We've officially started potty training, and I'm thrilled to say that Jackson has been diaper free since last Saturday!
We'd heard great things about waiting to potty train until he was 110% ready, and that it would then be a very quick process, so prior to last week, we hadn't really done any potty training short of talking a lot about it. Occasionally he would want to sit on the toilet to "try" to pee (though he never went) and at school, they tend to have them "try" with a diaper change, but we'd never done anything else to support this transition, so we were nervous about how it would go. We also weren't sure when he'd be fully ready. He did have dry diapers more often than not, so we figured he'd be ready soon.
Knowing that he had to be 3 as well as potty trained to move up to the next class at school, which becomes his first preschool class come fall, we had incentive to get things moving. In addition, one of his best friends and his favorite teacher had moved to this class, so J was looking forward to moving up. Out of the blue last week, he asked, "When are we going to potty train me?", which I took as meaning he was finally fully ready. So, we started talking a lot about potty training and what it meant, we bought Elmo books and a DVD about potty training, and we stocked up on stickers (one for every try, regardless of whether he goes), M&Ms (2 for each pee; 4 for each poop) and a bucket full of toy prizes (to choose from every time he poops). I picked him up a bit early from school one day, and we headed to Fred Meyer to pick out some big boy underwear together.
On Saturday morning, he threw away his diapers (told him that he wouldn't have the option of wearing them; he asked about Cole's but we told him those would be too small), put on underwear, and headed to the toilet every 30 minutes or so. Turns out, he has his mom's camel bladder and really doesn't have to go often (he's only been going about 3 times per day). As an added incentive to go the first time, we told him he could go to the park (his favorite weekend activity), even though it was pouring rain. He finally peed and off to the park he and I went. We hit up the bathroom upon our arrival and he thought the park bathrooms were pretty cool - you get to lock and unlock the stall door, use a fun button to flush the toilet, another button to get soap and to turn on the water, and he was able to use a heated hand dryer for the first time. So of course, he thought he had to go two more times in the 20 minutes we were there (nothing came out) and again as soon as I'd gotten him in his car seat to head home. I quickly realized it was just the novelty of the bathroom but in the interest of avoiding accidents, we kept going. So, in 25 minutes, we hit up the park bathroom four times (more times than I have ever been in a park bathroom in my life). By that last time, the new rule was that he only got to do all the buttons/locks himself if he actually went, which he did during our final trip.
That first day, he had no accidents until right before bed, when he had two. The next day, he had a few in the morning and one in the afternoon, but then was accident free from Sunday evening through Friday morning, where he had his first accident at school. Several of those days, he didn't actually go for well over 12 hours - he'd go before bed but not again until the next afternoon at school (though not for lack of trying...again, the camel bladder). Corey told him if he made it all week at school without an accident he could pick out a toy at the store, but when he went to pick Jackson up from school yesterday, J was so sad that he'd had an accident that morning, so Corey told him he'd still done great and told him he could pick out a Play Doh set, which we did last night. (To add to the sadness, J was wearing school issued shoes that were about 5 sizes too big since his had gotten soaked.)
Because he goes so infrequently and really has only gone during a scheduled trip (even after telling us he doesn't have to go), we're not 100% sure yet that he knows when he has to pee, but he definitely knows when he has to poop - we were outside working in the yard today, and he got quiet and then all of a sudden yelled, "I have to poop, Mommy!" You've never seen me jump up and run as fast as I did then. We were stripping muddy shoes and pants off as we ran up the driveway and into the garage. All worth it though - he made it in time!
He's been wearing Pull Ups for naps and nighttime, just to be safe, but since starting potty training (and 99% of the time for months leading up to it), he's been dry during both.
Overall, he's doing an amazing job, and we are so very proud of him. And it's so nice to have one less kiddo in diapers!
Here's J, picking out packs of big boy undies. As he proudly carried them up to the front of the store and I tried to get some video of this monumental occasion, but he told me "Mommy! Stop it!". I thought kids only started to be embarrassed by their parents when they were in their teens?! Then as we were passing the Starbucks stand on our way to the check stands and he put his undies up on the Starbucks counter - I guess we've bought enough coffee there that he thought that was the check stand. Ha!
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