*choo choo* All aboard the Potty Train!

My last few posts have been more than depressing, so I will follow them up with a happy post. Your welcome. 

Potty Training. Those two words used to stress me out. We had tried several times to get Jack out of diapers, and each time failed. I kept thinking there was something we were doing wrong! I imagined him on dates with his high school sweetie asking her to keep his diapers in her purse during their dinner and a movie outing.
So I pushed him to use the toilet, time and time again. Many "been there done that" Mamas were telling me we were doing everything right, and he just wasn't ready. Yeah yeah, thanks for the encouragement, but he IS ready because by the time he is in high school the 'big purse' fashion will be out of style, and who will carry his diapers in their bag!? So I pushed and pushed again. Ok I wasn't THAT pushy, but I did try to potty train him on multiple occasions.

Well... *drum roll please* you were right Ladies.Yes I said it, YOU WERE RIGHT! :)

Last Tuesday we tried introducing Jack to the potty one more time. It was more of a random act of curiosity than actually trying. This time though, IT CLICKED! He was ready and eager to learn. And boy oh boy did he rock the pants off potty training! No seriously, he hasn't worn pants in 7 days.

I am excited to announce he is officially potty trained! In the last week he has only had one accident, and he has pooped and peed on the potty every time he has to go! WOOOO HOOOO!! Before you start shaking your head in that 'poor woman thinks he is actually toilet trained for good' manner... I realize there will be regressions and accidents, but now I am confident that Jack has the knowledge he needs to learn from those accidents. He is so so so smart! I know every mom says that about her child, but come on guys... Jack is the smartest kid in the whole wide world :)

My Potty Training Techniques:

- First step is teaching him with our words exactly what the rules of potty training are. i.e. "Jack, no more diapers. We are going to put our pee and poo poo in the potty from now on. Where does pee and poo go?" and make him repeat the rules back to you. I still ask Jack throughout the day where his pee goes and he says, "in da potty". That way we are confident in his understanding of the process.

- Naked bottom! This is a MUST! He has not worn pants (or undies) for an entire week. We just introduced underwear today since we are having company this weekend. But the past week of him being able to go sit on the potty whenever he felt the urge was what did the trick! In fact I haven't told him to try going potty in several days. If he needs to pee, he sits on the potty and pees! We are working on teaching him how to pull down and up his undies... that's going to take a lot of practice. But he is doing good so far :)

- We rewarded BIG TIME. If he even tinkled a little in the potty we would jump up and down and do a crazy potty dance and follow it up with a treat. Hershey kisses were his treat of choice. But I switched to M&Ms since the kisses were too much sugar for a kid who pees 27 times a day ;)

For those Mamas who are climbing aboard the Potty Train: don't give up! It's a stressful thing to teach a child, but when they are ready to learn, it will click! Until then, enjoy the convenience of diapers. You will miss them!