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Thursday, June 3, 2010

Peter's Potty Trained!

We had a major milestone this past weekend. Saturday morning Peter asked to go to the bathroom. THIS isn't the milestone...he has on and off - typically in public when Rebekah has to go.

But later that day, Rebekah went with my parents to the movies. We took Peter to Wal-Mart with the intention of getting root beer float supplies. As we were walking in, Peter said he had to go potty. William sighed heavily and took him, while I set out to get our supplies.

Peter had asked to go in public so many times, that it was wearing William down.  I told him that one day, he would go and it would all be worth it. :-)

I was looking at ice cream (no-sugar added of course!) when I heard "There she is!" and then a squeal of delight.  I looked up and William said "He went!" and Peter rushed over to me to give me a hug.  I scooped him up and told him how proud I was.

He asked to go a couple more times that day, and had a dry diaper all day.  Sunday it was a repeat.  He had two accidents, both understandable situations.

Monday - no accidents.  A couple a months ago William promised Peter a potty party if he would start using the bathroom.  And so - on Monday after nap we had a potty party!  I didn't think to take pictures, but he picked out mini-cupcakes, ice cream and a motorcycle for a present.  Peter was thrilled with his party.  I sang a little song about using the potty (which the kids thought was hilarious).

Tuesday he had no accidents, so we went to Target for the next step - big boy underwear.  Peter picked out Thomas the Train and Spider Man.  We also bought a multi-pack which included Buzz Lightyear and some others.  Peter LOVED his new underwear and kept opening up the packages.  I let him take out on pair at a time.

I had to draw the line when he attempted to get out of the cart and put them on.  He is hard to get into the cart when he doesn't want to go - so I rarely let him out once I get him in! LOL  So after some quick thinking...I convinced him to wear his underwear on his head.  :-)

Proudly holding up his new underwear

Examining another package of his new prize

He continues to be accident free.  And in the mornings, we have to go through 2 or 3 pairs before deciding which pair to wear.  I am hoping this trend calms down!  And it is all I can do to convince him he doesn't need to change his underwear 4 times a day...or whenever he feels like it.

BUT we are so proud of our little Peter.  The teachers at school keep talking about how easy he was to potty train and wanted to know what we did at home.  So I'm going to share the secret...

We do absolutely NOTHING!

Yes - that is our secret.  I have a philosophy that kids will eventually have the desire to go.  It is part of normal development process.  We of course offer to let them go.  We talk about it.  For months now, Peter has been telling us "I need to poop!" then going in his room and shutting the door.  Obviously he was ready - but convincing him to put it in the potty instead of his diaper is a completely different story.  We'd ask him and he would vehemently tell us NO he did NOT want to go on the potty.  And of course he has been sitting on the potty at school. 

William is just relieved we will again NOT have two in diapers. :-)

2 comments:

Janette said...

Congrats Peter!!! We, too, had it very easy with our boys. They both just took the weekend to train and that was it because we waited until THEY were ready...not when they hit a magical age/stage/etc!! Logan was 3 years and 3 months and stubborn although super smart -- it wasn't until he wanted to wear Buzz underwear that he decided it was ok to use the potty. Worked Fri night and all day Sat...and by Sun he was good to go. Caleb was 3 years and about 2 weeks - it was the day BTK was arrested hahaha! He, too, only took that weekennd. I firmly believe, like you, that if you let the child take the lead in this role and let you know when THEY are ready - it's sooo much less stressful for you and for them! I figure they will eventually all be potty-trained lol!! :)

I agree not having 2 in diapers again will be nice -- we went over a year with 2 in diapers...whew!!

GREAT job ME (aka Peter) for hitting such a big milestone!! :)

Miriam said...

I don't know very many high schoolers that have potty training issues. ;-) So yeah - it does seem to work itself out???