Okay, that’s totally not what you asked. In the Skribit widget in my right sidebar, someone asked “Are you potty training? What are you doing and how is it going?”

I’ve been meaning to blog about it but haven’t had much free time yet this summer. What time I have had has been spent steaming and pureeing food for Bella and for recipes. Anyhoo…

Primo is only 27 months old (letter coming…) so he’s very young for a boy to be potty training. However, he’s kind of a smarty pants. He’s been peeing on the big toilet and, occasionally, his Boon potty, a couple of times a day since he was 18 months old. That was when he started peeing in the tub a lot so we wouldn’t put him in until he peed. It took him no time at all to catch on and he’s been doing that ever since. I knew he understood the sensation of peeing, but didn’t yet know when it was going to come. Only when it was actually coming out.

Let me preface this discussion with a little about my opinions on potty training. I hate that word. It reminds me of training dogs. I like “potty learning” or something of the sort. I refuse(d) to make potty learning a stressful process and if he wasn’t ready until he was three and a half then so be it. It’s his success – not mine – and I get really angry inside when I hear about people forcing their kids to sit on the can for half an hour many times a day. Where’s the fun in that? I firmly believe that we should make 99% of the things we do as parents as fun as possible. Why make life any more stressful than it needs to be? Our kids grow so fast and we have such little time to enjoy these things…you know?

Fast forward to the week we got back from our summer vacation. Primo was just over 26.5 months at the time and had been showing some signs of being more aware of “bathroom stuff.” He would pause when he was peeing in his diaper and tell me when he was pooping. My mother in law came to visit for the day on July 16th so I decided that would be a good day to see how setting a timer worked for him. I set it for every 20 minutes that day and put him alternately in underwear & shorts or just shorts – his choice. I didn’t bribe him initially but offered him a reward for each success. He peed on the potty 18 times that day and pooped once, and we haven’t looked back. It’s been 3 weeks or so and he’s hasn’t had more than one accident in a day. Once he pooped in his underwear on the way up the stairs from the back yard and the rest of the poops have been in the potty. It’s been three days since he’s had any accidents at all. He’s more likely to pee in his pants when he’s busy and/or focused on something, obviously. I put a pull up on him when we’re going out (I’m just not prepared to deal with pee in the carseat, you know?) and when he naps and goes to bed. The rest of the time he’s in his little Baby Gap underoos that are just about the cutest things I ever did see. And also the most comfortable ones I could find. Also one of the only companies that makes underwear without stupid characters on them.

Pooping is a most hilarious process. When he’s misbehaving a little and acting weird, it’s a dead giveaway that he has to take a crap. He’ll usually run around the house with his pants off being strange and then disappear for maximum 30 seconds. He then runs out of the bathroom screaming “I pooped! I pooped! I want TWO CHOCOLATES!” Hi-freaking-larious.

But you know what’s not hilarious at all? When the dog gets to the potty before I do and eats the shit. It’s happened twice now, and is so freaking gross. Why do we love dogs anyway?

I don’t know if it’s the chocolate or just that he was ready, but he loves it. He doesn’t get junk food as a rule so getting 1 tiny chocolate chip for peeing and 2 for pooping is a huge treat. However, when we run out he doesn’t really care. He’ll take a sticker instead. Sometimes he wants both and we’re cool with that too. We celebrate his success with him however he wants to, and we’re loving every minute of it.

In the last week or so he’s been asking to use the potty in public and has stayed dry through a Costco trip, a couple of his nature classes and a chiropractic visit.

I fully expect that he’ll have some setbacks and that it will be a long time before he’s nap and night trained. I’m cool with that. Every poop and pee that’s in a potty is a pull up I don’t have to send to a landfill (because I’ve sold all my cloth – I gave up since we’re never home anymore. Bad earth-mama.) We are done with diapers and use 2-3 pull ups a day, usually at least one thrown away dry.

There you have it.

Questions? Comments?
How old were your kids when they learned? Boys or girls?
How about during sleep times, and how do I even attempt that?
When should I be brave enough to go with underwear for outings?
Have I screwed myself by giving him chocolate for something that should really be it’s own reward?