Dry Clothes

I read this book called Potty Train Your Child in One Day. I had plans to do so, next week, or maybe the week after. Then I was talking to my mom about it, and she said that she found those potty seat adapters really helpful rather than the potty chairs. I figured it was worth dropping $10 to see if Owen would like it. I got a lovely Elmo potty seat in an attempt to appease both Owen and Zach. Owen loves Elmo and wants him around all the time. Zach hates him and would like him to be pooped on all day. As soon as the boys and I got home from the store, Owen asked to use the potty. He hopped right on it and went pee. This finally convinced me he was ready and the next day was "Potty Party Day."

Last time in diapers

The book explains how you spend the first half of the day having your child teach a doll how to go on the potty and even have the doll experience accidents (which is why I currently have a jar of prunes in my cabinet). We had Owen teach Pooh - eh, get it? - how to potty. The first time Pooh sat on the potty and then got a cookie, Owen said, "My turn!" and pulled off his pants. So, we picked up the pace and had Owen in his own big boy underwear in an hour. My smart little sweet tooth was totally gaming the system too. He'd get on the toilet, pee for a second, get a treat, run back to the toilet, again pee somehow, get a treat.... That's good bladder control there. There was no way I was going to follow the book's policy that the child gets a treat every time they even sit on the potty, whether they go or not. We put him in a Pull Up at naptime and then practiced more the rest of the day. He had one accident while we were out for a walk around the ranch, but the rest of the day went great. The next day at church, Owen went potty twice and had no accidents. He even went poop when we got home. The rest of this week has gone great. He still has a wet Pull Up almost every time he gets up from a nap or sleeping through the night though. I think he's not fooled by the "special underwear" as I call them - Pull Ups are far too like diapers. I think I'll have to let him sleep in real "unnernear" as he calls them. I'm just not ready for the mess yet, but it might be the only way to keep him dry while he sleeps. Also, we're going to Ikea tomorrow to look for a big boy bed, so we'll see how that plays into things.

Elmo slippers and Elmo unnernear? Nothing better.

Today we picked up lunch and Daddy and headed to a park. As we ate, Owen wandered around and then said, "I'm peeing right now!" Sure enough, a puddle was growing around his feet. So, that's like our third accident, which really isn't bad. It feels great to have only one kid in diapers. Overall, the potty training thing was a lot easier than expected and Owen was ready. He also enjoyed that he got to watch potty training videos on Saturday during our party...box office hits like "Go Potty Go" and "Once Upon a Potty." Plus he had candy for probably the second time in his life, namely M&Ms, organic citrus fruit chews, and Raisinets. Some of those are healthy, right? Bribery, or positive reinforcement, works. Just like how a cup of coffee can induce me to sit down and fold the laundry. And not pee my pants. Wait, what?