Potty Progress

CJ will be 3 1/2 in 2 months. Since about September we have been trying to potty train him, but it just didn't seem to be sinking in. I was sort of forced to use pull ups with him though because of school. They wouldn't let him wear diapers, but also didn't want him wearing underwear since he wasn't trained. So the back and forth to underwear and pull ups wasn't working at all. And well the birth of a new sister probably didn't help matters, but I really need him trained already. So last week when the kids were on vacation I decided okay we're wearing underwear everyday. And he did. He only stayed dry two days during the week, but more importantly we had taken a trip to the store during that week and he stayed dry for a few hours while we were out and about. So I was confident that I could send him to school in underwear as long as the teachers would remind him to use the bathroom. So he didn't end up having school on Monday because there was a delayed opening due to some icy conditions. So Tuesday was our first try with it. He wet twice. Then yesterday he stayed dry at school, but wet shortly after he got out of school. Today he has had a few accidents, but there is a difference in these accidents. You see in the past him being wet did not bother him at all. He wouldn't tell us he was wet or anything. Now, he's starting to notice and not like it so much. I am going to make a chart for him. I got him some stickers which I showed him. If he stays dry all day he'll get a sticker. When he gets 7 stickers he'll get a match box car. He keeps asking for the stickers so I'm hopeful this will begin to work for him. I would like to have him potty trained before the summer. If not we'll be working very hard on it over the summer because if he's not potty trained then he can't go on to the 4 year old program and I think he'd really miss going to school everyday. Plus I'd probably end up having to put off Kindergarten for another year all because he won't use the potty.

The Potty Dance

I have watched commercials for pulls ups about the potty dance. And of course thought well that will never get my kid to use the potty. Then I noticed that my ready to potty train 2 year old was watching it. So I said well there's no harm in going to the website and downloading the song. So I did, and he LOVES it! After watching it once I got CJ to get his potty chair. And after wearing it as a hat for a few I got him to sit on it. Okay, no big deal he's sat on it before, but he flips out if he's bare naked on the potty. And well, keeping your pants on to go potty just isn't going to work. So going step by step with this and getting him accustomed to the potty chair as more than just a fun hat to wear I took his sleeper off and his diaper off and sat him on the potty. And he sat there. He did not scream. He did not get up sleeper around his ankles and try to run and fall flat on his face. He sat for a while. He watched the potty dance while sitting on the potty. He did not go potty yet, but I am pleased with his progress. I guess this Potty Dance song is going to be a huge part of his potty training. So thanks Pull Ups! I won't actually be using Pull Ups for potty training because it has been my experience that they are too close to diapers and they feel free to still go while in them, but we will be watching the Potty Dance a lot!

Note: I tried to add the video here, but could not. So if you want to see for yourself go to the Pull-Ups website