Saturday, November 23, 2013

Potty Training Progress

To spare those on Facebook from hearing about Gordon Lee's latest adventures in pottying, I decided to come here to share his success.  I know that I find myself searching out blogs, Facebook posts, articles, etc. on the road to potty training as we go through it here.  So, I felt I would share my own experience for that same reason.

When Gordon Lee was almost 2 years old, it appeared that he was almost potty trained.  Our method then had been to take him to the potty at set times until he became accustomed to learning when he had to go on his own.  He was doing very well until he simply decided one day that he did not want anything to do with it anymore.  At the time, he had not been telling us when he needed to go, we were just taking him as a preventative measure.  So, I took the advice of many who have done this before me and I left him alone so as not to stress him out.

After leaving him alone, he started slowly showing signs of readiness again.  About 2 weeks ago, he started rebelling against diapers.  Getting one on him was a battle, and I told him that if he didn't want to wear a diaper, he would have to wear underwear and go potty.  I waited until last weekend when I felt I really had time to dedicate to getting him potty trained.  I simply switched him straight to underwear.  A friend of mine gave me a tip that she used with her son.  She gave him a temporary tattoo when he went potty (as a physical reminder on him that he did a good job), but when he didn't go on the potty, she would take it off.  Well, taking the tattoo off didn't work with Gordon Lee.  He didn't care.  He did, however, enjoy having the tattoo put on.  So, every time he went, we gave him a temporary tattoo.  He was very excited about this and started showing off his tattoos.

  The first day, he had about 2 accidents.  However, those were only because he did not catch it in enough time to get on the potty, but he had tried.  The second day was better with only 1 small accident.  My memory is getting a bit fuzzy after that, but I am pretty sure day 3 was completely accident-free.  Since then, he has not had 1 single accident and tells us every single time he has to go. 

Today, in fact (one week after the start of this), he had several firsts! 
1.) First time holding his pee until the morning! Stating over the monitor "I have to pee!" I took him to the potty and he went!
2.) I took his special superhero potty seat out with us today when we went shopping (after having him go before we left the house).  At two places we visited, he said he had to go potty, but when I took him in the bathroom, he became afraid of the toilet--even with his own potty seat on it.  I tried to show him it wasn't scary by allowing him to flush it, but he wasn't convinced.  Finally, we were about 5 minutes away from home when he exclaimed he had to pee.  We went into Taco Bell. I took him in the bathroom, but he was still scared.  I decided to ignore his fears and plop him on his potty seat on the toilet and then say, "See? It's not scary at all!" I think, due to the fact that he had to go so much, he went with it.  Then, after getting off of the potty, he said, "That not scary at all!" while walking tall and proud as if he was never afraid. I gave him the biggest tattoo we had for being a "big boy" and going on a "big potty." He was extremely excited about this!
3.) He did his first #2 on the toilet today! This one has been an ordeal for awhile as he has been afraid of it.  Yet, he conquered his fears once again and found himself much happier than going in a diaper.

I am so proud of him and I would highly recommend temporary tattoos as a potty training tool.  It really has worked for Gordon Lee!  In fact, he is at the point now where he doesn't want one every time he goes.  He just goes because he has to go.