Day 1:
We started at 8am. The first hour was great. He kept his big boy underwear completely dry.
9am. Lowe's showed up to give us an estimate on windows. Brent was here so he could handle that but they were standing in our living room so I was a little distracted, so that was not the best thing. During that time, we had our first accident. We rushed to the potty.
At this point, we had a potty seat like this:
He went a few times on it, but let me tell you it was traumatic for him. The 3 day book says not to make them try. It says not to let them just sit there. So that's what we were sorta doing. But it was so hard because as soon as you would take him off he would pee, so then you are putting him right back on and he stops, of course. Yikes. To keep calm was a serious challenge. Also every time he starts to pee in the living room, you are to rush him to the potty. Did I mentioned that I am 22 weeks pregnant?? That is hard and painful after a couple of trips. My back is throbbing. Brent is here and helping but if I am the one seeing it starting then of course I will be the one scooping him up and running to the potty.
During the course of the day, Brent went to get this kind of potty chair:
After getting it out of the box, we decided not to use it at that point. The reason Brent went to get it is because Cole is huge and this potty seats are almost too small for him. This one seemed smaller so we didn't want to waste the money if it wasn't going to work either.
False Expectations/Assumptions We Had Going In:
**Of course, I kept telling myself before starting this process that I wouldn't set the bar too high that I know he is still young but we were still going to try. If it didn't work fine but we were going to try before the next baby came. Apparently, you can say that all you want but it isn't true. You still will have expectations, even if they are unspoken.**
1. Cole is a great communicator. We thought it would be so easy for him to tell us that he needed to go potty. Wrong. So wrong.
2. So many things Cole has caught onto or given up without a fight and quickly, so we thought surely this will be the same way. Wrong. Giving up the pacifier. Easy. Sleeping and staying in his big boy bed. Easy.
Overall, Day 1 was a bust. I am not sure how many accidents. I was going to keep track but Cole is like a leaky faucet and just dips almost constantly, which we were counting as accidents on Day 1. Actual full on pours onto the floor I would say about 5-7. But we went through all 17-20 pair of underwear at least twice yesterday. He also wet the bed twice during nap. We were however pleasantly surprised with him sleeping through the night last night. We cut off liquids at 6pm and he was slightly damp this morning but not soaked. His crib mattress pad was not wet at all.
Day 2:
We started about 7:30am. Cole kept his second pair of underwear this morning dry for 2 hours! I was so thinking, "yes! something clicked overnight." Wrong. He still was not communicating the way we thought he would that he needed to go potty. The 3 day book said they did not have to communicate with words to be communicating with you. It could be a dance, a shake, him pulling us by the hand, anything. So that's our learning assignment. What is Cole's way of communicating with us??
From 10:30 to nap time (about 12:30pm), it was a battle. We were all so tired. Hurting. Frustrated.
He only slept an hour and a half and woke up soaked and dirty for the first time. Sorry Brent. He dealt with that one since I was taking a nap break too.
I was so beyond tired and hurting today that it was so hard to hide my anger and frustration. I didn't want to show that to Cole but we had no progress at all. I needed to get out.
A few things I wish we had done before starting this process:
1. Buy potty books and read them to Cole over and over for weeks or months before beginning this process.
2. Read the 3 day book a couple more times.
3. Researched other methods.
4. Taken parts of the method that fit us and go with it. I know this method has worked successfully for others and it still could for us but when you are trying to follow something so clearly to a tee but it doesn't answer every question and it hasn't been studied over and over then mistakes will happen, you will feel like a failure and think constantly "what am I doing wrong here." At least, that is how I felt today.
So at 3:30pm, I went to Barnes and Noble. I took a break. I got Starbucks and went to the children's section and read EVERY potty training book for kids they had. I only liked 3 and edited one of them that used diapers more then I liked and substituted the word underwear for it instead. In almost every book, they made a huge deal about the child getting a present and in that present they found a potty chair. In one book, the child got to pick out his brand new underwear.
Hello to Leigh Ann!! I didn't do any of this. A light went on. I was calm again. I thought "I will try anything at this point." I didn't let Cole pick his underwear or potty seat. There was no big presentation. Sure we showed it to him but it wasn't wrapped or made a gift or anything. Well, that's just what I did when I got home. I wrapped the 3 books I just bought and the potty chair Brent had bought the day before. Cole never really saw it, so it is new to him.
He unwrapped those books, we read them, and then he was given the "big box" present all the books talked about. He was so EXCITED! He carried that potty chair into the bathroom himself.
Breakthrough?? Didn't know at that point. We were still looking for his way of communicating. But you know we were reading those new books over and over. Cole loves to read and remembers books so well. Why didn't I think of this earlier?? It didn't matter, we have them now.
He was a different kid on HIS new potty chair. It seemed to be less threatening to him then the potty seat on the BIG toilet. He could get on and off by himself.
We also decided at this point to let the "dripping faucet" go because we would be rushing to the toilet EVERY second almost. He needed to learn to fully empty his bladder when we went to the potty. This helped. But the 3 day method didn't speak anything about boys and leaky faucets, unless I missed it.
At 6pm, we had our FIRST major breakthrough!! Cole told me, in words, that he needed to go POTTY! We made it to the potty without peeing on the floor and he went a ton in the potty!! Yes! Progress. I felt refreshed. Like a new person. It is SO much easier to be positive, stay calm when you are seeing progress. Not that I shouldn't if I am not seeing progress, but come on you all know seeing progress in anything helps you stay at it.
After that, he told us a few more times. We had a couple more spills but there were more times then before that we were making it to the potty. I am so thankful.
Tomorrow is Day 3. Let's see what that has in store for us. Keep praying for our patience, perseverance, positive attitudes and our progress. I will keep you posted.
