May 29, 2012

Potty Training Day 1

FYI if you aren't a family member or a mommy, this might be TMI! 

Since the time I was pregnant with Reagan, I have been terrified of the thought of potty training. I'm not joking. Probably more scared of this than I was of labor/birth.

Reagan is 3 years old and 2 months. I know I have been putting it off. I mean- I did have some pretty legit reasons (teaching schedule limits my time, he wasn't recognizing signs, etc.) But I think he is finally ready.

I found a couple of potty training blogs through Pinterest that show an intensive 3 day method for potty training.  Basically you stay home for 3 days and Reagan is naked for most of it. You set the timer and try throughout the day. Since this is my first week of summer vacay, and surprisingly a free week, I decided this would be a good week to start. So you know me. I dove right in, head first.

Preparations:

This weekend I ran to Target and spent a pretty penny on our potty training supplies. Nick was a little annoyed, but I told him it would be worth it when Reagan was out of diapers. Please Lord don't prove me wrong!


I made two buckets. Our "Poo Poo Bucket" is full of new books, DVDs, and toys.  Our "Pee Pee Bucket" is full of candy and stickers. Pretty self-explanatory, but when Reagan goes poo in the potty he chooses and item , etc.


I also stocked up on little boy underwear covered in his favorite characters.


I got 2 potty DVDs which we have watched multiple times today.


And I stocked up on salty snacks and sugary drinks. The blogs suggested the salty snacks because they make you thirsty, thus you drink more, thus you pee more. Makes sense to me.  

You can also see the cleaning stuff was out and ready as were the Cars Pull-Ups (Probably will save these for outings after our 3rd day home).

 I made this little potty chart.

And a call list to have people help celebrate with us.


The Day:

We started the potty training at 8:00 am. We read some potty books

and then got naked. I started by setting the timer for ever 15 minutes, then moved it to 20 and later 30. We would "try" to go on the big toilet in his bathroom every time the timer went off. I was pretty frustrated because he pretty much just sat there with no pee/poo. Reagan snacked, drank, and watched movies until 10:00.  

Then came accident #1. We were pulling out art supplies and all of a sudden there was pee everywhere.  I don't think he realized he had peed. He said, "Oops. Me spilled". I was thanking my lucky stars we have tile/wood and not an inch of carpet in our house. It made clean up a breeze.

The accident did make him a little scared though.  He insisted on sitting on his small frog toilet in the living room for an hour. He wanted to read on it, eat on it, play on it, etc.  He kept saying "Me sit here so no pee or poo on floor". I felt so bad. 

But the good news was he peed a little and pooed a little while sitting there. Hallelujah! 

During nap time I put him back in a diaper. The blogs I read discouraged this but I am sooo not dealing with wet sheets/mattresses etc. right now. Reagan slept for 3 hours and when he woke up his diaper was full of pee/poo. Poor guy had probably been holding it in.

After nap things really started to get moving. 
He peed 2x in the little froggy toilet and we celebrated big time!
He was so excited to make his phone calls and choose his prizes.

As we sat down for dinner, he had accident #2.
So then we were back to sitting on the toilet non stop. Yep. He has been sitting on his frog toilet eating. No big deal.

As I write this- another pee pee. Success.
So today's total- 4 pees, 1 poo, and 2 accidents.

This is exhausting and boring all at the same time.
Any tips or words of wisdom out there?
XXOO

9 comments:

Amber said...

Girl I feel for you! I started "late" with Jax, too but he was just not ready before he was 3.5. I cried out of frustration soooo many days. I tried the 3 day naked thing but it just didn't work for us. Nothing worked until Jax was eager to do it on his own. It took forever. We are just now doing the underwear at night thing and Jax rarely has accidents during the day. I am not much help am I? It sounds to me like Reagan is ready, though so you should have an easier time than I did! Good luck!!

Victoria said...

Keep up the great work! I think you are off to a super start!!!

Megan said...

I think he sounds like he is more than ready, especially since he didn't want to have another accident! In my opinion, getting them to actually care is the hardest part -- he will be there in no time! (and then I will be happy to borrow all your DVDs and books for Owen, who had THREE accidents tonight ! :). You crack me up at all the preparations you took for this, but I would expect nothing less!!!! xoxo

2 E's Mama said...

You are doing great! Both of my boys weren't potty trained until they were 3. Elian flat out told us he had no desire to be potty trained. So, he was 3 1/2 when he was finally trained. Reagan is doing great! Only 2 accidents in the first day, wow! Keep up the great work!

The Howard Bunch said...

Ooh yay! You're doing this at the perfect time because I am potty training in a week or so when we get off for summer break too!! Connor will be 35 months old. And then I'll be potty training my twins right before you do, so you'll be able to get ideas from me. =)

agalandherdog said...

So smart!

Anonymous said...

This is awesome! I love this idea. I don't have children yet but when I do I won't be as stressed knowing I can come on here and get so many great ideas for potty training! keep up the good work you sound like one amazing mommy!

Amy said...

Sounds like you had a successful day 1! :) Anxious to hear how day 2 went!

Megan said...

I am terrified for this day to come too!! I think these ideas are GREAT!! I bought my nephew the elmo potty training dvd and books for christmas to get him prepared/started.

I wish you luck, I am sure in a couple weeks all the stress of potty training will seem like a distant memory! (hopefully!!) :)