Yes, I'm going to be 'that' mom that writes a whole blog on potty training. To me, potty training is a HUGE accomplishment & anyone that has done it deserves a pat on the back! (Unless you were able to do it in 1 day. In that case, I just roll my eyes:).) Anyway, there are not that many milestones that actually save you money. And switching from diapers to underwear counts! Plus, I like reading things that work & don't work for other people, so I thought that I would include what worked for us, what didn't & what we still need work on!
To Begin. I bought a 7-pack of underwear. Now, I felt like in most cases, the underwear always seems to be falling off the kid because it's too big while they are beginning toilet training. So I bought Jake the 2T/3T size. WAY too small. They are skin tight on him. They look like old man tighty- whities (except with a Cars design!). They look hilarious on him. All well, they were $11, so he is stuck with them. (I'm not that mean of a mom, I've since gone back & bought him some 4T size & they fit much better. But I'm still making him wear the 2T/3T as backup. We WILL get our money's worth!)
We were using the method of giving Jake a gummy bear if he was dry (I checked each hour) & a 2 gummy worms if he peed in the potty.
We were going to give this a shot. If we were not making progress in 2 weeks, I was just going to put it up & try again after he turned 3 (or 10).
Day 1. By lunch time, we had gone through 5 of the underwear. Each time he would pee in his underwear, he would insist that he had "potty-d" and needed a gummy worm. Um, no, it doesn't work that way. You have to pee IN the potty, not in your underwear. Jake has been waking up dry from his naps for a few months now, so I knew that was my prime time to show him. Sure enough, he peed in the potty once he got up from his nap. I went crazy with praise & treats. He then proceeded to pee in his underwear for the rest of the day. How in the world can the kid figure out if he has a booger, he needs to pick it & give it to me to throw away, but can't figure out to put his pee in a toilet? All well, maybe day 2 will be better.
Day 2. Jake had 2 accidents in the morning, but then actually told me when he had to pee. It's very strange. He will not pee in the potty if you sit him on it. He'll only do it when he tells you he needs to go. Doesn't matter to me, as long as he tells me! He did really well the rest of the day & only had about 2 more accidents. Maybe he is getting the hang of this.
Day 3. Jake told me each time he had to go to the bathroom up until lunch. I was elated! I patted myself on the back & declared I must be a super mom because he was potty trained by just day 3. Yea, not so much. He proceeded to pee in his underwear 4 times in a row. All well, nothing like a kid to knock you off your high horse! The tough thing with Jake, is if he has to potty, he will tell you "I poo-pooed". Unfortunately, he also tells you that when he has actually pooped. So when he tells you "I poo-pooed" you have to guess if you just need to quickly pull down his underwear & put him on the potty or slowly pull off his poop filled underwear. Choose wrong = Gross.
Day 4. I had to go out of town for the day for a business meeting, so Jake spent the day at my mom's. My mom keeps my niece (who is 3 months older then Jake) 3 days a week & had her that day too. I didn't think about it that my mom would have 2 toddler's potty training. Oops. Sorry mom! The stories are pretty funny from that day though! (Probably not appropriate to share on here.) Jake & Marrell both did good though & kept up their progress. Thanks Nana! (I expect for my mom to retire from retirement at any time!)
Day 5. Doing better each day. I actually didn't have to wash all of the underwear that day. He only had 2 accidents.
Weekend. Completely digressed. It turns out, he'll only tell Robbie or I (or I guess my mom) if he needs to potty. So if we're not around, he'll just use the bathroom wherever.
Week 2. We are back on track & doing good. Still only averaging about 2 accidents a day. One is poop. I don't know how to get him to realize he is pooping & he needs to sit on the toilet to do it. Usually the other one will be when I'm on a conference call & am not around to either ask him if he needs to go or for him to tell me he has to.
Next Steps. Getting Jake to poop in the toilet. Peeing in a toilet if we are out of the house. (What do you do? Bring with you a toddler potty seat cover? Hold him over the toilet?)
What didn't work for us (Note: everyone & every situation is different. What works great for one will not work for someone else & vice versa. This is just what did/didn't work for us.)
- I introduced the potty way too early. I didn't try potty training Jake, but I went ahead & bought one about 8 months ago just so he could get use to seeing it. (In my defense, he was the youngest in his daycare class & the others were starting to potty train, so I figured he might want to as well.) My plan backfired. Once I got ready to actually potty train, the potty was nothing new or exciting. To Jake, it was his Barcalounger, not a toilet. So we bought a new one that looked different & he seemed to get more excited about it. We got the Fisher Price Fun to Learn Potty & have been very pleased. (Not to let barcalounger go to waste, we use it as the backup on the first floor of the house.)
- I didn't make potty training a priority. Before we got focused last week, I would kind of try, but then get busy & forget. I was not consistent. I ended up getting frustrated, but it was my fault.
- I was using pull-ups. Now don't get me wrong, we will use pull-ups down the road (for car trips & night), but the problem with potty training with them was Jake didn't mind peeing in them. If fact, I think he preferred it, because it meant that he got put on a new one (he loved that they had Cars on them). So once I got serious about it, I used underwear & he gets a lot more uncomfortable peeing in them then pull-ups.
So, I figure like we almost have phase I down. It has certainly been an adventure & I'm pretty sure we will have to have the Bush's carpet professional cleaned. Slowly but surely we will get there!
I am always amazed when we buy Jake new tennis shoes. They always seem so much bigger than the previous years! This was the first year that I think the length was actually bigger than the width! (And evidently, with that comes a $20 increase. That's right, New Balance up to size 10 is considered 'infant' size & are $39.99. Above size 10 (Jake is a size 11 wide) is considered 'kid' size & are $59.99. Really?!?! A $20 increase? I thought the store was ripping me off at first, but then realized after research that was the price. I love New Balance & I like for Jake to wear tennis shoes to MDO, so we will live with it, but geeze! I paid more for his tennis shoes than I did for my own!)
Beach time & in no mood for pictures 
Off to go find trouble
...telling secrets...
He did like the sprinkler at the end though
My office space is in the bonus room right behind this sofa. But the desk faces the wall, so if Jake is playing, my back is usually to him. I was working one day & heard Jake "fake snoring". I tried around & found this...
