Diaper-Free Zone

Ok, I've been meaning to post this for a while - like, uh, a LONG while. Like, I wrote most of this about 6 weeks ago and it was old news then. But first I was a little pre-occupied with sinus pressure, chest congestion and a sore throat and then planning and preparing for a transformers birthday and then Easter and all that combined with my general tendency toward procrastination and you are now reading about events that started in January! Ugh. Anyway... we have reached a new level of parenthood at our house. We. Have. STOPPED. Buying. Diapers!!! Well, actually, we stopped buying diapers last year, so I guess it's more accurate to say we've stopped buying pull-ups. In fact, I don't even remember the last time I bought them. I think it was sometime before our trip back in December. I don't know what made me do it, but one day during the last week of January, I decided to put Ethan in underwear and restart the whole rewards chart business. Looking back, I can't believe I was even so bold as to take Ethan out on an errand wearing underwear on the FIRST day of the potty-training restart, but I did. And you know what? He had an accident. And, I'm kinda glad. I realized it wasn't the end of the world. You see, one of my biggest fears was Ethan having an accident while we were out. But, since he had a little accident the very first time, I got over that fear real quick and came to the realization that Ethan is not the first kid to have an accident in Target and he certainly won't be the last. In fact, it was such a little amount, his clothing contained it all and no puddles were left on Target floors. As a mom, that was a good lesson for me to learn. Especially because the next day, at the park, he had another accident. I was a little more prepared for it, though, and knew I had been pushing our time away from a toilet. Since then, I think there have been a whopping TWO accidents outside of our home. Lots of accidents inside our home, but only two while out-n-about. Yay!

I am SO GLAD I waited to re-attempt potty training. See, I had it in my head over a year ago that because I was home more, maybe we could master potty training before Ethan turned three. Ha! That was a joke! Such a battle. Neither of us were really ready and we quickly learned that we are both very stubborn. Hmm. Wonder where he gets that from! We did, however, also learn that the problem was not Ethan being able to go potty on the toilet - it was him wanting to go and recognizing when he needed to go.Fast forward back to the end of January.... Within the week, daytime pull-ups were completely non-existent and although he was waking up dry most mornings, the hurdle with Ethan wearing underwear at night was really more my issue than Ethan's. Another potty training fear of mine had been the night-time accidents. Also, within just a few weeks, the only real stumbling blocks we were having were 1. Ethan recognizing on his own and initiating when he needed to go potty. 2. Going #2 in the toilet and 3. Having no night-time accidents. Ethan was really good about going potty when we reminded him every couple hours, but was still not quite recognizing the urge to go. Also, we did the whole rewards chart deal. It was a daily chart and he got 1 sticker every time he went potty on the toilet and 2 if he went #2. If the chart (7 spots) was full at the end of the day or if he'd had no accidents, he got to pick from my stash of new Matchbox/Hot Wheels cars and trucks. We did these charts just for 2 weeks and the potty part was mastered.

Fast forward again to the beginning of March and Ethan was now telling us when he needed to go to the bathroom with us only reminding him before bedtime and before leaving the house. Stumbling block #1: done. To fix stumbling blocks #2 and #3, I changed the reward chart. No stickers for going potty, just one for going #2 in the toilet and one for being dry in the morning. I think there were 10 spots on the chart, so it was filled in less than a week, but it took more than just a day or two. The reward? A Matchbox-size Transformers car!! This is a BIG DEAL in our house right now because Ethan is just a little bit obsessed with all things Transformers. He earned Optimus Prime, Ratchet and a couple others. Stumbling blocks #2 and #3 were pretty much fixed with the first two charts, but we've done a couple more for just being dry in the morning because that's the only issue we still have occasionally. I will happily pay $2-$3 for a potty chart reward over $25+ for a package of pull-ups!!I still find it hard to believe the potty training process was over so quickly. And easily for that matter because other than some issues with #2, we cleaned up relatively few potty accidents. Yes, I wish it'd been done a little sooner, but he was still just three and I will take a successful "late bloomer" over months and months of semi-success at an earlier age. I am so proud of our little Ethan and he is a freakin' CUTIE in his Cars and Transformers underwear!! I still haven't quite gotten used to these little pairs of underwear showing up in the laundry. :)