Hi, my name is Emily. And I have a BIG BOY.
As I sat to upload some pictures from my camera the other night, I took a little longer to moon over a few from about a month ago. The back of a diaper sticking out a pair of little pants. A few of Ely in "JD" - Just Diaper - which is how Greg thought he was the cutest. I could almost hear the little hefty-bag-like "swish swish" as he shuffled around the room.
I remember the night one month ago today. Ely had just gotten out of the bath, and Greg made a big deal about putting his diaper on that night. I can't remember the last diaper I changed; I guess I didn't think much of it as I wasn't entirely convinced that it would be the last one I put on him. But here we are one month later. I've given away the last of his Pampers. I haven't bought diapers, wipes, or diaper cream at the store for a month. And Ely's changing table has made the final conversion to bookcase by replacing the changing pad on top with stuffed animals.
I know it's not over. We still struggle with #2 since he doesn't want to go anywhere but home (but really, who ever wants to poop anywhere else?). I know there will be the occasion where we'll be shopping in Walmart and I'll realize his socks are wet. Or he'll be so engrossed in playing outside that he'll forget to tell anyone "it's time" until it's too late. Or we'll be on the road with nowhere to stop. But for the most part, he's a BIG BOY.
He has mastered home and daycare. He's gone at grandma and grandpa's, Walmart, at a port-a-potty at the playground, at Farm & Fleet, in a compost toilet at daddy's work, in a urinal, and yesterday for the first time, outside while on a hike. Come to think of it, he now knows how to pee in more locales than most adults. Our big test is coming in a few weeks when we take a trip to Wisconsin. An hour and a half in the car, in a lodge for a few days, and then a trip to the Milwaukee Zoo. I'm confident that, like almost all transitions this wonderful child has gone through, he will do just fine. After all, he is a BIG BOY.
And you know what's cuter than a little boy in "just diapers"?
A BIG BOY in "just undies"!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
The Pee-Pee Diaries: Days 4 and 5
According to Lora Jensen, you're not supposed to need a Day 4 or 5. Not us. (I want my money back, by the way!)
Day 4 started great and Ely even woke up dry and sat on the potty right away with Greg. Then Greg left for work, and the same old behavior started up again with me. Accident after accident. I tried to remain more positive today, but I was so nervous about dropping him off at daycare the next day that it paralyzed me all day long.
Greg came home while Ely was napping. Ely slept for 3.5 hours (twice as long as usual) and I could tell he was just exhausted with the whole process. I didn't want to give up though, after 3.5 days with no diapers. He did good getting up from his nap, and then we went to play outside. He held it too long and had an accident outside, but I forgive him for that. He did great through dinner and kept his undies dry all evening. He even went potty before bed.
This morning, Day 5, he woke up dry. He went potty before Greg left for work and made it there with no accidents. It was time to leave for daycare and he had downed an entire glass of juice and didn't want to go potty before we left. To preserve the carseat, I put a pair of pull-ups over hs undies and stuck him in the car, hoping he'd keep them dry. I really tried to build up the show-off factor, telling him he'd be able to show everybody at daycare what he could do now.
Sure enough, as soon as we walk in the door, he says "it's time", and I run him into their bathroom where he goes successfully on their potty. I just called after his first 5 hours there, and they say no accidents yet! I guess it was just me after all....
So can I proudly say we're "potty trained"? Hmmm..."trained" would imply that he's been given all the information and skills he needs to be successful and knows how to execute when necessary. So yes. But consistently, no. Let's just say I'm not ready to take any car trip of over 5 minutes yet. Not ready to put him down at night without extra protection, and not totally convinced he'll keep it up once the novelty wears off. In other words, I'm keeping the bottle of Resolve handy for now!
Day 4 started great and Ely even woke up dry and sat on the potty right away with Greg. Then Greg left for work, and the same old behavior started up again with me. Accident after accident. I tried to remain more positive today, but I was so nervous about dropping him off at daycare the next day that it paralyzed me all day long.
Greg came home while Ely was napping. Ely slept for 3.5 hours (twice as long as usual) and I could tell he was just exhausted with the whole process. I didn't want to give up though, after 3.5 days with no diapers. He did good getting up from his nap, and then we went to play outside. He held it too long and had an accident outside, but I forgive him for that. He did great through dinner and kept his undies dry all evening. He even went potty before bed.
This morning, Day 5, he woke up dry. He went potty before Greg left for work and made it there with no accidents. It was time to leave for daycare and he had downed an entire glass of juice and didn't want to go potty before we left. To preserve the carseat, I put a pair of pull-ups over hs undies and stuck him in the car, hoping he'd keep them dry. I really tried to build up the show-off factor, telling him he'd be able to show everybody at daycare what he could do now.
Sure enough, as soon as we walk in the door, he says "it's time", and I run him into their bathroom where he goes successfully on their potty. I just called after his first 5 hours there, and they say no accidents yet! I guess it was just me after all....
So can I proudly say we're "potty trained"? Hmmm..."trained" would imply that he's been given all the information and skills he needs to be successful and knows how to execute when necessary. So yes. But consistently, no. Let's just say I'm not ready to take any car trip of over 5 minutes yet. Not ready to put him down at night without extra protection, and not totally convinced he'll keep it up once the novelty wears off. In other words, I'm keeping the bottle of Resolve handy for now!
The Pee-Pee Diaries: Day 3 - I hate you, mom.
Day 3 really began at 1:30 a.m. when I got him out of bed to try to pee. By 2:30 a.m., he had dry undies on and was back to bed. He woke up dry at 6:30 a.m. Time to start the day. I had gotten up hours earlier to down multiple cups of coffee to ensure optimal "peppiness" on this, what was to be, the last and most magical day when according to Lora Jensen, "it just clicks."
Day 3 was definitely a day of regression and power struggle. By 10 a.m., Ely hated my guts. He kicked and screamed when I'd rush him to the potty mid-accident, and refuse to finish. He hit my face whenever I mentioned potty (Did I mention that according to this particular method, I wasn't even supposed to use time-outs for any type of bad behavior so they wouldn't accidently associate pee-pee and naughty?). He had multiple accidents without even telling me he was going and seemed to get more and more frustrated throughout the day. Now that I write this all out chronologically, he was probably just paying me back for getting him out of bed to sit on a cold potty in the middle of the night.
Then Greg got home from his out of town business-related trip Sunday afternoon. Immediately, Ely turned into Daddy's boy. He wanted to show Daddy what a "big boy" he was and went all afternoon/evening without an accident (he did go during his nap, but he drank too much juice for lunch). Having Greg there really turned it around for him, but me being the self-depreciating, self-loathing person I am, I felt the most rejection I had ever felt in my life. But I guess that's why kids get two parents, right?
The day ended on a positive note, and Greg convinced me to put a Pull-Up on over his underwear for the third night.
Day 3: End Transmission.
Day 3 was definitely a day of regression and power struggle. By 10 a.m., Ely hated my guts. He kicked and screamed when I'd rush him to the potty mid-accident, and refuse to finish. He hit my face whenever I mentioned potty (Did I mention that according to this particular method, I wasn't even supposed to use time-outs for any type of bad behavior so they wouldn't accidently associate pee-pee and naughty?). He had multiple accidents without even telling me he was going and seemed to get more and more frustrated throughout the day. Now that I write this all out chronologically, he was probably just paying me back for getting him out of bed to sit on a cold potty in the middle of the night.
Then Greg got home from his out of town business-related trip Sunday afternoon. Immediately, Ely turned into Daddy's boy. He wanted to show Daddy what a "big boy" he was and went all afternoon/evening without an accident (he did go during his nap, but he drank too much juice for lunch). Having Greg there really turned it around for him, but me being the self-depreciating, self-loathing person I am, I felt the most rejection I had ever felt in my life. But I guess that's why kids get two parents, right?
The day ended on a positive note, and Greg convinced me to put a Pull-Up on over his underwear for the third night.
Day 3: End Transmission.
The Pee-Pee Diaries: Day 2
Day 2 began with a set of soaked sheets. Was I surprised? No. But I was still in good spirits and ready to start the day. I thought "If he could make it to the potty without an accident at least once on Day 1, he'll be getting this down in no time!" Ha!
We started the day with a few accidents, but on Day 2, he mostly "finished" in the potty everytime. We almost missed catching the #2 and ended up with one small little stinky "surprise" in his underwear but he finished going on the potty. (From everything I've read/heard, getting kids to go #2 on the potty is the hardest battle, and he seemed to have this one down!) He had a few more successes in the afternoon of keeping his "undies" dry and making it to the potty on time.
I could tell by the end of the day that he was getting a little sick of talking about it and a little weary of me. Rewards were not really having the effects of the first day and he was definitely tired of being inside.
After he fell into bed that night, I breathed a huge sigh of relief and fell apart a little. I'm so used to having such an independent, well-behaved child (for the most part), that when we're home together, I can walk away from him and not worry if I need to move the laundry along or make a meal. He plays independently and like his mama, seems to need his "alone time" once in a while. For 48 hours, I felt I had been glued to his tiny little Monster Truck-clad butt, and neither of us were really happy about that fact.
Despite my tiredness (and oncoming head cold), I resolved to wake him up in the middle of the night if needed. He began to get restless around 1:30 a.m. and I went in there, got him out of bed, and gently coaxed him to the potty. On which he sat and cried a very tired sob and did not go. I put him back down in his crib after some soothing and rocking, and not 2 minutes later, I hear "it's time mama" through the monitor. Sorry Ely, but it was past time, and now your jammies are soaked.
Day 2: End Transmission.
We started the day with a few accidents, but on Day 2, he mostly "finished" in the potty everytime. We almost missed catching the #2 and ended up with one small little stinky "surprise" in his underwear but he finished going on the potty. (From everything I've read/heard, getting kids to go #2 on the potty is the hardest battle, and he seemed to have this one down!) He had a few more successes in the afternoon of keeping his "undies" dry and making it to the potty on time.
I could tell by the end of the day that he was getting a little sick of talking about it and a little weary of me. Rewards were not really having the effects of the first day and he was definitely tired of being inside.
After he fell into bed that night, I breathed a huge sigh of relief and fell apart a little. I'm so used to having such an independent, well-behaved child (for the most part), that when we're home together, I can walk away from him and not worry if I need to move the laundry along or make a meal. He plays independently and like his mama, seems to need his "alone time" once in a while. For 48 hours, I felt I had been glued to his tiny little Monster Truck-clad butt, and neither of us were really happy about that fact.
Despite my tiredness (and oncoming head cold), I resolved to wake him up in the middle of the night if needed. He began to get restless around 1:30 a.m. and I went in there, got him out of bed, and gently coaxed him to the potty. On which he sat and cried a very tired sob and did not go. I put him back down in his crib after some soothing and rocking, and not 2 minutes later, I hear "it's time mama" through the monitor. Sorry Ely, but it was past time, and now your jammies are soaked.
Day 2: End Transmission.
The Pee-Pee Diaries: Day One - This is Fun!
(Disclaimer: Although it might be hard to write about this day-by-day now that we're through this past weekend, should I or anyone else ever have to go through this again, I want to remember what I did, since no one who has a child older than age 7 or 8 can seem to remember how their kid potty trained!)
Day 1 began like any other day. Ely woke up in a soaked diaper, downed 2 glasses of juice, and relaxed a little on the couch. Enter: big boy undies. He was super excited and kept them dry for about a 1/2 hour. I found myself immediately nervous - Where is he going to pee first? How often will he pee? What signs should I watch for? Am I staring at his crotch too much? Did I buy enough Resolve?
The first accident. The second accident. The third accident. All within the hour. Each time, rushing to the potty. On the fourth accident, he finally "finished" a little in the potty, only to be scared to death by his mother gyrating, dancing, singing, fist-pumping, screaming "Ely, Ely, Ely" in the bathroom. Him thinking, "What the *%@# is she doing?". A flood of praise, high fives, stickers, jelly beans, the whole bit. 5 minutes later, accident.
Later in the morning, I could tell a #2 was coming on, rushed to potty and made it, pushed, got it all in toilet. Mom is on Cloud Nine, Ely is looking a little confused.
The day was dotted with full-on accidents, finishing in potty, and even once in the afternoon, making it to the potty on time with no accident. He even woke up from his 2-hour nap dry as a bone. The magical bedtime hour came with a dilemma. Do I try to make my sleeps-like-a-rock child get up in the middle of the night to pee? Do I do as suggested and sleep in his room, waiting for him to stir in his sleep so I can say "Tell mama if you need to go pee pee" so his little subconcious can register the need to urinate? No. Mama's tired. Let's just see how he does on his own.
Day 1: End Transmission.
Day 1 began like any other day. Ely woke up in a soaked diaper, downed 2 glasses of juice, and relaxed a little on the couch. Enter: big boy undies. He was super excited and kept them dry for about a 1/2 hour. I found myself immediately nervous - Where is he going to pee first? How often will he pee? What signs should I watch for? Am I staring at his crotch too much? Did I buy enough Resolve?
The first accident. The second accident. The third accident. All within the hour. Each time, rushing to the potty. On the fourth accident, he finally "finished" a little in the potty, only to be scared to death by his mother gyrating, dancing, singing, fist-pumping, screaming "Ely, Ely, Ely" in the bathroom. Him thinking, "What the *%@# is she doing?". A flood of praise, high fives, stickers, jelly beans, the whole bit. 5 minutes later, accident.
Later in the morning, I could tell a #2 was coming on, rushed to potty and made it, pushed, got it all in toilet. Mom is on Cloud Nine, Ely is looking a little confused.
The day was dotted with full-on accidents, finishing in potty, and even once in the afternoon, making it to the potty on time with no accident. He even woke up from his 2-hour nap dry as a bone. The magical bedtime hour came with a dilemma. Do I try to make my sleeps-like-a-rock child get up in the middle of the night to pee? Do I do as suggested and sleep in his room, waiting for him to stir in his sleep so I can say "Tell mama if you need to go pee pee" so his little subconcious can register the need to urinate? No. Mama's tired. Let's just see how he does on his own.
Day 1: End Transmission.
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