I can't believe it's been over six months since G has been potty trained! I have meant to document this accomplishment-because it is a HUGE accomplishment for all involved! Lol!- for so long but I am just now getting around to it!
My motivation: get G out of diapers before mid-June when our summer travels began so I didn't have to pack two sets of diapers. My plan of action: the three day, hard core method. We blocked out our schedule for the weekend, stocked up on stickers and m&ms, read "potty" books, and prepped for lots of little accidents. We talked up potty training with G like it was the best thing since sliced bread. We even had a song we sang. Yes. We sang the potty song. (Gotta do what you gotta do! Trust me, I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever say the words "potty", "pee pee", or "poop" as much as I do these days! Ha!)
Day 1: We set up the frog potty in our T.V. room with a big towel underneath it, pumped G full of liquids all day long, and sat him on the potty for 5 minutes at a time every 30 minutes. Every time he peed in potty he got a sticker that he put on his sticker card. Five stickers earned him some m&ms.
Well...after day 1 of accident after accident and both of us getting frustrated with the whole thing, we were ready to give up. I was convinced that this whole "potty training" thing was really an inside joke parents played on newbies like us. They would eventually tell me that they really paid a professional to come potty train their kids, and slip me the business card of that service as they laughed at my attempt to do it myself.
No such luck.
Day 2: To my surprise, something clicked with G and the method started working! He did great! He was still quite hesitant about pooping in the potty, but our success rate was quickly climbing! We spent tons of time outside during these 3 days, encouraging him to go anywhere, just not in his new underoos! I think G liked this newfound freedom! HA! Here he is helping me water the garden! (I promise he had clothes on... most of the time!)
Day 3: G did great! I began to see the light at the end of the tunnel and it was like a whole new world! As a momma who'd been changing diapers on two little bums for a while, it sure was a good feeling to cut that in half! We met a little more resistance when it came to pooping in the potty, but I tried to make it fun for him--did I really just say that?! Oh how my life has changed!
From Day 1 of the PT process, we did away with diapers. Totally. For naps and bedtime, we put him in "bedtime underoos" aka Pull-Ups. We made sure, especially at the beginning, not to even say the d word. He was a big boy now and big boys didn't wear those, they wore underoos.
A couple days after our 3 day PT, we set out on a 2 day road trip to my parents' house in FL. We had two rules for our road trip: #1 Have fun! #2 Don't pee pee in your underoos! The kid did great! Not a single accident the whole way down! A week into our trip, G didn't want anything to do with the frog potty anymore either, he'd moved on to the real potty. Yay!
I would highly recommend this method to anyone looking into potty training their little one! Just be patient, and hang in there! You'll be happy you stuck with it when Day 3 rolls around and you're diaper free!
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