Potty Training Tips: What Worked For Kian Part 2

Posted by Vulnadia on Jun 26, 2010 at 12:18 PM After weeks of pondering, and knowing that testing for ECE was drawing nearer and nearer, Bregon and I stumbled accross the most wonderful thing ever. We were in Dallas, at the Half-Price Bookstore where all things wonderful can be found, and we ran accross a box of metal signs. One of the just happened to be a big black and red sign that reads "Surrender The Booty " with a giant Jolly Roger on it. This was JUST the thing we had been looking for to turn the babies bathroom into the perfect Pirate Potty for Kian! You see, we had managed to convince him that if we turned the bathroom into a Pirate Potty, he would agree to try attempt potty training for good, sans diapers. So, we brought the boys present home and presented it to them. They were soo very excited about this that Kian promised to only wear big-boy pants for an entire week starting on Monday. Monday rolled around, and he cried and tried putting it off to tomorrow, as he ALWAYS has done, but I told him that Grandgary wasn't going to buy any more Kian diapers until he tried this for an entire week as he had promised. He bought it, and reluctantly wore his big-boy undies (we kept an assortment in the bathroom to choose from in the event of accidents as well as a stack of fresh shorts just in case we needed them-no need to stress about accidents, they happen and are normal and we talk about that constantly to reinforce it.) Vivienne decided to chip in and help us with Kian's endeavors. We agreed that if he made it all week wearing only big-boy pants by day and night-night pants at night and learned not to have accidents, that we would all celebrate on Friday by going to the movies and have popcorn too! He kept his little pirate boy mind on the goal and the prize, and managed to make it through the week somehow. For every time he successfully made it to the potty, he got a potty prize (a sticker.) Every meltdown, we discussed the pending celebration should he make it to Friday and we counted off on a piece of paper kept on the fridge so he could see it and understand. At first, he would scream and cry and ask for a diaper every time he had to go potty. I anticipated this and would say sure, hold on while I go get one, I need for you to wait for me while sitting on the potty, and he did. He always ended up using the potty and we never had to go as far as the diaper. By the end of the week, he had it down pat. To celebrate his first entire accident free day, we baked blueberry cupcakes (muffins) and had a celebration for him. Friday rolled around, and I let him choose between a pull-up and big-boy pants to wear to the movies. He chose pull-ups for insurance. For the celebration story, see part 3!p