Potty Training Diaries--Part VI

Welcome to Part VI of the Potty Training Diaries :) The saga has been long and drawn out but I am excited to announce that with the deadline of preschool looming (two more days), we are making progress. Please come with us on our week long journey into the world of no diapers (well almost no diapers) ;)

Tuesday Night
-I find out at Preschool Orientation that Z must go to school in underwear even if he is not trained. Anxiety takes over my body and I have a sleepless and teary night worrying about how I am going to train my son in a week.


Wednesday Morning
-S insists that Z go to Open House at preschool in underwear (he has never been out of the house in underwear!). I leave with a large bag of back up clothing and supplies and pray for the best. He uses the school bathroom three times in an hour, uses the bathroom at the grocery once (his first public potty!!! I had to go we had no food) and then poops his pants on the way to the car. I take him back into the grocery store, deal with the poop situation and make a deal with myself that we will stay home as much as we can over the next week!

Wednesday Afternoon
-Z is in underwear all of his waking hours (diapers while he sleeps) and only has one more poopy accident. I take him to the potty every 25 minutes and this seems to work well. We venture on a 35 minute car ride to a birthday party and Z uses the potty 4 times while we are at the party :) S goes out and buys more undies and sweatpants to help with the laundry situation :)

Thursday Morning
-We cancel all activities to stay home to clean the house and use the potty :) I revamped the potty reward system (Z was sick of using the potty) by wrapping the prizes, making a new chart (he gets a prize for every seven trips to the potty) and introducing fruity cheerios as targets. I know the research says to teach them to pee sitting down but standing has been the only successful way for me.

Thursday Afternoon
-We had an accident free morning and I put him in a diaper for nap. Our new mother's helper was starting today so I left him in the diaper and told her to come and get me when he pooped. He never did in the 3 hours she was here.....as soon as she left he went back in undies. No poop all day....so unlike him and now I am nervous.

Friday
-Well the big poop came (FINALLY) but unfortunately it was in his undies :( We had three accidents today but other than that, he did well. We had to go to the preschool for a conference and Z practiced going potty 3 more times (they were an hour behind on conferences) and even did it solo once!!!! I told his teachers that he is not independent yet but working on it and that poop training will come later :)

Saturday
-He went in a pull-up for our long drive to the lake and then back in the undies. He did well (1 accident) but started to put up some resistance! He could not be bothered with the potty :( The novelty had worn off and he would rather not stop his fun to go potty (can't say that I blame him). S had his first potty training accident in public....Z peed all over the grocery store floor. S stayed calm and managed to get it cleaned up with napkins from the coffee counter (poor guy!). Z had just gone before he left the house but he doesn't always finish! He also won't tell us when he has to go....we have to continually ask him or look for signs. This is the hardest parenting project yet!

Sunday
-More resistance but we did get him in a diaper for his poop (we continually ask him if he would like one for a poop and he finally said "yes"). He used the potty a bunch (a few times had to be dragged into the bathroom) and wore a pull up for the ride home. It is so much easier when S is home and we can tag team for training!

Monday
-A lot more resistance but we are almost at independence (for pee)! He has been practicing pulling his pants down and up and is working hard on his aim. He still won't tell me when he has to go but with constant reminders, he is doing well. Poop is still another story...we had a BIG accident in that arena today.

I have one more full day at home before preschool starts. My goal for tomorrow is to try to break some of this resistance and continue to work with him on his aim. I am not sure how to get him to tell me when he has to go or how to make it fun again but I am going to try. This is sooooo hard!