Friday, September 18, 2009

Potty Trained (at over 4 yrs old!)

Remember how frustrated I've been off and on for over a year and a half - with failure after failure of good-intentioned, patient beginnings to potty training Jack???

Well - he's done - potty trained - dry through the night - no messes done! I love it!

You know what it was? Just his own desire - that's it - something that cannot be coaxed out no matter how shiny the prize! The deal was . . . he'd get a BIG Lego set when he was potty trained - then a date w/ mom was added - then other incentives along the way - but all those things spurred nothing until he'd turned 4, decided he was a big boy, and his 2 yr old brother was asking to go potty consistently - and pooped in the potty w/ a HUGE celebratory mom dance! So Jack decided it was time. We put the incentives into place . . . he got a, um, ehem . . . pee ball every time he went pee and one taken away when he had an accident - colorful ping-pong balls - and when he filled up the jar, he'd get the Lego set and a date w/ mom. THEN - completely separate, when he went poops, he got to choose a little something out of the prize box. Worked well - but only AFTER he'd decided it was time to work on things. The jar was filling up for an entire week before any pooping occurred - but he finally was forced to face the fears - he'd been showering and when he emerged sans clothing - he needed to go - and since he didn't have anything to catch it . . . well, he got on the potty and realized it wasn't scary after all. No problems after that! So - after filling the jar - we went out and he got a HUGE Lego set and graciously allowed Aidan to join us for our date to Red Robin - we were then supposed to go to the Zoo to finish off our date, but he opted to get straight home and have me help him assemble instead of waste all that time at the zoo. So I'm a very happy mommy - I'm wagering that Aidan will be trained within 6 months - if not sooner. We're not doing anything to push it or refine it . . . just letting him go if he asks. The Lord knew I'd need an easy time of it after Jack - thank heaven!

Here we are at Red Robin!

1 comment:

The Weston's said...

YEAH!!!!! And I've missed you on here. slacker.