Potty Update

You have to really love to hear about my kids' development to appreciate this long post about bodily function... Chalk it up to another post that really is mostly about helping me remember later...

So. Potty Training. Let's review. In the archives, you'll notice that in November of last year there was a post called "Potty Training Day 1." I spent the majority of that month in the bathroom with Eden and Sebastien with very very little progress to show for it. We did rather conservative approach including pull-ups, lots to drink, promised "prizes" of stickers or tic tacs for pee, M&M's for poop. The month passed with only 4 or 5 successes, which all were Eden. I was exhausted, the kids were indifferent. I decided to take a break. I ate the M&M's myself. Adam helped.

In January of 2011, we spent 3 days doing a 3 day potty training approach recommended by a few sources, which is basically a cold-turkey approach. All-in. Put your kids in undies and wait for some sort of bodily function to happen, then rush them to the potty. We basically spent 3 days chasing kids all over the house, cleaning pee out of the carpet, and dealing with children with bad stomachaches who were holding in their #2's. Until they stopped holding them in, and then we had poo's in undies. By the end of day 3, we were impressed by dry nights and dry naps, but other than that, Sebastien had not once peed in the potty, and Eden was juuuust starting to have a few successes. (Still no #2's anywhere near the toiley.)

Overwhelmed kids and exhausted parents led to abandoning that effort. In retrospect, I probably should have let Sebastien go back to diapers and let Eden keep some of the momentum going... but whatever. I didn't. Instead, we put pull-ups on and went back to sitting them before baths, and once and awhile to practice. The kids didn't seem to mind one bit. They were showing little to no interest in the potty.

This served us well when we went on vacation, by the way, since 18 hours in the car with pull-ups is better than pit stops every hour for potty training kids!

But around late April, Eden was beginning to talk more about the potty, and since she was the one who seemed to be having more "success" on the potty, we decided to divide and conquer. Around mid-May, I started putting Eden in undies for several hours each morning. On day one, attempt one, she peed on the potty! I actually teared up the first time, I was so proud and so relieved! At first I was sitting her every 15 minutes, and she did not complain at all about sitting and trying. Initially she was actually peeing a little every time. So I started extended the time in between.

She has been doing very well. We've increased her time in her undies slowly, and at this point, she only wears pull-ups at nap and at night. (And once in awhile if we're going somewhere for awhile and would need to use a public bathroom...she's afraid of the loud hand dryers.) She's had a few accidents here and there, but that's to be expected. She sits on the potty about every hour and she usually stays very dry. Two things we're still working on: she does not usually tell us when she has to go and she does not want to go #2 on the potty. She usually waits until the pull-up goes on at bedtime. Once in awhile she holds it in too long and gets really crabby. We're trying some things to help her go on the potty, but mostly we're taking the stance of giving it time and not putting too much pressure on her.

So, now for Sebastien. This is just crazy. This boy had shown so little interest in the potty until just the last couple of weeks. Noticing this, I put him in undies one morning for just about an hour and a half...We sat backwards and drank and drank... and we went through like 6 pairs of undies in that time, and one of them had poop in them.

On Tuesday I put him in undies for awhile, and it was clear that he was going little bits and then stopping... actually aware that he didn't want to go in undies. Progress! Then he was sitting and he peed on the potty for the very first time!! Just a tiny bit and kind of on accident. But it happened. :) I didn't get another chance to work with him until Friday. The undies went on and the child stayed dry for 2 1/2 hours, but he did not pee on the potty once! Mind you, I gave him lots of extra liquids and I sat him every 15-20 minutes. So the pull-up went on at naptime. He woke up from his nap just SOAKED.

So Saturday afternoon the undies went on again. He was dry for about 2 hours, no pee on the potty until finally he was sitting and a little came out. Then a little more. Then a little more. Each time I cheered, and then I said, "Bash, you've just peed on the potty 3 times!" He smiled a sly little smile and said, "Is it going to be 4 times?" Then he peed a tiny bit and laughed and said "FOUR!" This went on and on, this little game, until we got to 9 times and finally he just let it all out. It was hilarious. And awesome.

So, now we suddenly have a boy that pees on the potty regularly. Even if he's wearing a pull-up, like in the car or if we are going out, he keeps it dry. He will also poop in his undies though if he's gotta go. So while with Eden we can sort of let her play and we don't have to worry about it, we're quickly learning that we need to keep an eye on him for signs of #2's.

That's the potty update. Eden's further in the process, but it's amazing how quickly it is happening with Sebastien. It's like it just clicked. Which is what people say happens but it's hard to believe when you're on the other side of it.