jack’s big adventure

big-boy undies (with his favorite characters – Cars, Diego, Handy Manny) – CHECK

“Cars” themed potty chart and Thomas stickers – CHECK

new Highlights magazines and books by the toilet – CHECK

a little boy who states “Dr. Hartman said I was ready, so let’s do it.” – CHECK

IT’S POTTY BOOT-CAMP TIME!!!!

Jack’s “station” 

Monday – Day 1: 

Bad Parenting move, but we have been so busy on the weekends that Scott and I (okay, mainly me) decided to just start on a Monday after Jack talked about it all weekend.  So – this was left up to Katie to handle the 1st day of Potty Boot-Camp.  Looking back, we were both sad that we weren’t there the 1st day and it probably wasn’t the brightest idea, but, they made it work.  We decided on more of the “boot-camp” approach – no leaving the house, setting the timer for every 20 minutes, no Pull-ups, just undies or naked.  We are using the chart w/ stickers to start, but may move on to a reward of marshmallows/M&M’s if that doesn’t work (really attempting not to reward with food.)  Katie eventually learned to leave the room, as Jack asked “Can I have some privacy?” – think he was having a bit of stage fright.

**Pairs of undies used:  7

**BM accidents: 1

**Stickers on the chart:  5

**Meltdowns by Jack:  1

All in all, a GREAT first day – we celebrated by having a pizza picnic and he got to use the Special Red Plate!

Tuesday – Day 2: 

Scott stayed home in the morning to experience this with him (such a sweet Daddy) and said that he did a great job.  They set the timer and he went a couple of times in the toilet, but mainly they just sat and read magazines together.  At one point he said “Daddy, I have to poop,” but got to the bathroom and nothing happened. 

**Pairs of undies used:  5 (1 less!)

**BM accidents: 0 (he just didn’t go at all…)

**Stickers on the chart:  7

**Meltdowns by Jack: 0

Wednesday – Day 3:

After a discussion with Scott last night, we decided to forgo the use of the timer, as the more we thought about it, the more that it just doesn’t jive with our parenting style.  we are not super-scheduled with our kids (i know, amazing if you know me) and felt that that was putting a wee too much pressure on jack and he was just getting annoyed.  so – the goal for today was to get jack to tell katie when he had to go, and to leave the house (jack was feeling a little cooped up and so was kt!).  Well – around 9:30, Jack finally pooped on the toilet!  Success!  Katie was so excited, they called me and Jack was really proud of himself!  They ended up going to the farmer’s market, where Jack also peed at Starbucks on the way (another big step since it is public), and then had a tiny accident when they got there.  The rest of the day was pretty good – a couple little accidents at night, but he is still working on actually telling us when he has to go; i think this may be a hard concept for boys…

**Pairs of undies used:  5

**BM Accidents:  0!

The other thing that happened today is the questions started – about penis’ and vaginas.  it was hilarious.  And Daddy picked up some more underwear – the 6 pair that we had were NOT enough – and Jack loves them because who is on them? Of course - LIGHTNING MCQUEEN.

Thursday - Day 4:

Well, the day started off a little rough with a BM in the undies, but Jack woke up on the wrong side of the bed and i think just didn’t want to deal with it today.  Boo.  But he rallied later and went the entire park trip dry and peed in the bush at the park.  Katie was really excited!  He had a couple more little accidents throughout the day, but we also had to switch to his little potty seat, as I did not know that you couldn’t flush wipes, so our toilet is clogged and we need to get a plunger.  Oops.  We also started rewarding with M&Ms – again, this doesn’t play into our parenting philosophy (rewarding with food or anything for basic accomplishments), but it seemed to get him excited and i have heard that it sometimes the only thing that works with boys – BRIBING.

**Pairs of undies used:  only 4!

**BM accidents:  1

Friday - Day 5:

The day started strong with a pee in the little potty, which plays a song when he pees, and i think he likes that.  And Katie just texted me that Jack just actually told her that he needed to poop and they went to the toilet, and Voila!  Woo hoo!

So – we are on our way, I think.  I want to give a big THANK YOU to Katie for her help this week – she is obviously very involved since she is home all day.   The clean-up hasn’t been a blast, but anything is better than diapers, right? 

I am just going to take days off with Emma next time, but she will probably be a snap.

And i also HATE the word “potty” – so i am now calling it the toilet.

Way to go, buddy – we are so proud of you!

Any other tips from any moms that have gone through this?  The big question that i have for moms of boys especially – jack doesn’t go more than 30 minutes without being wet – do boys just pee that often or is it is body getting used to it?