potty training. day 1. and done!

It seemed like EVERYBODY was potty training their kid. Or already had. And I was convinced mine was going to be the one kid who wears diapers to Kindergarten. So we went all in. Which means. All underpants. All the time. NO MORE DIAPERS. Diapers are for babies.

Charlie was a little hesitant at first. I told him he gets to wear underpants now and he said, "No, maybe later". So when I insisted, and let him choose which pair he wanted to wear (Batman, of course), I wasn't sure how it was going to go. Well, it went great. I let him drink as much chocolate milk and juice as he wanted and then asked him about every ten minutes if he needed to go potty and if he said no I would believe him. Unless, I could tell. (He'd stop what he was doing and get real quiet so I'd swoop in and run him to the bathroom). We had three accidents and three successes right off the bat, and from then on there have been very few accidents. (And no poop accidents, Thank God!).  The first day he would go literally every 15 minutes. And he would actually pee. Just a tiny bit. Every day since then (we're now on day 5) he's gotten better, and can go to the store, or out to dinner, or to the park, and not have an accident. Now he'll tell me if he has to go (I still ask if it's been a while) and he always says, "Mom! I think I need to go potty!" Not, I need to, but I think I need to.

I'll admit I do put a pull-up on him for naptime, and for bedtime. And on day two when I sent him to school I sent him in a pull-up. But you know what pull-ups are? Diapers. And so he pees in them. No hesitation whatsoever. But he knows, underpants are NOT diapers, and so he really tries to keep them dry.

Other things we did that helped? A sticker chart. First five times in the potty got him this really cool toy airplane that he wanted. (Which I had already purchased). And five times isn't that many, I really wanted him to feel good about himself early on. We now have a big sticker chart that has maybe 25 spaces on it. When he fills that up he knows we are going to go to Target and he can pick out a new toy. 25 kind of seems like a lot, but he goes a lot, so it won't take too long. Chocolate chips for each time on the potty. Or M&Ms. And still lots of chocolate milk. We also have lots of fun underpants. Toy Story, Angry Birds, Superheroes. And I let him change them anytime he wants. (Not just if they get peed on, you know?)

Anyway, it was really not that difficult. He was ready (He turned three on January 28th). I was ready (so so tired of buying the diapers). And I really just dedicated one whole day to watching him like a hawk. After that he pretty much did it himself.

And skinny little diaper-less baby butts? So adorable. I could just pinch that little booty all day.

PS I should say that I was motivated by Mandey of Mama Mandolin (except she potty trained TWO at a time!) and that I skimmed and basically followed the 3 day potty training method. But if you have any questions for me feel free to ask!