Potty Training Success

Back on August 6th I had a post titled "Nathan's Exciting News" in which I celebrated Nathan's first time going #1 on his little potty. Well we've been on a long journey for the past eight months trying to move toward being fully potty trained. For some reason (which completely baffled me) Nathan was terrified of putting on underwear. I figured he'd just grow out of it and one day decide that he was too big for pull-ups and we'd be down to just one pull-up user at our house.

Well last Friday (April 4th) we went to our usual playgroup at a friend's house and while we were there both boys filled up their pull-ups with #2. (I know that is pretty gross but it's part of life right now - or at least it used to be.) Anyway, I didn't realize until after getting Nathan all cleaned up that I had just put the last pull-up from that bag on Benjamin. I told Nathan to just pull his sweat pants back on and I'd go get him a pull-up from another bag in the van. (I didn't want him running around a co-ed playgroup half naked!) At that point Nathan decided that he liked not having a pull-up on and declared that he was too big for pull-ups. I was elated to hear those words come out of his mouth but a bit concerned that he was not wearing any underwear. However, I figured this was a step in the right direction albeit a bit unconventional.

Nathan had a small #1 accident that afternoon at home but as long as I asked him about every hour or so if he needed to potty he stayed dry. That evening we spent the night with my parents because David was out of town. When David came home he was greeted by a very proud (but still commando) Nathan. Dad just had to be the one to make the underwear thing an issue. He patiently talked Nathan through it an helped him (still upset) into a pair of underwear. Within ten minutes Nathan loved wearing his underwear and was so proud to be such a big boy. That night we celebrated by eating at Chick-fil-A in the mall and letting Nathan pick out some more underwear at Sears. He stayed dry for the whole outing and went potty as soon as we got home.

He got to move up to the three year olds Sunday School class on Sunday and enjoyed that. He had his last #2 accident at Grammy's house this past Tuesday. I really think he has arrived! He's still in an overnight pull-up at night and occasionally has a #1 accident during his nap but he is doing great for someone who was still in pull-ups eight days ago. Needless to say -we're very proud.

One down - one to go. Benjamin already wants to wear underwear like his big brother so as soon as he's able to recognize when he needs to go potty he'll be on his way. Yeah!

Nathan's Exciting News!

I interrupt my Sweet Sleep series of entries for this exciting news - Nathan went #1 on his potty this morning! Yeah, Nathan!

We have been working in this direction for some time now but this was his first actual deposit in the waste receptacle. I know we still have quite a ways to go before this is an everyday every time sort of occurrence but at least we've started down the path now.

We celebrated big time to let him know that this is something very special that moves him one step closer to big-boyhood. First, he got to have an M&M. Then he got to go in and wake up Dad and tell him the good news. (David is off on vacation this week and was going to get up soon anyway since we were going to the zoo first thing this morning. I'll blog that later.) Finally, he got to call his grandparents and share his big news with them.

If I had been scrapbooking this big event I would have had some strategically placed stickers to maintain our modesty but since this is all digital I had to edit my picture a little. I wouldn't want to be too risque.

As you can see Benjamin has his own potty. He has never really grasped the concept that he is not as old as Nathan. Being only 14 months behind in age and closer by the day in size has convinced him that he is just as big as Nathan. Who knows, maybe they'll do this whole potty training this together. The sooner everyone is into underwear the better if you ask me.