raced to put him on the potty but he either had already finished or just stopped when he got to the potty.  I was so mad at myself for missing it but looking back I have a feeling he was waiting for the second I looked away (wanting privacy that his diaper offered).  After that first pee he had two small pees and both times, Mark or I were looking away for “just a second."  One time we were fighting about who wasn’t watching him enough and then he peed.  I remember that happening with Clark too.

We tried to put him down for his nap in the afternoon but since he learned to climb out of his crib (literally a few days before we started), he has been climbing out at nap time and wouldn't stay in his crib.  We knew he was exhausted though so we put a pull-up on him and put on a movie and he was out.  After his nap he was dry so we set him on the potty but he wouldn't pee.  He dribbled a few times afterwards but both times when we put him on the potty he wouldn’t pee.  We went outside in the afternoon and brought the potty.  He peed several more times but again, when we put him on the potty he stopped.  Finally, at the end of the night, around 7, he started to pee and the potty was close enough that Mark got him on the potty to finish.  Does that count for something?  It felt like a miracle!  So he’s definitely holding his pee when we put him on the potty.  And no poops today.  I have a feeling he will poop tonight.

DAY TWO: Friday, April 3, 2020

Dylan woke up around 8 am and right away I took his diaper off but it was already soaked.  I had him sit on the potty but, surprise, he didn’t pee.  His first pee, again, was when I left him for 5 seconds.  He ran into our bathroom and peed on the rug.  Then it happened.  The poop.  I had been watching him all morning but the messy house was driving me crazy.  I noticed my cereal bowl still on the table and decided to quickly move it to the sink.  But once I got to the sink I just had to rinse it!  While I was rinsing the dish, I suddenly had this feeling he was pooping.  Sure enough, I ran to check on him and he was sitting down but then he stood up and there was a blob of poop under him, which he then proceeded to step in.  I immediately ran to put him on the potty but he didn’t go any more.  To make it worse, I was cleaning his foot and didn’t notice there was a little bit of poop on his hand and he sucked it and started making faces!  Poor thing!!!

He didn’t poop or pee anymore after that and then it was time for nap.  He wouldn’t nap (again) and while he was supposed to be napping, I was frantically looking for my Alice book I needed to drop off to a performer.  Mark started helping me and at some point, Dylan pooped in his pull-up.  Ugh.  He was just waiting for the pull-up to poop.

He woke up dry from his nap and didn’t pee for a few hours.  Then at dinner we let him watch shows on my phone and while he was doing that I put him on the potty.  After about 20 minutes he finally peed.  He filled the potty but had no idea.  He was totally clueless and just absorbed in the phone.

Feelings?  He’s not getting it yet.  We are definitely still doing Block One tomorow ugh.  I have 5 princess calls and it’s General Conference.  Mark is going to have to be watching most of the day.  Hope it goes well!

DAY THREE:

I am proud to report we experienced the magical Day 3 that everyone talks about!!!  NO ACCIDENTS TODAY!!  Of course, he did wake up soaked so didn’t pee all morning.  But after nap, he woke up and said “potty” to Mark (I was making princess calls) and when Mark put him on the potty, he peed a ton!!  And he would even stop himself, and go again, stop and go again, showing he is really good at controlling it.  Then he went again later, around 4 pm, and now he just went again before bath at 6:15 pm!  WE ARE SO PROUD OF HIM!!!  Time to move on to Block Two tomorrow, we will be adding pants (no underwear since it feels too much like a diaper.)

I do want to note, last night no one got any sleep!!  The boys were really hyper before bed but finally they both fell asleep around 9 pm.  Then at midnight, Dylan woke up and climbed out of his crib (just as I was getting ready to go to sleep).  I put him back but when I went to sleep, he got up again.  I was so tired after a long day of princess calls and not getting much sleep the night before, I just pretended to be asleep and ignored him and finally when Mark got home from work around 1 am (he had gone in to fix something), he tried to put him down but I heard it was a nightmare.  He was waking up every half hour until 3.  The potty training has definitely been affecting his sleep, combined with his new ability to quickly climb out of the crib before we can even get out of the room.  Well, here's hoping he will continue to have success in Block 2 tomorrow!

**Spoiler Alert** It does not go well

Happy 2nd Birthday Dylan!!!

Well, it took a national pandemic and stay-at-home order but I'm BACK to blogging!!!  Haha, the social distancing guidelines have forced me to slow down with my princess company, although we are still doing virtual princess visits and videos.  I've actually had time to catch up on things in my life!  I re-organized all our junk drawers, put away Dylan's baby clothes, updated my website, and we are potty training Dylan!!!  More on that in another post.

We celebrated Dylan's 2nd birthday a few months ago and it was so much fun!  We had an Oh TWOdles party and transformed our house into Dylan's Clubhouse!!!

I traded services with a company called Toddler Towns and they did the whole set-up!  We will be doing a Frozen party for them when the social distancing order is lifted.  Everyone had so much fun!!!

I had a lot of fun with the food for this one!  My friend Stefanie made the yummy S'mores cake and my mom made the hot diggity dogs and Mickey Mouse cupcakes!

Friends we invited included the Hansen family (Sam, Ben, & Jo), Elms family (Hanley, Nolan & Holly), Andrade's (Annie, Oliver & Mila), Kosmicki's (Rachel, Hazel & Melanie), Lancaster's (Henry & Hannah), Evie Johnson, Britney Lopez, and of course Grandma, Grandad, YaYa & Kara & Baby Kent!  Dylan loved opening his presents and he got so many PJ Masks things - his latest obsession!

I still haven't done Dylan's 2 year update because we have yet to do his 2 year well check.  Our appointment was right after the social distancing order so we will have to re-schedule when everything in the world goes back to normal.  I'm so glad we got to have Dylan's party a month before all of this happened!  I have had to cancel or postpone all my upcoming princess parties and it's so sad for the kids!  I have been making FaceTime calls or recording videos for all the kids whose parties we missed (and lots more kids) so that's been fun!  And we've been able to do them for kids all over the country.  We're making calls for kids in Poland next week!!  It's nice to know for at least a few minutes I can help them to forget the chaos going on in the world and bring a little magic into their day :)

We have been so lucky to pretty much be unaffected by this whole thing.  Mark still has his job, I'm still able to do virtual parties, we are all healthy, and our kids weren't in school anyway so they haven't noticed much of a difference, other than seeing less of their friends and public places.  We really don't leave the house, especially now that we're potty training.  It's been pretty stressful but as of today we're one week in and I think it's finally starting to click.  Dylan is so smart so I think he understood the whole concept right away but he is very stubborn and wanted to use the potty on his own terms.  This afternoon he started running to the potty to pee and even pooped a little in the potty, although he pooped under the table shortly after, but it's all about progress!!  I'm so proud of my big boy and can't believe he's not a baby anymore.  There have been lots of extra cuddle sessions this week, kisses (Dylan loooves kissing, especially me!), and asking me to hold him and I don't mind one bit.  I'm sad he's growing up but he will always be my baby.  We love you Dylan!!!