He's Potty Trained!...Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

Yes kids, my son is potty trained. Let me write that again, I'm so excited. My son is potty trained. Hell, one more time... my son is potty trained.


How did this happen, you ask? Just a couple posts ago I was bemoaning our potty woes and here I am enjoying the victory that we recently snatched from the jaws of defeat. Let me tell you folks, TRAINING PANTS. Yes kids, these are the secret. Don't mess around with those freakin' Pull Ups with their cute commercials and that annoying "I'm a big kid now" song. No... they are too much like diapers. I am talking good, old fashioned, extra padded, cotton training pants. With these cheap little wonders (you can order them in packs of 5 off of Amazon), we had our little potty monster converted into a potty angel in 2 weeks. TWO WEEKS!

Now, before you pat myself or Mike on the back, let me be honest about the fact that our beloved day care provider, Debbey, gets much of the credit. You see, she has 25 years of experience and kids, if you have someone like that at your disposal, LISTEN to what they say.

Not long after my desperate potty post, Deb sat us down for her "potty" talk for inexperienced parents. Keep in mind this wizard of childcare had pre-empted this MONTHS ago by giving us "The Potty Book" to read to William daily. Plus, apparently, we were accidental geniuses by buying the potty so early because she said that played a huge part in ridding him of any potty fears. So anyway, "The Potty Talk". She sat us down and told us to buy 9-10 pairs of training pants (I bought 15 because I'm always over-prepared). She said they had to be just plain cotton, somewhat large (so he could pull them up & down himself) and they would be extra padded in the crotch area. No pull-ups, nothing resembling a diaper or anything disposable. Then she said put them on him in the morning and don't put any pants on him so that he wouldn't have to mess with pants in a hurry. Upon giving him any liquid or solid, we were to try putting him on the toilet about 15 minutes later to let him "try". If he didn't go, we would need to try again in another 5-10 minutes. We were also to pat the front of them during the longer periods between potties and meals and say, "yay! you're dry!", not freak out about any accidents (merely note the time and put him on earlier) and praise every successful potty attempt.

Two weeks ago we started. We dropped him at Deb's in the morning wearing his new "undies" (took his pants off) and gave her 6 clean pairs for him to go through that day. When we picked him up he'd had 4 accidents at Deb's and 3 successful potties. That night at home with us, we had 1 more accident and one more successful potty. Day 2 there were only 3 accidents, Day 4 there were only 2 and after that, just one a day. By day 7, there were zero accidents. The whole second week of the training was at home because he was sick and couldn't go to Deb's. The second week not only did he have zero accidents, but we graduated to not having to ask him or place him on the potty. He merely told us when he was ready and pooped and peed with glee. He even had completely dry diapers each morning when he woke (Deb said do the nighttime last).

So tonight begins the end of it... he's wearing undies in bed to see how he manages tonight. Since his diaper has been dry each morning for a week, I'm feeling rather confident. And proud. Boy am I proud. Deb said it would fly once we bought the training pants and I doubted. I shall never doubt again. Now I have a potty trained boy before my daughter has arrived (Deb's personal goal for us). Mike and I are in shock. We sat there looking at each other two nights ago as we realized he had total control over his potty behavior and laughed. We kept asking each other "is this it? really? he's done!?"

So yes, boys and girls. Potty training happens. Potty training can be good. Now we're just bracing ourselves for the highly possible "regression" that can happen when the next one is born or the "defiant" phase Deb warned about where they decide that they CAN control it, they just don't want to.

Either way... for now, let us enjoy our victory. :)