Adventures in potty training

Happy New Year! We were off to a good start in 2014 and my first task of the year was to potty train Graham. 

(*Reminder)- The purpose of my blog is to be sort of a journal that hopefully Graham and Anne Holland will look back on one day so they can read and see pictures of what life was like for them growing up. With that being said, I feel it's only fair to put ALL the details of their childhood in the blog, even the dreaded potty training! So if potty talk is not your thing, feel free to breeze through this blog  ;-)

I bought a little potty seat that fits on top of the toilet (lightning McQueen of course) a while back because Graham started showing interest in using the potty.  Occasionally he would say "I want potty time" and we would sit him on the seat. Sometimes he'd go tee tee and sometimes not but we always made a big deal about how BIG he was. Thinking this approach would make it easier to eventually potty train I waited and waited until realizing that I was going to have to just bite the bullet and potty train the old fashioned way.  New Years eve day Ayden was home from work so between the two of us I felt sure we'd cross this milestone off our list.  I have to admit, potty training has been the one milestone I've been dreading for Graham. Not only am I not a fan of messes and cleaning up accidents, etc. it means it's the last stage for him as a baby-no diapers means he's officially a big boy, something that's a little hard for me to grasp.  I seriously teared up when I was buying his big boy underwear-how can he be in underwear?!?!?! Oh, and did I mention the poor child has been battling chronic constipation since he turned one, yeah-more on that later.

So we were armed with our stickers, potty chart, candy, special prizes and big boy underwear. We told Graham the night before that it was his last night in diapers, diapers were for babies and he was a big boy and would now wear big boy underwear. (Side note- I chose not to read any books, just followed advice from friends on what worked for them) We woke up, had breakfast then let Graham choose his big boy underwear. He proudly chose a pair and after saying to him one million times "let us know when you need to potty" he finally said "I need to go potty".  We ran to the potty, sat him on the seat and he did it! We were a little unorganized on how we would reward/praise him, so as we were putting the sticker on the chart and explaining the prizes I looked over and he said "uh-oh I had a little accident" and he was standing in a puddle.  *Note to future potty trainers- if your kids starts to have an accident DO NOT MOVE THEM, let them finish and then clean it up! My instinct was to pick him up and run to the potty which resulted in a trail of wet stuff that I'm sure Lucy and Anne Holland were stepping in as I tried to run and put him on the potty while trying to remain calm.  Step 2 was to take up all the rugs in the living room (duh! should have been step 1). After the mess was cleaned and fresh undies were on we again said over and over "tell us when you need to potty". I am proud to report that after 3 short days and only 4 accidents he had it down! Since then he has told us every time he needs to potty, has not had any accidents and is doing great.  He wears pull ups at quiet time and to bed at night but undies throughout the day.

He had a little anxiety going potty at school but his teachers have been awesome and very encouraging.  After attempting to hold it the entire school day (4 hours) resulting in accidents, etc. we devised a plan to encourage him with stickers (he's so darn proud of those school potty stickers and EVERYONE at CCK knows Graham went potty at school this week).

Now on to the fun part- number 2's. I mentioned Graham has chronic constipation, this is no doubt from his very picky diet which consists of wholesome items such as 1)snicker doodle muffins 2)grilled cheese sandwiches-preferably from Firehouse Subs 3)Kraft mac n' cheese 4)cheese its 5) drinkable yogurt, and yep-that about covers what he likes to eat.  This is NOT what he is given every day-I still put fruits and veggies and meats on his plate every day, which he just turns his nose up at. We give him a dose of Miralax in his juice cup each morning (per his pediatrician's advice) which seems to help but I feel like the child will never poop in the potty! He actually did it once, and I think it terrified him when he saw it, and now he just waits until quiet time when he has on his pull ups to go number 2.  Oh, the joys of potty training! I know he'll do it eventually, but the tears and fits and anxiety he has over going "stinky" is just terrible! My strong willed little boy will just have to make up his mind to be a big boy and go in the potty.  Overall, he's doing great and I know a lot of kids have trouble conquering no 2 in the potty.

So that pretty much covers what's been going on in our house since Jan 1st. Lovely, I know, but one of the MANY things motherhood has taught me is that "potty talk" is just part of the deal. I am SO glad to have one out of diapers!!