Three-Day Potty Training: One Month Progress Report

Four weeks ago yesterday, we undertook a major parenting challenge—potty training. And despite some messes and some funny stories, it really wasn’t as hard as I expected.Outings are no longer a "crap shoot." We can go out and about sans diapers, without me being in constant fear!

I’d say we’re just about there. We have one to two accidents a week, and those almost always happen when he’s really tired or he’s really mad. Nic tells us when he needs to go, can hold it until we get to a potty (as long as it’s close), and will usually go when we present him the opportunity. He’s using little potties, potty rings and even public toilets. He goes pee and poop without hesitation. I’m really proud of the progress he’s made, and I am less and less nervous each time we venture out of the house together.

We’re still in diapers for naps and bedtime, but I don’t expect to sleep potty train him until he’s in a big boy bed.

I’d say our biggest remaining obstacle is the “spite pee.” This has happened twice (the most recent was about 15 minutes ago). He does it when we tell him he can’t do something and feeling particularly stubborn. He’ll look right at us and let loose. I have a feeling that we’ll have a lot of this when the new baby gets here.

Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with the “spite pee?”

Underpants Fail

Last weekend, we took the plunge and did “Three-Day Potty Training” with Nic. Now eight days into it, I want to share our biggest fail, and our biggest success.I went a little crazy when purchasing fun underwear for Nic!

I’ll start with the fail. Although I followed the Three-Day Method pretty closely, I had decided to deviate on the subject of underwear. The method says to keep kids naked from the waist down at home (for the first three months!) and to have them wear only loose fitting pants while out and about. But I thought to myself, “Little boys’ underwear are cute! Nic would like wearing them!” So, I threw caution to the wind and put him in underpants on Day 4.

Big mistake. Just like I read, he seemed to think that the underwear were diapers. No matter how many times I reminded him not to pee pee on Spiderman, he forgot all of his self-initiation and just went in his pants. Halfway through Day 5, I put the underpants away and he instantly remembered how to go on the potty.

That brings me to our biggest accomplishment: He had an was accident-free on Day 6! This even included two hours at preschool in the morning and a trip to the park in the afternoon. I am so proud! However, on Day 7 we had several accidents (I say “we” because at least one was my fault for having him out too long without giving him the opportunity to go). This reminded me that we still have a long way to go and that we need to take it one day at a time.

Overall, I’m very pleased with the progress Nic’s made and I think he was definitely up to the challenge!

Podcast #50: Binkies, Boobs, and the Boob Tube

This week we discuss whether or not binkies promote breast feeding, more potty training, and throwing a baby shower/sprinkle for baby number 2 and beyond. We also discuss the drawbacks of background TV. 

Another big thank you to our show sponsors Gazelle.com and Bake Me A Wish! Please check them out! 

Listen to the podcast here.

Your browser does not support the html5 audio player. Use flash player below.

Three-Day Potty Training: Day Three

I was nervous to start day three because I was worried that we’d have another tough morning.  Much to my relief, soon after Nic got up, he peed on the potty without any direction. Relief (for both of us I guess!)! He also did his first self-initiated poop on the potty!

We weren’t without accidents, he had one pee accident in the morning and a poop one in the afternoon. Well, that’s if you don’t count our outings.

Outings

The program we’re following, dictates that on day two you should make one hour-long outing and that one day two you should make two hour-long outings. Well, we had some extenuating circumstances on day two, so we didn’t make it on our outing. Today, we decided to go for two. Out and about with out a diaper! He's so skinny I had to roll the top of his shorts!

Our morning outing was less than successful. We put pants and shoes on him for the first time (no diaper, of course) and took a walk to feed some chickens who live in the neighborhood. Our big mistake was that we brought the potty and told him to tell us when he needed to go. He wasn’t quite capable of this, and we had two pee accidents while we were out.

We got ambitious for our second outing—a trip to Target to buy big boy underpants! I set up two potties in the trunk of the car (not sure if he likes the travel potty), and put a wee-wee pad in the car seat (I do NOT want to wash that again!).  I tried to get him to pee after nap and before we got in the car, but he wasn’t having it. I explained to him that he’d have to hold his pee pee while we were in the car and that he could go in the trunk potty once we got to Target. Fifteen minutes later when we got to Target, I was ecstatic to see that he was still dry! I tried to get him to go in the trunk potty before heading into the store, but again he refused. We spent about 35 minutes in the store—halfway through I took him to the ladies' room and encouraged him to go while I held him over the toilet. Again, he didn’t go, but he was still dry at checkout time. While I paid, Shaun tried the trunk potty one more time with no luck. I couldn’t believe he had stayed dry so long. And I was even more amazed that he was still dry when we got home. He did it!

Three Days and Done?

We’ve completed the three-day potty training program. Is Nic completely potty trained? No. Is he well on his way? Yes.

Accomplishments: 

• He recognizes what it feels like when he needs to pee and poop.
• 90% of the time, he makes it to the potty when he needs to go (sometimes he even runs!).
• He can hold it when he needs to. 

Still to Learn: 

• He needs to make it to the potty that other 10% of the time.
• He needs to learn to try to use the potty each time before we leave the house.
• We haven’t really tried pulling underwear/pants down before going. Tomorrow, I’m going to put him in underwear and see how that goes. Then we’ll graduate to pants too.
• He needs to give more warning before he has to go (espeically if he needs help getting clothes off).
• I’m sure there’s more, but we’re not there yet! 

Overall, I’m very glad we bit the bullet and tried potty training this weekend. I was worried that it was too soon, but with all the progress that he’s made, I’m confident he is ready. Now it’s up to Shaun and I to stay consistent and do what we can do to help him master this challenge.

Three-Day Potty Training: Day Two

After a better than expected day one, I was pumped for day two. However, by naptime, I was almost ready to throw in the towel. I don’t think we had a single hit on the potty in the morning. In fact, he’d sit on the potty for 5-10 minutes, then get up, hide, and pee. We also had more stepping in poop, and Nic was even a little bratty (defiant and hitting). I could tell that my husband thought we had made a huge mistake in trying to do this.

If you follow our Facebook page, you may know that I made a mid-day plea for suggestions and reassurance. You ladies did not fail me! You told me to hang in there, and I’m so glad that I did.

The afternoon was kind of amazing. He had a few good pees in the potty and then all of the sudden while he was playing with his auntie, he stops, walks over to the potty, sits down and pees. All with absolutely no direction from us! SELF-INITIATION! He knows when it’s coming and he understands what to do! For the rest of the afternoon, all but one of his pee pees were self-initiated and we didn’t have any complete misses. He even tried to self-initiate a poop, but I think he was a little stuffed up.

When he did his first self-initiated pee, I was standing across from him a few feet away. While I was cheering hysterically, he looked up at me with the biggest, proudest smile on his face. It makes me beam just to think about it.

I know that tomorrow morning may not go as well (mornings seem to be tough for him), but this afternoon was so much validation. He is capable, he does understand, and maybe he’s actually going to get this.