I'm a Big Kid Now!

December 2010

Jay and I felt that Huggies and Pampers were getting too much of Jay's paycheck, that it was time to cut our diaper budget in half. Lucy would have been thrilled to have been the one to be asked to start having a little more time in the bathroom, but we chose Jack to be a big kid, and well, do what big kids do. Jack was not so sure about the idea, or more accurately, wanted nothing to do with the plan. A potty chair was set out in the bathroom quite a while ago and he did occasionally take a seat on it and had even made something happen once, but he didn't want to actually start spending more time at this task. He, unlike his sister, found no real appeal in the potty chair, or even the bathroom in general. It was time to up the anty. We started with band-aids, the fun ones. Some kids might want a sticker for a reward, ours would much rather a band-aid. It wasn't enough, though. I found a Lightening McQueen Potty Chair and I devised a plan. I called my mom and she was on board with the plan, this is the plan that was laid out and how it went:

Step 1
We introduced Jack to the cool, new potty chair. He loved it (so did Lucy)! That night I let him sit on it in the living room before bed. The next morning (and I swear this is true), the kid started yelling from his bed at 6am, "I gotta go potty!", I was shocked, he had NEVER said that. I jumped out of bed, raced to his room, got him out of bed, raced him to the living room where the potty chair still was sitting and put the tyke on it. Within a minute, the kid had, well ummmm, taken care of, well, all the things that could have been done, shall we say #1 and #2? I was stunned. Shocked. Flabbergasted. Thrilled. I had never been so happy to see poop. I knew the plan would go on.
I cleaned him up and then cleaned the potty up. By the time I was done, he had gone back to bed by himself and was back to sleep. Again, I was shocked.

Step 2
Later that morning we left for Nana and Papa's house. I wanted help with potty training and Nana had said she would love a visit from us. I volunteered to pay to have her carpets cleaned in case potty training was ehhhhh, eventful. When we got to Nana and Papa's (a four hour drive), I started unpacking and told Jack that I had "forgotten" to pack diapers for him. I then showed him, very excitedly, that I had remembered his snazzy new underwear and potty chair. The kid wasn't dumb. He immediately devised a few plans on how to acquire new diapers for himself, but I found excuses for each idea.

Step 3 (and the step I am least proud of)
We then placed the potty chair in the living room and told the 2 year old that he could watch as much tv as he wanted, as long as he was sitting on the potty chair.

So, there he sat, for the better part of three days. Every hour or so, I would check to see if anything had happened, and if there was, well there was quite the celebration, including band-aids (which after a couple of days, he looked like a very accident prone child). After a while, he got better at being able to tell what he was doing, and would start to tell us. He would take breaks from the tv and play, but he would remember to come back. At nap and at night time, I would put him in a pull up; he only needed them that first day, after that, he was dry for nap and bedtime. Through the entire three day potty training extravaganza at Nana and Papa's, he had only one accident! And it even happened to be on tile floor (easy clean-up!)! We even went to the Children's Museum with no accidents. On the last day, he was in full control and would potty as soon as he was set on the potty chair. We then made our trek back home, I did put a pull-up on him for the ride home, unsure if he would make it the 4 hours until we got home, but when we got home he was still dry! And, stays dry, rarely does he have an accident and not once while sleeping.

Jack was potty trained! We had done it! I felt like he had attained a new level in development and that I had attained a new status as a mommy. I had successfully potty trained a child! I wanted to thump my chest like a caveman bringing home meat for dinner. I felt like if I can handle this hurdle, I could tackle anything! I had helped him learn to use the potty chair and did minimal mental scarring while training him! I was proud of Jack, I was proud of me, I was thankful to my parents for all of the help, and as usual, Jay was happy to miss out on the whole ordeal!