Potty training... WOW

Last year you may remember that the blog turned into 'the toilet diaries' as I made repeated attempts to potty train Josh. It was a year long saga (from his third birthday to almost his fourth) and tale of woe that ended triumphantly when I discovered that it was ME who was needing the training and not Josh at all. When I became consistent so did my little man Josh and though the battle was long and hard I did in fact win the war. Since this is still so fresh in my mind you will (maybe) have some empathy for me when I tell you that Kaleb is three and though I had heard repeated 'he's not trained yet' comments made to me I just couldn't seem to muster the energy I believed it would take to get our self proclaimed 'baby' to use the potty on a consistent basis. I did ask repeatedly, 'do you want to learn to use the potty?' to which the answer was always a loud 'NO!' (I have learned not to ask a question if I have a designed answer in mind). I told him constantly that he was a big boy, to which he would respond 'I am not a big boy! I am a baby!'. So, the diapers continued and I enjoyed my year of potty training peace.

However, the cloud that hung over me knowing that I would eventually need to train him remained and on Tuesday while Kaleb was having his nap I mustered up as much courage as possible and prepared for battle. When he woke up I went upstairs and took him out of his diaper, then I put him in underwear and told him (I didn't ask) that he was a big boy and was GOING to use the potty. We had four accidents that day, 2 the next and none since. Our little man, the stubborn one, the kid who I thought would give me issue over this is now using the potty without any trouble! Unreal right?! I know that Tim and I are still reeling in shock.

The biggest difference between Josh and Kaleb? Why did Josh take so long and Kaleb next to no time at all? I honestly believe it was my approach to it this time. I didn't give him a choice. I threw out the diapers, I used proper underwear (no pull ups) and the most important thing was that I left it totally up to him. I refused to get into a power struggle with him. I told him that he had to keep his pants dry and reminded him (frequently) to tell Mummy if he needed to pee or poo. Not that I am a master of potty training or anything but whatever works right?! I had a few moms asking me about Kaleb's success and after reading so much online stuff about taking the kid every 40 minutes or so to 'try' I figured I would write a post about Kaleb and how giving him the control actually took next to no time at all. Were there any messes? YUP, but after trying the other methods with Josh with no great results (he's trained but it took forever) I figured maybe another voice should be out there on the internet giving Moms other options. Not once did I tell Kaleb to try to pee, not once did I take him to the potty (unless he had an accident - to which we made a big deal about how gross his dirty underwear was and then how nice his clean underwear was).

So now it's out there... just a second thought on potty training.