Potty training

This entire entry has a lot to do with pee and poop. You've been warned. Saturday morning Rich left to "play swords with Travis" (go to an SCA event) and left Ian and me to co-chill at the house. We started out the day with a diaper change and then some cereal. After a bit, I had to go potty but that means I get all kinds of company. So after Ian pats my butt with toilet paper and marvels at whatever he finds in the toilet, he gets to flush and close the lid. Pretty exciting for a two-year-old.

I casually mentioned that when he was ready, he could pee and poop in the potty like we do and wouldn't need diapers anymore. He blurted out "OK!" and started yanking down his pants. Well, okay then.

So we sat on the Lightning McQueen potty and played with the handle and didn't do much of anything other than talk about it. But after that, he didn't want his diaper. After all, I said if you use the potty, you don't need diapers. So we headed upstairs to gather up the two dozen pairs of undies for him to pick out a pair. He settled on Thomas the Tank Engine (duh) and we headed out to the enclosed porch to play trains in the sun.

The nice thing about the enclosed porch is the floor out there is nothing special so I wasn't too worried when an hour later Ian shouted "Mommy, there's pee everywhere!" Sure enough, we had to clean up the pee and pick out another pair of undies (Thomas again, duh).

The next time was a little more tricky because he was in the choo choo room but we ran over to the bathroom mid-pee and at least talked about the process. He napped and stayed dry the whole time and we even went to Mamaw and Pop's without incident (though I did bring along several pair of undies, pants and socks).

Two things were adorable. One, he kept declaring "I have to go potty!!!!" and start sprinting from across the house. We would then sit on the toilet and then stand in front of it, him holding his "wiener" and leaning forward with this look of concentration. Then he would sigh this exasperated sigh and say, "it's not working, Mama." Poor guy.

Then one time I asked him if he had to poop and he declared "I need to potty but I'm going upstairs like Daddy does. You stay here Mommy." (Daddy is apparently only able to "see a man about a dog" upstairs in the master bath and this has not gone unnoticed by Ian.)

He only wore a diaper once Saturday night because Rich didn't want to get dinner and find out Ian had peed all over the restaurant. But we came back to a totally dry boy! Saturday night, we all went on faith and slept in undies in one big bed together (Rich was very dubious but I'm happy to report Ian woke up dry). We spent most of Sunday on "red alert" waiting for a poop to come. We had a few more misses and a few more successful potty trips.

Sunday evening we had dinner guests, and had to casually inform them that our son decided to potty-train himself this weekend so they'd have to be patient with a lot of bathroom trips and not a lot of pants. Everyone was game.

Around 7pm, Ian declared he needed to pee. We got that done but he was still walking in circles and acting off. He didn't want his undies and he didn't want the potty and he didn't want a diaper. I figured out that he had to poop but was scared to. We talked about our options but he didn't want a diaper. After a lot of tears, he managed to poop on the potty and there was much rejoicing! We even had dinner guests to help celebrate!

We were unsure how to deal with school on Monday. I packed his usual six diapers but also packed six pair of undies, six pair of pants and six pair of socks. Oh and a spare blanket in case he peed at nap time. I love our day care so much and particularly Ms. Evelyn. When she opened the bag of undies she whooped like there were winning lottery tickets in there! I was excited! I told them we had no expectations but they could do as they saw fit.

I'm pleased to say that today we picked up a proud dry boy! He wore a diaper at nap but didn't get it wet and he only had one accident all day (coming in from outside play). We took him to the park after school and that was a completely dry affair. Only when we got home was there some consternation. He still had to poop and was very worried.

We went through a lot of circling and sitting and standing and crying. He wanted the undies but didn't want to put them on yet (knowing he had to poop). We finally coaxed him on the toilet with the promise of yogurt raisins and playing iZoo on Mommy's phone (awesome app by the way). So once he sat there for a bit and calmed down, he started to try. His poor little eyes got all big and he just started crying. I held his hands and let him lean on my shoulder and kept whispering he was doing great, just like a poop doula would. As the satisfying sound of little plops hit the water, he started to rally. We got up and marveled and what he had wrought. We talked about our options of toilet paper versus wipes. We hugged. And finally we were able to wash our hands and put on fresh undies.

We talked about how some things are spooky if we've never done them before but after we do them a few times it gets better. He had some parallel about Henry the train getting scared by some "ghosts" that turned out to be nothing to be scared of.

So I'm completely exhausted, but so proud of our boy.

Our chatty bedtime routine

This is what it's like when we go to bed. This entire conversation happened in the pitch black of the bedroom in our bed. Some notes for those following along at home. He has a video from Aunt Trish that has holiday/snow themed Thomas the Tank Engine shorts on it and in one of them Oliver the train runs into a giant snow man. Ian is very worried about the fate of that snowman. He asks frequently what happened to the snowman. He watches the video a lot on his little portable DVD player while playing trains in the choo choo room.

Messy Birds = Angry Birds (because when they hit the towers they make a big mess)

We also were playing on my giant yoga/exercise ball this evening and Ian rolled off of it onto the floor with his face.

There have been several playground visits recently, both at Chick-fil-a and at MacArthur Center, and at one point or another it can be overwhelming for him because of either the volume or the number of kids.

Ian Bedtime Chatting (6:40)

Potty like Travis

At the exact moment I was taking this picture, Ian was peeing on the floor next to his train table. I thought he looked awfully intent on the trains.

At first we were hanging out in the garage with Daddy and Travis. Travis and Ian were throwing the ball around but Travis said he needed to go use the restroom. When Ian asked where Travis went, I told him he had to go potty so he went inside since he's a big boy.

About 15 minutes later after Travis had returned and we had all moved on to other things, Ian declared he needed to go inside to go potty. But Mommy didn't need to go, he would be right back. He was just going to go inside to potty like Travis had.

I watched him run to the back door, let himself in, successfully close the storm door (which is no small feat) and remind me "I be right back!" as he turned around. I slowly followed behind and peeked inside to hear him in the choo choo room talking to his trains. But as I came around the corner, he burst through the door and said, "Mommy! I need to potty!"

He pulled his pants down on his own, asked for help with his diaper and sat on his Lightning McQueen potty. I went to put his diaper away and heard the bathroom door shut since apparently Ian needed some privacy.

A minute later he yelled out, "Mommy! I all done! My pants are wet!"

I walked in and he had peed in the potty ... and the floor and all over his pants. Apparently in mid-pee was when he decided he needed privacy. He walked around for a bit with no pants on and said he was going to poop. I was dubious but when I was distracted taking photos of him concentrating on trains, he stood up and said, "Mommy! There's pee everywhere over here!"

And there was! So apparently all our son needed to be inspired to potty like a big kid was Travis. Now to get him to understand how to stay on the potty until he's really done peeing.

But we're getting there. Travis now needs to come over every evening to continue potty training our child.