Potty Training Update

So it's been two weeks to the day that we officially said goodbye to diapers for Dylan and I thought I'd post an update about potty training. Just a warning though -- this post may have some details that some people may not care to read about. Consider yourself warned! :)

That first weekend of potty training was one of the hardest weekends I've ever had in my life. It was emotionally, mentally and physically draining. I definitely questioned a LOT multiple times throughout the weekend.... Was Dylan really ready? Was I ready? Was this the right method to use for him/us? Day 2 I thought the answer was "no" for all of those questions. But now I can say more confidently the answer is "yes" to all of those. It has been a lot of work -- and still is a lot of work -- but Dylan's doing really well. Initially I was really hoping that he'd verbally tell us every single time he had to go to the bathroom by the end of the weekend. (that's the perfectionist in me) But I began to realize that he was telling me -- he was just using a lot of non-verbal communication!

When he went to daycare that first week, our daycare provider was able to continue on the same path with using training underpants instead of diapers or pull-ups, which I was really happy about. The big difference that she started doing (and she does with all the "big" kids) is that they have to go to the bathroom before/after every meal & snack and before/after going outside. It became part of the routine that is expected of all the children. She also added a couple extra bathroom trips for Dylan so he was attempting to go about every 30 min. And he did AMAZING! That whole first week, he went didn't have a single wet accident during the day! All the other kids cheered him on -- and Dylan was VERY excited to be considered a TRUE big kid being allowed to go into the bathroom at daycare! WOW! :) ;) She taught Dylan how to climb on and off by himself too. He chants "left-right-left-right" as he inches his legs backwards off the toilet. :) He also learned how to turn on the facet in the bathroom, scrub his hands with soap, rinse them off, turn off the water, and dry his hands. What a big boy! And he no longer cared about the Goldfish crackers we were giving him as a reward for going peeing/Mommy & Daddy being very proud of him! He would just go pee without any reward! Yeah! :)

Although going Number 2 was a different story. .....  :(   Dylan would deny, deny, deny until he was blue in the face that he had to go poop. He also tried with all his might to hold it in. Dylan is usually very regular and goes twice a day, like clockwork. Well, he managed that first week to hold it in for over 24hrs!! Yikes! So my second weekend home was spent poop-training -- or going "yucky" (as Dylan calls it) :)  I spent Friday morning watching Dylan like a hawk. Anytime I had any inkling that I thought he was going, we raced off to the bathroom. Nothing. Nothing every single time. Ugh! Well then I decided to take a quick shower and Dylan got his big break from my eagle eyes while he played with Daddy. Unfortunately Daddy had to clean up the mess. Saturday came and I was on a mission: I was bound and determined even more than before to get this child to poop in the potty. (you can tell I've been around a 2yr old long enough when I start talking like this) :) Well, Saturday morning I finally caught Dylan barely holding things in... we raced to the bathroom but he continued to deny having to go! He wanted to get down so badly! I told him I had to go check on Parker (which I didnt), but told him to stay put on the toilet and I'd be back.... guess what?! SUCCESS!!! Dylan got a sticker reward to go on a chart we've taped to the door. He was happy as could be!! Saturday afternoon we had our second success! Although it was still like pulling teeth to convince this child he needed to go poop. He continued to deny it all. Sunday we had another successful #2 (he only went once that day). And Monday we had THREE poops successfully in the toilet! (He even proudly announced that there was a "yucky snake" in the potty!!) I think that day was the turning point. He finally got it. And I finally got his signs!! I learned that he needed his privacy (although he didn't know how to tell me). His initial telltale sign that he needed to go was a deer-in-headlights look and he briefly would stop whatever he was playing with and zone out. By the end of the weekend, he was trying hold it in, so he started doing a potty-dance: sidestepping rapidly back and forth. Watching him like a hawk had paid off!

I was a bit nervous for him to go back to daycare on Tuesday. He had been successful at home, I wanted so badly for that to continue. So Tuesday morning I gave my daycare provider as much info as possible about my observations to help continue the success. And it worked!!! We've been successful this whole week! He's very proud of his stickers and takes his time picking the right one. Even yesterday my daycare provider told him (while he was on the toilet going pee) that once he went "yucky" he'd be able to play with a certain game.... wouldn't you know it that 3 seconds later he went "yucky"?!?!!! The same scenario played out in the afternoon too.Yeah for Dylan! Dylan also learned this week how to pull his big boy underpants down. It's really cute to watch because our daycare provider taught him how to put his thumbs on each side and then he wiggles his butt back and forth to get them off. :) Next week she's going to teach him how to pull them back up.

At night we've still been trying to go with the training underpants only. He normally falls asleep around 7:30pm, so I've been waking him up at about 8:30/9 to go to the bathroom and then again around 5am. He gets up for good around 7am. We've been semi-successful with this. Maybe 65-70% successful at keeping the bed dry. The times he has wet the bed are always somewhat explainable though: Parker was up crying for an hour the other night and Dylan probably woke up some in his sleep; Dylan was too cold one night and woke up crying but wouldn't go to the bathroom then; we had a late dinner (therefore liquids right before bedtime); etc. I still don't want to give up just yet on the nighttime training pants and switch to pull-ups. I figure its only been two weeks, and we've been making steady progress so far. Also it's hard for anyone to not go to the bathroom for 11-12hours (which is how long Dylan is in bed for). So I'm hoping he will also learn that its okay to wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. We will see. For now I've got the waterproof mattress pad, a huge plastic trash bag lining the bed, and a few spare sheets and pairs of underwear. :)

I'm hopeful I can continue to be successful in the upcoming weeks. I know we will still have accidents and that we aren't out of the woods yet. He still rarely tells us verbally when he has to go to the bathroom, but he's also getting better about holding it for longer periods of time. And also getting much better at emptying his bladder. Yeah Dylan!!!