Potty Training

Short Version: Alex is potty trained!

Long Version: I finished reading "Toddler Wise" on Sunday. There was a section that talked about potty training. It said the optimal time to potty train children was when they are about 20-26 months old. Alex is almost 22 months. Even though I had never even thought of potty training Alex so early I decided I wanted to give it a try. It gave three options of how to go about it. I chose the first one which I call intensive potty training. On Monday I went to Target and picked up some thick cotton underwear, gummy bears, chocolate chip teddy grahams, m&m's, and apple juice. I showed Alex his treats and new undies on Monday night and told him that when he woke up on Tuesday we were going to go potty on the toilet and he was going to get treats and wear undies.

Tuesday morning when I heard Alex making noise I went in his room reminded him that we were going to go potty. I sat him on the toilet and poured some warm water on him and he went right away. I then rewarded him and started him on water and apple juice. I decided to set the timer for 30 minutes and take him to the bathroom again when it buzzed. Well I definitely overestimated him. He peed his pants 4 times in those first 30 minutes. The first two times he peed he screamed and bawled, it scared him. The other two times he just started to cry. So then I set the timer for 9 minutes, asked him if he was dry and he received one teddy graham for a reward. Then we went to the toilet, I would pour warm water over him, he would go pee, and would be given two gummy bears. Then the timer was once again set for 9 minutes. I did this all day long, no kidding. At the end of the day we had 7 pee accidents and 1 poop accident. I feel like it was a pretty successful day.

Wednesday I got him to stretch to about 20-30 minutes before each potty break. He also went number 2 in the toilet for the first time. He received m&m's for that one.

Thursday he stretched to about 30 minutes to an hour, but I was constantly asking him if he was dry. We had our first outing today because I had to go to scouts. I put a pull-up on him and when I picked him up at nursery after scouts he was still dry. I am crossing my fingers but I think this may be working. It is hard to believe.

P.S. He still sleeps in a diaper.