One of the biggest things I'm learning is that there are MANY different definitions of being "potty trained". I initially (naively) assumed that it meant, no diapers, minimal to no accidents, and the child being able to verbally tell us when they had to go to the bathroom every time. I also assumed that would happen in 1-2 weeks! HA! :) It is becoming more and more obvious to me how naive I was. Since Dylan is one of the oldest kids of all of our friends, I didn't have too many people to ask for help about potty training. I didn't get to talk to people about what to expect, or how long it would take, or what worked best for them. A lot of my info was from the internet, and we all know how reliable that can be. ;) So we went about it somewhat blindly, the best way we knew how. And although our semi-blind leap turned out to be successful for Dylan, I've learned a lot along the way.
I've learned I've been too hard on myself!
I've learned I was stressing myself out WAY too much!!!
I've learned I've been expecting perfection from a 2-year old. (Not gonna happen) :) :)
I've learned that Dylan is actually doing REALLY well compared to how long it takes "most" kids to get potty trained.
I've learned that this is going to take A LOT longer than I initially thought.
And I've learned that it's okay to give into certain things to make my life easier.
Initially we were trying a training-pants only routine, even at night. This was making my life hell! I felt very confined to the house and didn't want to venture farther than 20-30 minutes away -- and only to places that we were very familiar with: daycare, grandparents house, and a friend's house. The perfectionist in me wanted Dylan to be successful all the time, every time. Hence my desire to stay close to home. Although I do think that because we've been pretty much home-bound for a month, Dylan has figured out potty training quickly -- so that's a positive. Well after a month my stress level was reaching new heights, so I've now adjusted things. The first month after we started, I was avoiding outings with the boys. Not as much anymore. Now if we go somewhere, like to church or Lowes, I put Dylan in a Pull-up (or "the other pants" as we call it). We still do multiple trips to the bathroom, but I feel like we are starting to get our life back and my stress level is improving. He's had some accidents (mostly because we didn't get to a bathroom in time), but its definitely getting better. Also, I've started putting him in Pull-ups at night too. It was too stressful to keep waking him up at night and in the morning. And then even if he wet the bed 2-3 nights a week, that's 2-3 more loads of laundry I had to do!
Even though Dylan's accidents were happening less and less frequently and he was realizing it much quicker, each accident he did have, I was feeling like somehow I had failed at motherhood. It may sound extreme, but I took it very personally. Hence the reason for the adjustments we made. Not only did Dylan need to feel successful, but I needed to feel like I was a good mom! I'm sure there's many people out there who would have done things very differently from the beginning, but this was very new to us. We did the best we could.
Dylan has continued to show great progress after about 5 weeks. He's even telling us more often that he has to go -- maybe 30-40% of the time. He (most of the time) goes willingly to the bathroom when we tell him, like before & after meals & snacks, and before bedtime. One time that is almost an automatic failure is when he gets put in time-out. If its been over 20 minutes since he last went to the bathroom, he will most-definitely pee his pants! UGH! :) Dylan has decreased his accidents a lot too. He typically has one really small (dribble) of an accident every 2 days or so. Although we still do have occasional multi-mini-accident days. :) Dylan is getting more independent in the bathroom too. He knows how to pull his pants down, unless they are tight on the waist. He can climb on and off the toilet by himself. And he washes & dries his hands all by himself, except for pushing the soap handle down. We've found that the foaming liquid soap works better for him. He can visually see the foam/bubbles and makes sure he gets it on the front & backs of his hands. And then visually sees the bubbles disappear after he rinses them off. (WARNING: Graphic info ahead.) Dylan has been doing really well about going #2. It's actually become a somewhat educational experience for him. HAHA!! Who would have thought?!?!!! Dylan will always tell me what shape or letter or animal is now in the potty after he goes. We've had sticks, the letter U, an umbrella, a frog, and a few more I cant seem to remember right now. This will be a great story to tell one day when Dylan gets married :)
And that's our one month update in a nutshell. The bottom-line bonus of Dylan potty-training "quickly": decreased money spent on diapers!!! We were spending about $130 every two months for diapers for Dylan. Now, hopefully its $30 for over two months! :)
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