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
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