It's All About Poop & Pee. Read On.

I have never thought, talked or prayed so much about poop and pee in my entire life.

But that's not a bad thing because I did it!  I potty trained Matteo, and he was amazing!  I had planned it for at least a couple of weeks beforehand and gradually gathered things I needed, like the potty chair and training underpants etc.  It was Spring Break this past week, so he didn't have Mother's Day Out so I figured it would be a great time so suck-it-up and have a week at home to go cold-turkey on diapers.  I would rather have a totally hard and sucky week at home than potty train for a miserable amount of months that never seem to end.  My sweet friend Jaclyn (who I'm now indebted to for all her help!) gave me totally great motivation, advice and encouragement.

I got the potty chair set up in the hallway between the living room area (the room that the kids and I are always in every day) and the bathroom.  I have heard that it's better to have the potty chair in the bathroom, but I have two other children to take care of/keep an eye on so I had to be realistic.  I had all my supplies too...

 

-m&m's for his rewards (or, "treat" as we call it)
-books for kids (a lot of potty training books for kids such as Everyone Poops)

 

-the Elmo Potty Time DVD (just to keep the theme of the day(s) on-topic)
-literally thirty pairs of clean underwear, turned out to be more than enough!

-Clorox bleach wipes
-my swiffer mop
-hand sanitizer (that I was using after washing my hands with soap and water!)
-towels to clean up accidents
-lots of juice for creating ample learning opportunities
-clean sippy cups

as well as everything I needed for the twins at my finger tips...basically I wanted to make everything readily available so I didn't have to take my eyes off Matteo.  I knew from my first try at potty training a few months ago that the second I would take my eye off of him he would pee on the floor/in his underwear.

So, Monday morning, I put on his big boy underwear (training undies-the kind with a little bit of padding, but they are not plastic-they are cotton).  He had probably six accidents on Monday and I would just say "oh no!" when it would happen, and rush him to the potty.  I was patient and did not by any means get mad or scold him when he would have an accident.  He would finish peeing on the potty- I was so happy and relieved!  Yay!  Success!  Every time he would go on the potty he would get two m&m's.  When he pooped on the potty he got three (or maybe six) because I was so happy.  We have a whole song and dance and would cheer and clap for every success.  Twas very upbeat and as fun as these things can be.

I decided I would go ahead and let him sleep in pull-ups at nap and night time but I noticed he would fuss and not settle-plus Tuesday morning he woke up dry.  I figured if we want to take away pull ups, now would be the time.  So, we did, and he hasn't had a night time accident all week and he actually seemed pleased and happier with no pull-up.  So funny how he had such a strong preference, yet, so like him with all the personality he has!

Tuesday morning he had two accidents and at that point I said to Matteo; "Please don't pee on the floor, ok?" and he didn't anymore!  How amazing is that?!  He went the rest of Tuesday and all day Wednesday with out an accident and beyond that hasn't had but a couple here and there.  He has been amazing at telling me he has to go potty, then I take him in there and he goes, we cheer and we move on!  Somewhere in there, I believe it was by Wednesday or Thursday I gradually moved the potty chair closer to the bathroom, and then into the bathroom.  Then I tried putting him on the toilet but he was not happy about that.  So I let him use the potty chair again, but later when he wasn't looking I took the potty chair and hid in it another room.  The next time he asked to go potty, the only option was the toilet with a cushioned little kid seat on it.  He was very hesitant about it but it didn't take long and he used it very well.

He is successfully peeing and pooping in the potty although, he is not very patient and I have to tell him that "poop takes longer than pee" so that he will sit there long enough.  If you know what I mean.  But the accidents are very few and far between.  Basically this boy potty trained in two days.  He is amazing!  It was hard work, but short lived.  I seriously felt like Tuesday (the day I knew he had it down) was the best day of my life.  It was such an accomplishment and I was ecstatic!  My friends and family were all praying and very supportive and I couldn't have done it with out them!

Yesterday, we went to the birthday party for Matteo's friend, Dean, who turned three and Matteo went, he played, he had a great time and we managed to make it back home DRY!  Today, we went to church and he even went pee pee in the big potty with his teacher and we made it home DRY!  We then had to drive to the southwest side of town and he had an accident in the car, but that is a long drive, so it's no big deal.  He kept saying "Oh no! Oh no!" just like I say when he has an accident!  Pretty smart kid!

He really picked up the concept extremely quickly and I'm so proud of him and I'm so happy and so relieved too.  I really thought it would take much longer.  Now, I need to take a year to amp myself up to potty train the twins!