Potty Training Bandwagon

Well, since Ryan is now 3 and Ben is almost 2, and everyone I know is now training their own toddlers and it therefore has become a very popular topic that I'm hearing about frequently, I figured it's time to jump on the potty training bandwagon. I had a thought when Ben was born that since he & Ryan were so close in age, I'd just wait a little with the first and do them both at once! I don't know if I truly intended to do it that way but then I stalled and stalled with Ryan to the point that the moment of truth has arrived, it's time, and now I really can do them both at the same time!

I started yesterday and was so frustrated that I gave up by noon!....maybe I made it to 1:00 but that's about it. Ryan was just not cooperating and Ben appeared less than interested. Ryan peed all over the kitchen, Ben peed all over me....we went through about 9 pairs of underwear in a 3-4 hr period between the two of them. I told Paul I was going to wait another couple of months until Ben was officially 2 and Ryan was the magical 3 yrs 3 months I'd read so much about on quite a few message boards online (seriously, 3 yrs 3 months seemed to be the common age). Paul (safe at work) said no, we should keep trying now. Unfortunately, I knew he was right. I couldn't give up that easily.

So this morning when we all got up, I decided to try again. My first obstacle was when Ryan decided, "I don't want underwear! I want a diaper!" Finally, after much pleading and crying, I conceded to put a diaper on him with the understanding that he still had to go potty on the toilet and that if he went potty in his diaper, he'd have to wear underwear anyway. I know, sounds kind of backwards. Underwear isn't supposed to be the punishment! Anyway, that's how it went. Then I cleverly put Ben in underwear and gave him a sucker (yes, first thing in the morning) for wearing his underwear. That got Ryan going! He still didn't want to put on underwear at first but he sure wanted that sucker! After he realized the only way to get a sucker was to wear underwear, and after he went potty for the second time that morning--the first time being before we put the diaper on (and the diaper did stay dry!)--he decided he wanted to wear underwear! First obstacle conquered! YAY!

So I set the timer for 20 minutes and every 20 minutes we would go in and go potty on the toilet. Then they each got one piece of chocolate (about the size of a peanut M&M) every time they went potty. Ryan caught on to that really quick and started putting himself on the potty every 5 minutes or so just to get a chocolate but I only gave one to him if he actually peed. Then he got ridiculous about it so I told him he had to wait until the timer went off to go. That worked! On occasion he still came to me before the timer went off so I let him go but it wasn't every 5 minutes. The only accident he had this morning was when he pooped in his underwear and that's partially just because he won't poop on the potty yet. Ben only had one accident this morning which I was okay with!

This afternoon I got a little brave and took the boys to see Grandma because she had some of her aunts & uncles & cousins visiting and she wanted them to see the boys. I figured it takes less than 20 minutes to get over there so I had them both go potty right before we left and then they both went when we got to Grandma's! Unfortunately we were there for a little while and I didn't realize the time so Ben did end up having an accident at Grandma's. However, Ryan did not! He went once at Grandma's and then made it all the way home totally dry!

This evening Ryan had one accident and then Ben had a fairly significant poop accident but other than that, considering how awful yesterday was, this is a major improvement!!! And then tonight I've been babysitting a few boys that come over here once a month--two of the three are quite a bit older than Ryan and so have been potty trained for years--Ryan noticed one of them use the bathroom by himself with the door closed and so after that, Ryan wanted to go all by himself with the door closed! I wasn't allowed to be in there! But I know he went. I don't know what happened between yesterday and today but whatever it was....THANK GOODNESS!! Ryan should do even better tomorrow!! It sure makes me glad I didn't give up so quickly!