Thursday, March 6, 2008

Potty Training

Well, it's official we started potty training Joshua Stephen. I wasn't planning on starting so early. I've heard from many wise mothers of boys that potty training is easiest once your little man reaches age 3. But then one of my girlfriends (Lyra) unknowingly inspired me to give it a try early.
What we did is let Joshua Stephen have some diaper free time where he would run around the house bottomless. We found that when he didn't have a diaper on, he would run to the potty to go to the bathroom. Plus me taking him to the potty every time I saw his little bare bottom didn't hurt his chances of success either.
After running around the house bottomless for a couple of days, we decided to try on a pair of underware. He loved them and after a couple of days of wearing underware around the house we decided we would try wearing our underware on a couple of outings. And we haven't looked back since. We are still wearing a diaper at nap time and bed time and we are working on making stinky in the potty. We are expecting some set backs to come our way, but for now we are just so proud of our Little man!

I put this fun note on Joshua Stephen's back when he went to Mom's Morning Out at the Log Cabin, to help remind his teachers to take him to the potty often. (Which has been one of the secrects to our success.) Did I forget to mention that we have also used bribery. Normally, we are against bribery when it comes to our child rearing practices, but anything goes when your potty training. Joshua Stephen received an M&M every time he used the potty, and after several hours of no accidents he would get a fun Jungle Book figurine. Amazingly, now that he's gotten the hang of it few rewards are needed.

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2 comments:

Lyra said...

Yay, Joshua Stephen! I feel so honored to be your source of inspiration, Shanna! I'm so glad you're having success!

Unknown said...

I hope Joshua Stephen is as easy to potty train as Brady was!!! I'm an odd ball and am all about training the day before they turn two! Run out of diapers and never buy them again! I'm counting down the days until December 13th!!! 2009 will be a diaper-free and crib-free chapter for our family!!! Way to go Joshua Stephen! Keep those pee pees going in the toilet!!!