yeah, i said it! this week i am happy about pee and poop! a better explanation would be because elijah started potty training this week. when all of my other children were younger, potty training was a step we took with the help of preschool teachers. i worked then and i was very grateful for their help because i am not the most patient person in the world, by no means. this go round, it was solely up to us to do all of the potty training.
for months now, we would try and then quit, try and then quit because elijah just wasn't interested and we were clueless about how to get him motivated in the right direction. we bought the undies and the potty seat, but every time elijah sat on the toilet, he cried. it was extremely frustrating. so for some time, we gave up, telling ourselves that as long as he was potty trained by the time he was 3, it would be okay.
then finally, this past week, i started talking to elijah about going potty again. we went out to target, bought a chart and some stickers and came home and went at it. each trip to the potty gets him a sticker for his chart if he pees. 5 successful potty attempts allows elijah to pick a prize from our little "treasure box". elijah also loves the ipad, so we decided to start associating his time spent on the potty with being able to play on the ipad. a successful BM is rewarded with time on the ipad. we even changed up the words to the yo gabba gabba song "there's a party in my tummy, so yummy, so yummy!" to "there's a party in the potty, alright-y, alright-y!" to keep him motivated. it worked because elijah loves it!
our little system has been so wonderful that elijah has only had 3 pee accidents and 1 poop accident in a whole week...not including the nasty stomach virus he had yesterday that caused him to have a few accidents. we don't count those against him because who would ever expect a freshly potty trained child to control a bout of diarrhea? we honestly never believed he would catch on so quickly this time and we are so proud of our little man for such great strides to be diaper free.
except for at nap time and at night, he is in underwear all day, but is waking up dry with his diapers. we have even made a couple trips out into public with no accidents. not only has my little man made his mommy's week, i am pretty proud of myself for being so patient with him through this difficult transition. woo hoo!
linking up with mrs. stephanie t. for little bits of happiness v.21
