Potty Training

In general we try not to post anything on the blog that would greatly embarrass either boy.  We'll see what Josh and Sam have to say about that when they eventually find it.  So with that in mind I'll try to keep this a PG rated version of potty training.  We have decided that Josh is officially potty trained.  That doesn't mean we are done with diapers and we are a long ways away from that point but Josh spent the past two long weekends entirely in underwear (8 out of 11 days).  We are still doing nap time and bed time in diapers but even when we went out, Josh was in underwear and he did a great job!

We started potty training over the summer which was a bit later than we wanted.  We didn't want to do it when Sam was born or when he had a new teacher so we delayed it a bit and we think that made it more difficult because Josh became more afraid of new things.  We gradually got him to use the potty more and more and after a few months he had no trouble doing it but he didn't want to wear underwear.  He was initially excited about it, but then realized it was scary and refused.

There are many tough parts of parenting but so far Julian is putting potty training as his least favorite part.  After several miserable weekends of trying to force Josh to wear underwear, we decided to take a break.  Everyone said not to force it and take a break.  Unfortunately we didn't see any signs of change.  When asked Josh always refused to wear underwear.  He would occasionally use the potty but we didn't force it on him.  With the new year we tried again and after an hour of arguing got him into underwear.  Then we tried something we had never done before - we left the house!  This was a breakthrough moment for us.  Our outing was not a complete success but Josh overall was more confident in wearing underwear.  We realized that it was likely sending a mixed message that he had to change into a diaper to go out.

The next weekend we had to fight a bit to get him into underwear, but he didn't want to take them off once he was wearing them. So we did more outings in underwear. We also got the great tip to stop making him sit on the potty every X minutes. Then before the MLK weekend, he said he wanted to wear underwear on the weekend and when the time came he didn't argue at all. Since then he has worn underwear anytime is he at home or with us.

Our work is not done - he refuses to wear underwear to or use the bathroom at daycare so we have to work on that.  We aren't really sure how to approach this one, tips are welcome. The pediatrician said to let peer pressure work, but there are only a few kids that are 3 in his class, and only 1-2 are not in diapers. He is a pretty stubborn kid, so we aren't sure he will randomly decide to wear underwear to daycare without being forced. We have offered him several good bribes, and no luck. I think it is time to try a new strategy.

I had been dreading potty training since before Josh was born. And I can say it was nothing like I expected. For us, all of the challenges so far have been emotional. I expected some manipulating and stalling, but not the level of fear and controlling the situation. Hopefully in a few weeks we will be done, but we'll see!

Playing!

One of our first outings with underwear, failed trip to the library...

Off to Home Depot!