Diaperless

I was skeptical when my friend said all three of her kids potty trained in 3 days with a program she knew about, but I was hopeful. I spent Monday-Friday of last week periodically taking Ethan to the bathroom, talking about dry underwear, etc. He surprised me by only taking a few hours to figure out how to "go" on command. On Saturday morning, after getting the 3 day details, we threw away Ethan's diapers (and then pulled them out when he wasn't looking because who wastes that kind of money?). Saturday, Sunday, Monday were potty training ALL day! I'm glad Mike was home Saturday and Sunday and willing to take shifts with me because it was really draining. I started to lose hope, but at 430pm Monday he started going into the bathroom and sitting on the toilet without me being there! And he has continued to go on his own or at least tell me so I can take him. We are now on day 5 without diapers! Yesterday we went to Joann's, saw a movie in the theatre, and shopped at Costco; no diaper, no accident, 6 trips to the bathroom (I'm pretty sure Ethan requests to go when he is bored with what I'm doing). Today he went to Kids Klub at the gym diaperless for the first time and did fine.

I know most people don't want to hear about potty training, and I don't want to go into too much detail, but I want to remember some big moments, and those more detailed accounts are below.

Night time was a concern for me because he's never woken up dry. I tried waking him up at night and/or in the morning for a potty break, but it was really hard to wake him up (he can sleep sitting independently on the toilet) and he was always dry when I woke him up. We decided he must be going when he wakes up. I talked to him about this a lot, but he just couldn't get over the idea of leaving his room while the blue light was on (which has been against the rules to keep him from getting up really early). I plugged in a monitor and started rushing in as soon as I heard him wake up, and he quickly got the idea that he could go potty and then go back to bed (the night time wake ups and nap I took with him helped with that too). His first nap after he realized he had the golden ticket was preceded by 12 trips to the bathroom-he really loves the power over mom that comes with the word "I have to go potty". Through all this time though, we have not had to change his sheets! Once or twice at the beginning he had an accident, but he got out of bed first. We are slowly decreasing the number of trips he takes to the bathroom before he falls asleep and every morning he takes himself to the bathroom when he wakes up.

The other concern was #2. Ethan is not one of those kids who squats in a corner. Almost without fail his dirty diapers came after a nap. I took a nap in his room to try and catch him, and I did, while he was sleeping/stirring! Then we could tell for a while on Saturday that he needed to go, but anytime he was about to on the toilet he would squeal/cry and stand up. Eventually I intervened by putting my hands on his thighs as he started to stand and telling him to sit down, he could do it, and it worked! It took him a day or two to get over the feeling of going #2, but he would at least always tell us and go in the toilet (while fussing). Now he will get up, even if he's sleeping, and do his business on his own without any complaints.

I know that we are not done with accidents, but I am amazed and excited with how potty trained he is in such a short time. We are committed to no diapers, not for road trips or anything. So next weekend, his little froggy toilet will be driving to St. George with us! :)
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