Did it "click?"

*WARNING! THIS POST IS ABOUT POTTY TRAINING! READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION! (And if you want to skip reading this post, there are pictures at the end of it (not of potty training!) so feel free to scroll down to the end if you'd rather just see those. :))

Yesterday I decided to buy Tyler a potty chair and see if there was any interest on his part in starting that process. I had him sit on it, fully clothed, just to see what it was like. When I assured him he wouldn't fall in, he asked me to take his diaper off. I was very surprised, but said ok. We got back from the store around 11am and by 11:30am, he had successfully gone in his potty! I was thrilled! I praised him quite a bit and gave him 5 Skittles (his choice). And aside from naptime, when I diapered him again, he successfully went 4 times yesterday. He had a few accidents, but I knew that would happen. After all, it was his first day! I have read various articles and a book as well as talked to some "seasoned" moms about tips on potty training. One of the biggest things I heard repeated over and over was not to get upset about accidents or the child not showing interest in it. They need to feel like they have control over it. Another thing I've picked up is "naked" time. It's a lot easier to know what's going on when you can see & feel it at the same time.

So all this said, leads us to today, our 2nd day of training. When Tyler woke up this morning, I asked him if wanted to try and go potty and he told me quite firmly, "No. Diaper on." I was hugely disappointed (though I tried not to show it), but thought maybe after breakfast, after he was "fully" awake. He wanted no part of the potty or being naked at all today and practically threw a fit when I had to change his diaper because it was soaking wet! But since I had already decided not to push him on it, I let it go and we continued our morning as usual, diapers and all. We even went over to Grandma & Papa's house (Papa's day off) and played over there. Aunt Sarah, Sawyer & Scout came in for awhile too, so Tyler really had fun playing with Sawyer again. I told Tyler to tell Grandma & Papa what he did yesterday and they praised him as well. Tyler actually got shy about telling them about it though, it was kinda cute. :) We came home after lunch and both kids went down for their naps. I was enjoying the peace and even chatted with my sister-in-law, Shana for a bit. About an hour or so after he woke up, Tyler kept telling me that pup-pup had to poop and he put him on the potty. I of course, was still trying not to push him, so I just said "Good pup-pup!" He then decided he wanted his shirt off, because Bria had hers off (she likes to drink out of Tyler's sippy cup and let the water run down her shirt instead of her throat, so she was SOAKED!). Then he took his shorts off. And then he asked me to take his diaper off. I gently reminded him if I did that, then he was going to have to use the potty like a big boy. He sat on it for awhile, drinking his grape kool-aid and eating his chips (I'll explain that later). We read a few books, but he didn't have to go. So he started playing with all his cars and would randomly come back to the potty and say "poop" and sit for 2 seconds. He would jump up again and start playing. He did this about 20x and then when he had been playing in the kitchen for about 5 minutes, he came running back in and said "poop!" again, only this time he did it!!!!! I was so excited! Ecstatic! Thrilled! Overjoyed! In Shock! Disbelief! I couldn't believe he really did it! So anyway, I got him his special treat - a whole pack of fruit snacks (something we NEVER have) and called Matt. We had decided earlier that those accomplishments deserved big rewards, so we have a bag of new-to-us toys (I bought them off craigslist, have I mentioned I might possibly be addicted to that site??!) that we knew he'd be really excited about. We let him choose and he chose a BIG Mater. (If I haven't mentioned it before, Tyler loves the movie CARS and everything about it. He's really quite excited about "hooks" too, like Mater's tow cable, so things like that are very exciting to him) And after that (which was around 5:40pm), there were no accidents at all!!!! At least tonight. I'm sure there will be more to come, but Matt & I are both so pleased, proud, and shocked at how well tonight went. Tyler even stopped playing with his toys and took himself to the potty and went, all without us prompting him or reminding him!!! Now that is a big day! I'm trying not to get my hopes up, I know tomorrow is a new day and we never know what's going to happen, but I'm quite pleased with the success he's had so far.

This post is kind of all over the place and I apologize for that. I think that's kind of how my brain is right now too. Now, on to explain some of my reasons for doing what I've been doing...

The grape Kool-aid and chips: Matt and I read a book (on recommendation from an elder in our church who used it successfully) called "Toliet Training in Less Than a Day". Initially I thought we would use that method, but the more we thought about it, the more it didn't really seem to fit into our life right now (it's a one-on-one method with no one else around), so we decided to alter it a little. One of the suggestions it gave was to give salty snacks (or any snacks really, especially the child's favorites) and favorite drinks. The idea was that the salty snacks would make them thirsty, thus wanting to drink more, thus giving more opportunity for success on the potty. So since I dilute any and all juice Tyler gets and other than that, he gets water and milk, getting undiluted Kool-aid is a big deal to him.

Not pushing: As much as I would love for Tyler to be out of diapers completely, I know that pushing him to use the potty won't work. He has to want to do it himself or else it turns into a power struggle and I have enough of those to deal with without throwing the potty training into the mix.

Being naked: Many people are visual learners. I think this is often true with little kids, they have to see something in order to realize something. I think having him be naked is helpful to help him realize what he's feeling and doing. He knows it as soon as he does it because he's watching himself do it.

Anyhoo...this turned into a really long post. I'm sorry. Obviously I'm still pretty excited about the past 2 days events. :) But here are some pictures that will get your minds off potty training, because I'm sure most of you are already way past the potty training stage. :)


Papa & Tyler reading The Truck Book

Sweet Baby Scout



The Boyle Grandchildren (wouldn't you know it
would be Little Miss Smiley who wouldn't be
looking at the camera! I think she's laughing at us!!!)



Tyler didn't know what to do with his hands when
Sawyer wanted to hold Scout...can you tell how much
he loves his new sister though? ;)



Tyler & Sawyer reading together

Papa & Sawyer

Grandma with Scout

***And these pictures are specifically for Uncle JRB...?***

Tyler's Maters...the big on the left is the one he got
today for being SUCH a big boy!

The "old" Mater is a little bigger than a regular
matchbox car