Saturday, March 6, 2010

Potty Training is Not for the Weak...

Or for the impatient... Or for the easily grossed out! But I'm happy to say that our household has survived (better yet, present tense is still most appropriate... is surviving)!


As I write this post, I wonder what in the world I'm doing posting this info on our blog but I have to remind myself that my primary purpose of this blog is for documentation purposes... so here I ago- I do apologize!


The month of February was spent potty training! I was fully hoping that by the time March arrived we would be done with the training. But you know, I'm learning that for us, this is not a sprint but rather a marathon! We are about 75% there! You see peeing on the potty has not been complicated but somewhere along the way my son decided that going #2 wasn't for him. Not just in the potty, but anywhere. He basically would shut down his colon for 3-4 days at a time! Cringe with me everyone!

However, I'm happy to say that slowly but surely he has become more comfortable with the idea. People were able to offer lots of good advice. Some suggested we stop all together, that this was a sign that he just wasn't ready. However, he had mastered the art of peeing and rarely had accidents so I hated to digress in that area! Some suggested pumping him with fiber & fruit- which I have done but wasn't the cure all I had hoped it would be! I finally just decided to drop all mention of going poop in hopes, that he would become more comfortable with the idea & not feel pressured. Sure enough he became regular again (and in much better moods)! We used a combination of big boys underwear & pull-ups during this phase (which some strongly discouraged) but they worked great for us! I'm happy to report that he has now gone #2 quite a few times in the potty! He also regularly goes at school without a problem & in public (with him telling us he has to go- that is a key element). We are on our way peeps, not perfect but well on our way! I can hear the crowd cheering at the finish line but we have yet to cross it!


For Davis' very first success on the potty he got Duck the engine (which he actually had gotten at Christmas time but we put it up because he had received so many others- those sneaky parenting tactics are handy)! From there on out we created a chart- every time he went pee he got a new "Thomas" sticker. Once the track was full he got another engine. I failed to realize how quickly he would catch on & made the track way too short- lesson learned! In the end he got a "big, strong engine" named Henry or "Hengry" as Davis says!Gigi was so proud of him when he first went #2 he got "Rosie" the train! What can we say? Trains are this little boy's love language & make great incentives!So the big question- boxers or briefs? Boxer briefs have actually been a big hit for Davis- even more so than character underwear. Who knew? Well you do now & you probably know much more than you want too! Dear Teenage Davis- I'm sorry. If I thought I had a good memory maybe I wouldn't write so much down! It's just because I adore you (even potty training you) & I don't want to forget a thing!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Don't worry Shannon, he'll get his revenge...