Mission Potty Training: Day 1

It is currently 9:09pm as I plop myself down to blog. I am utterly wiped out, exhausted and achy in just about every part of my body! Who knew that potty training a toddler would be so taxing?!

Our day actually started out on a very nice note. Luke's morning routine now consists of getting out of bed somewhere between 6am and 6:30 (I can usually tell what time it is by how light our bedroom is! If the sun is coming directly through the window, its after 6:15) and coming to our bedroom to crawl into bed with me for some cuddling. I have grown to cherish and love this part of our day. Its just quiet, cuddly time with my son! This morning, I awoke from a pretty sound sleep to Luke standing beside my bed with Bear, Snuggie, Tucker AND his tiger backpack ALL in his arms as he was deciding which side of the bed to climb up on. He always looks to see if Ty is in bed still or if he's already left for work, and his presence or absence dictates which side he attempts to climb. This morning, Ty was already long gone, so Luke scurried over to Ty's side, thrust Bear, and then Snuggie, and then Tiger & Tucker up over the side of the bed, climbed up himself and said good morning to me. Not being at all ready to wake, I gently told him that he needed to get under the covers, close his eyes and go back to sleep. I never know if this tactic will work or not, but today was a day when it did and when I awoke next, it was 7:39am, Luke was still snoozing and I was well rested! Hooray! What a great way to start off potty training!

Once we were both awake, we immediately started a conversation about what the day would bring and I could sense the excitement in Luke. He was ready! We headed downstairs for breakfast and once breakfast was done, our adventure was scheduled to begin. I don't know whether he was just too excited or what, but breakfast was unusually frustrating. He pretty much refused to chose which breakfast item he wanted to eat (I usually give him a choice of a few things....this morning it was either a banana and yogurt or peanut butter toast. ) He chose the yogurt, but when I opened it for him, he wanted a different flavor, then refused the whole thing all together. He then proceeded to throw a small tantrum which landed him in a time out away from the table.....TWICE. This never happens. Breakfast is usually pretty easy. So I was feeling a bit frustrated and a little twinge of anxiety was rising in me as I wondered if this was a sign of things to come for our day. Well....he finally ate a few bites of both the banana and yogurt, but it was way less than he would have normally ate. Okay....fine....whatever. I cut my losses and moved on. We were on a mission, after all.

As the official potty training began, I felt optimistic and hopeful. Luke still seemed excited and I was pretending (quite well, I might add) to be just as excited. He started off well....peeing in the potty right off the bat, but as the morning progressed, he was having just as many 'oops' in his big boy underpants as successes in the potty. I was utterly shocked to see just how many times he pee'd over the course of the morning! He apparently is not one to hold a lot of urine, but rather just let it come out whenever he felt the urge. (I was not aware of this before, since he always had a Pull-Up on, and I couldn't tell if just a little pee was there or not). Several times this morning, he would pee just a little in his underpants and immediately say "Moooommmmy!" I would ask him to check if he was dry, and he would respond that he wasn't. So, we would haul off to the bathroom to 'try' anyway....spending about 20 minutes each time reading books and singing songs while he made his little attempts. And low and behold....he would usually have a big pee then! So I would praise and praise, offer his little reward, change him into dry underpants, and we'd go on our way...back to playing. This happened about 5 times between 8:30am and 1pm, when he went down for his nap. Play...minor accident...bathroom run-n-read....reward...new underpants...and back to playing! Sheesh! I was beginning to think that maybe he just wasn't ready for all this. But I was (and still am) determined to not give up too soon.....and at lunch I knew that we would give this whole potty training thing a few good days of effort before we'd make any judgements.

I laid Luke down for a nap in a Pull-Up, alongside his Pull-Up clad Chocolate Bear (our teaching doll) and he slept for a good hour and half. When he awoke, he was a teeny bit wet. We sat on the potty anyway, and he piddled a tiny bit and decided he was done. Not 2 minutes later, we turned a corner for our day and Luke actually turned to me in the family room and said excitedly "Mommy!! I need to doe poddy!!!" So we hustled to the bathroom, and sure enough, he pee'd up a storm! We sat for a LONG time this trip, reading books, playing with play-doh and blowing bubbles because I knew that he hadn't yet pooped for the day and he was long overdue. I think we must've sat there for 30 minutes! And by the end of this particular session, I was ready to be out of the bathroom for awhile!!!! Since nothing was happening, we washed hands, picked out a little treat for "using the potty to stay dry" and went out to see what Oprah was about today. (I NEVER get to watch Oprah! Today was a treat!) :) No sooner did we flip on the TV and I got seated on the couch did Luke excitedly turn to me and say "I need to poddy a-den!!" Thinking that he was just hoping to get another treat, I said "Are you sure, honey? You just went. Let's wait a couple of minutes." He obliged, but within another 2 minutes, he was dancing around a bit and telling me he needed to potty, so we rushed back to the bathroom, where the highlight of our potty-training day occurred.....he POOPED! :) I was SOOOOOO proud of him for 1) telling me he had to go and 2) for actually pooping that I think I was more excited than Luke was!!! I praised him to the ends of the earth, offered him a choice of a very special treat (a little ice cream or a Popsicle....he chose a green Popsicle) and called Daddy AND Grandma just to share in the excitement!!! What a BIG BOY!!! My hope was renewed after naps and Luke did not disappoint. The rest of the afternoon was one success after another, and rarely did I have to ask him if he needed to use the potty. Instead, he would initiate the bathroom trips and I only had to ask every 20-30minutes or so if he was still dry (no pee) and clean (no poop). No accidents ALL afternoon, except for one teeny-tiny leak when he got so excited when Daddy came home and they rough-house'd a bit. We ventured outside to ride his bike after dinner, and he stayed dry until we came in for a quick potty-break! And we even took a chance with a car ride to drop my car off at the repair shop (it's leaking antifreeze....) and he managed to stay dry the entire 45 minutes we were gone!! I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of him! He's doing such a good job!

So we embark on Day 2 tomorrow with lots of hope! We will remain home-bound again all day to make sure we have a firm foundation for this whole new concept, but hopefully by the weekend, we'll be able to get out a bit. I think tomorrow, we might work on using the potty seat on the regular toilet a little more instead of the little potty. It would be helpful for him to be accustom to going on a regular potty when we are out and about. So.....an overall success today. Let's hope tomorrow is more of the same!