Potty Training 101

In the last couple of months, we bought Taj a potty of his own to practice sitting on and become familiar with. He took to it right away, was very interested in observing us using our big potty, liked being read to while sitting on it, and even had a few successful pees! We would put him on the potty usually 2-3 times a day in the beginning, then taught him the words "peepee", "potty", and "poopoo". Then once I got to reading on a more structured potty training, I taught Taji the difference between "wet" and "dry", began reading potty books to him and showed him the "Once Upon a Potty" dvd, which he loves to watch (these were all great for getting him to sit on the potty for a period of time!)

After all the "prepping", the little boys underwear was bought, and the painters plastic was placed on our carpet and rug areas, Taj was ready to begin the 4-day Potty Boot Camp- Basic Training (by Suzanne Riffel). I said to myself, "why the heck not?!". He's been showing all the signs of readiness, he's almost 17 months old, and why not attempt to have a go since I am home with him on a regular basis and can move about easily with my preggo belly........ Here is our Taji Toddler modeling his big boy underwear (imagine hearing the tune from the "Rocky" Movie), it's like he's preparing for the ultimate battle!

Day 1: Solely consisted of undies (lots and lots of undies!) We said bye bye to diapers for the day (except nap time and bedtime). The timer went off every 10 minutes for "potty time". In between potty time, we had quiet play and I tempted Taji with his water cup, juice, smoothie, anything liquid. He enjoyed sitting on the potty holding on to his puppy and dog buddies, and we alternated between story time and dvd time (Baby Einstein Old MacDonald -his favorite! and the Once Upon a Potty 15 min movie.) He would go 10 minutes between his potty breaks, and the potty breaks would be anywhere from 5-15 minutes long.

If at the end of the 10 minutes, his undies were dry he would get a sticker and big praise, then go right on the potty! If his undies were wet or had poop in them, I would say "Uh Oh, you had an accident!", and "oh no, yucky, you went in your underwear..... now we have to clean it up!" As I changed his undies and cleaned up the mess the whole time I kept emphasizing how pee or poop go in the potty. Then we did a set of "potty drills." I took him by his hand and we would practice walking really fast to the potty from different parts of the house, I would help him pull down his undies and sit on the potty. We did this 10 times during the drill to help him memorize going to the potty.

If after sitting on the potty he had a success (either pee or poop) then he got a reward (which was usually a little toy of some sort), an even bigger praise, and we happily poured the pee or poop into the tiolet and Taji excitedly said "bye bye pee pee (or poo poo)" and flushed the tiolet! He got a big kick out of this and was so excited every time he had a success!

At the end of Day 1, mama was super tired (we couldnt leave the house all day AND it was so freakin hot!), but Taj broke even with successes and accidents. The Grand Total of the day was 8 accidents in his undies, 8 dry undies, 2 pees in the potty, 1 poop in the potty, AND if you can believe this, at the end of the day, after one of our drills he actually went over to the potty himself, said "pee pee", sat on it (with my help), and went pee! Because he had his huge moment, and initiated going to the potty and successfully peeing in it, we made a BIG DEAL about this and proceeded to Day 2 of Potty Boot Camp....... the "Naked Intervals."

The next day, Day 2, Taj went naked. No undies, no diapers..... and lots of lots plastic on the floor and rug rolled up! Brad and I were really nervous about this. Supposedly, the whole point of going naked is that Taj is supposed to have an easier time getting to the potty without having to pull down his undies, and if he has an accident it's suppose to make him feel uncomfortable if he has pee running down his leg. I have to say, although it was nerve-wrecking, since we continued to use the timer (every 15-20 minutes now), Taj had success going poop twice in the potty, going pee a few times on the potty..... but just as many accidents on the floor!! And when he had an accident (like poop or a pee puddle) I felt as if I was cleaning up after a puppy! Even though there was no laundry to do, it was messier and stinkier!
The following photos are of Taj happily peering into his potty after going poo poo in the potty!!

Taj definitely got excited as he observed himself peeing in the potty, or afterwards checking the potty to find there was poop in it, it was a big moment for him, and he was soooo proud and clapped for himself!!! But when he had an accident (whether in his undies or naked) he didn't always notice and it didn't always register. Maybe a couple times he would say "Uh Oh" or start crying from being uncomfortable..... but not every time.

Day 3-4: Who am I kidding....... should I even count these days as Potty Boot Camp? By this point, Taj had only initiated 1x (the very first day), and was very irregular with his successes and accidents. He didn't mind sitting on the potty but he also wasn't making any effort to go to his potty when he should have. I'm not going to say I caved or gave up on the potty boot camp, but let's just say I had to modify it (for my own sanity). Since we wanted to go out and do a few things over the weekend (friday nite date nite, and a pumpkin patch excursion on Sunday), while at home Taj wore undies under his slip-on diapers. We continued using the timer, and every 20 minutes we had Potty Time. He continued to pee in his undies/ diaper, and he also peed and pooped in the potty. At the end of our weekend I came to a conclusion about his potty training progress and whether he was a candidate for Potty Boot Camp Graduation. First off, due to his age, Taj can't quite tell when he has to go pee or potty, he is not consistent about self-initiating, his "puppy", "potty", and "poopoo" all sound the same so we don't know whether he is asking for his puppy, potty, or telling us he is about to go poop. These were the big road blocks on our road to Potty Training success.

However, i think potty boot camp was ultimately a stepping stone in success because Taj continues to want to sit on the potty, uses the vocabulary regularly, is excited and proud when he does have a success.......... so we decided to continue the timer and have regular Potty Times. When at home, I will continue to have Taj wear his undies under his slip-on diaper so he can feel when he's wet and then maybe he will get better at verbalizing it. But when we are out, or on a trip, or in the car it will be difficult to have him wear the undies (because of sanitary reasons) and use a timer. We have a smaller travel potty we will bring with us, so wherever we go (esp on our Big Sur-Monterey Road Trip this week) we will have potty time before/ after going places. My hope is that within the next couple of months we will be able to differentiate between his puppy, poo poo, and potty words, and Taj will learn how to pull his undies or slip-on diaper on and off, and comfortably sit on the potty without our help. Maybe if we don't see progression by his 20th or 21st month, I will put the painter's plastic on the floor again and attempt Potty Boot Camp. Can't blame me for trying to have one boy out of diapers before our 2nd baby boy arrives, but I admit I was ambitious! I don't want the potty to become aversive to him, and we cannot continue living in a home with plastic on the floors. Yet Taj is getting it and I think in no time he will independently run over to the potty and excitedly announce when he has to go!