Getting Serious About Potty Learning/Training

He's 2 years and 3 months old today. Time to grow up, kid!! As much as I love my cloth diapers, mama is SO ready to have a break from diapering and doing all the laundry that comes with it. A 5+ month break would be just AWESOME, okay buddy?

The reason why I had a goal of 2 years, 3 months in mind to seriously potty train Braden is because that's when my nephew Luke was trained, and they really seem to be developing on pretty much the same curve. Up until now I've been using the term "potty learning", but now...I'm going to do my research this week, and I'm hoping by the beginning of next week we can go into hard core potty training. I am a firm believer that kids CAN be trained. Touchy subject to some, I know...but I sleep trained my baby, and look how awesome that went! I know, and it is not my intent, to push potty training on him. I do not want him to have a bad experience, make it negative in any way at all....but I want it done. I feel like I know he's ready by things he says and the interest he does have in the potty now. He loves to sit on the potty, but as soon as his naked little bum hits the toilet seat he says "done!" He does understand and say to us "Pee on potty! Get potty treat!" but then he doesn't actually do it!

So here's where my week approaching of research comes in. We've been reading this book for months with Braden:

 It also came with a little boy doll and potty so that Braden can "teach" the doll how to use the potty and it comes with this DVD, which I will start showing to Braden this upcoming week, every day.

Laura trained my nephew Luke with this book:

It sounds too good to be true, but I think with whatever method I use, if I'm just consistent and have the determination to do it, I will, and so will Braden. One of my Twitter friends saw some of my tweets about potty training and says she swears by the three day method. I will use this week to review which method, or a combination of the two???, will work best for us.

For my mommy friends who have potty trained your toddlers...here are some concerns I have, and points I wanted to make, and if you could comment with suggestions or advice, I'd greatly appreciate it!

• Braden typically doesn't care if he is soaking wet or even if he has a poopy diaper...does this mean he's not ready?
• He is holding his bladder longer every week, and seems to have one big huge pee a few times a day
• I leave him commando (sans diaper) in the morning for up to 2 hours and he doesn't have an accident
• He shows great interest when me or Jay go to the potty
• Knows he gets a "potty treat" (I have a jar of M&M's) if he goes...but doesn't seem motivated on his own enough to pee to actually get said treat.
• When I see Braden pooping, I have asked him in the past "do you want to go poop on the potty?" he says "no"
• Has been quite upset, even seems "devastated", when I have changed his poopy diapers lately
• He only poops every 3-4 days...will that be really hard to train?
• Do I go right into night training too? I really don't want to just do a load of 3 cloth diapers every 3 days only for nighttime use...know what I mean? 
• We will not be using cloth "pull ups" only underwear
• What do you think of this reward system:

As far as rewards go...I have this free potty chart that I'm going to put in our bathroom, and he can put a Thomas sticker whenever he does each of these things:

I am also going to take away all of his toy trains...seriously! And make a very visual chart so that when he pees once, he will get a sticker and then get "Thomas" back. Then when he pees/poops twice, he will get to put the stickers on his chart and get "Percy" back, and so on and so forth. Mean mommy? I don't know, in my head that as a reward system will probably work better than the M&M's, his face lit up like a Christmas tree when my Mom gave him a bunch of new trains last weekend! So why not take them away and give them back? Plus I have brand new trains, some of the "big" ones that he will get once he's farther along in training. I also will be telling him that he will get a train table in his room once his diaper change table is gone. I'm not 100% sure he will understand that...but it's worth a shot. We do have a train table for him, was going to save it for Christmas, but #1 he won't actually get to "open" it at Christmas...we'd have to set it up and leave it at home anyway, and #2 if it's a big motivator in helping my boy get potty trained, it's worth the early present!

I'd love to hear your encouraging stories and helpful advice, friends!

My Child NEVER Shuts Up

And I love it! I really do. He is such a little blabber mouth. Still half toddler babbling, which I will miss so much, but half real words, & bonafide sentences! He can easily string together 6 word sentences now. Such as:

"Braden, do you want some Yop?" ~ Me
"Yes, I do! In a cup." ~ Braden

No big deal. He's just talking and telling us what he wants. He is getting to be so interactive with his trains and cars and tractors, it's super nice to be able to enjoy my morning blog reads or do whatever I need to do in peace and quiet before I make him breakfast while he plays with his toys.
 
He also really loves to dance and to sing. He's starting to hum to songs and sings along, mimicking sounds of words. Most of the songs he likes are way too fast for him to follow along 100%, but he shouts out certain words and phrases like nothing. At the end of the Veggie Tales theme song, he closes his eyes and shouts "Taaaaaa-aaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaaaLES!!" then laughs along at the end, for those familiar with the song.

He also loves to be silly and laugh. And is a bit OCD about having things closed:


Eating
Here is a video from today at lunch. His eating has improved so much since we took away his booster seat so he can have "his own chair" as he likes to say. Yes, especially at supper, there can be a lot of up and down, but he's also understanding a lot more that he has to come back and eat to finish "x" amount of bites.


Don't you love the "I don't know" at the end? *swoon* He is eating more meat now, still loves his fruits and veggies, and never turns down eggs or breakfast foods. Eats most at breakfast, lunch is touch-and-go, and so is supper. It seems to be getting better every day! Here's another "I don't know" from our trip to Poppy's last weekend!

Clothes
Wearing 2T shirts and mostly 2T pants. I have to roll up 2T jeans, it seems like they'll fit him forever, he's still REALLY long in the body and yeahnosomuch in the legs! Will be wearing mostly size 6 shoes, but size 7 Toms & sandals this summer!

Potty Learning
Um, yeah...not so much. Actually, I know he's ready. But I plan on doing a post about that soon, so I'll leaving you hanging in suspense until then!

One other milestone looming in our future is the move to the toddler bed. All that have done it before me say it's not so scary, but I'm just not ready yet. I'm thinking we should do it before baby comes, because it's a big enough adjustment for him to be a big brother as it is without having the comfort of his crib to rely on!

Anywho, that's about all I've got for Braden for now! Ever since I stopped his monthly updates, I've been slacking on remembering to blog about him period! Bad mommy!

My Momfession on Cloth Diapering

Jess had a really great post the other day on how people often paint their lives as a perfect picture on their blogs. I sure hope I don't do that, but I also do confess I don't share all my "dirty" secrets and tell the 100% truth of all the happenings in my life, because that's just what it is...my life.

This one is hard for me to write, friends....but I'm hoping by momfessing, someone out there will have a solution for me. I even told Jay many times through this process, "don't tell the bloggers! Don't tweet this!" half-jokingly. Well, here it goes.

Why is this hard? Because I'm hard core. I got lots of "looks" like I was crazy for travelling all the way to Maui and using my cloth diapers. But I did it. I'm a dedicated cloth diapering mama and I didn't really see it as that big of a deal. I was told "just use disposables, you're on vacation, it doesn't matter." But it did matter to me! I had something to prove....to someone. But why??? I don't even know! I was so proud of the fact that a disposable diaper hadn't touched his butt since he was 1 month old and we switched to FuzziBunz full time. I was helping the environment, I had invested in my cloth anyway...so I wanted to use it and not waste my money on throw-away diapers. FuzziBunz even featured me on their Facebook page!

But...then I went to stay with my Mom where my Grandma used to live, I accidentally forgot to pack his nighttime diaper. I had just done laundry that morning, my night diapers take longer to dry, and I forgot to pack them. I didn't have enough to double up a day diaper to work at  night, which wouldn't have worked anyway. So off to the drug store I went to buy my first disposables in 2 years. I felt so ashamed, so down on myself...but why? Why this immense pressure on myself to be the perfect cloth diapering mom?

So there you have it. I used a 'sposie on Braden. And actually, I've done it 3 more times since we got home because his night diapers are DRIVING ME INSANE! I cannot, for the life of me, figure him out. He's grown, his diapers don't fit as well as they used to, he's the superest soaker he's ever been, and he leaks every.single.morning and the thing that bothers me most? His bum, groins, and bits are sore. They are red, spotted, and irritated from being soaked in urine all night. I used a disposable last night to give his bum a break, and it worked. His red bum is all gone. But he leaked out of that too!

So now I'm at a diapering crossroads. With potty learning looming in hopefully the next 2 months, I don't know if I invest in more cloth diapers for nighttime...or just try a new 'sposie that he won't leak out of? I know that I need to start cutting down his liquids at bedtime too, for potty learnng. I know he's not supposed to get potty learning through the night for quite some time, but it wouldn't hurt. The cloth diaperer in me says buy 2 new, fresh nighttime cloth diapers and try so you can say you did. I have been using my fleece covers at night, but they aren't cutting it anymore. He's soaking through that, his jammies, and his sleeping bag. I can use wool, it's leak-proof, but another honest momfession? I hate how hard it is to keep clean. Who on earth hand washes ANYTHING these days? Yeah you only wash it like once every 2 weeks or as needed...but I can't find the energy to wash the darn stuff.

As long as you're nice, don't point your virtual finger in my face and say "I told you so" I'm open to any and all constructive suggestions! (I'm not sure you know how hard this was for me to write...)

Cloth diapering moms, what's your nighttime solution? Disposable-using moms, what's your go-to diaper?

Just a Silly Toddler Thing

I've heard of this happening. Toddlers choosing a "poop spot". Going in the same corner or hiding place every day to unload #2. This, I thought, was silly. "Oh! You should put a potty there! I bet they'll totally get the hint!" was what I told a friend who's daughter had a poop spot early on. Well...may I introduce to you...

Yup. Braden's Thomas tent is his official poop spot. Every time he needs to poop, without missing a beat you can find him in his Thomas tent. It's about the darn cutest thing ever too...if you can imagine! If you ask him, "Braden, do you need to poop? Do you need to make a stinky?" He'll simply reply, "no" even though we KNOW he needs to or is pooping!

Over the last weekend though, he has finally started telling us "Mommy, stinky bum!" meaning "I pooped, let's go change this stinky diaper!" so that is progress. We are still not ready for full on potty learning, if he's anything like his cousin Luke, I imagine he'll be ready at the end of April, which will be perfect because I won't be working much anyway because Jay will be seeding. I can totally dedicate myself to potty learning/training!

Any tips for us? I certainly don't want to push him. He peed on the potty in Maui, hasn't done it or shown any interest yet. I cloth diaper (duh) and was wondering if I should buy waterproof trainers for nighttime when he's ready and for car rides when he's first learning. I believe in being in undies at home...but this is more for out and about stuff. Thanks!

P.S. Notice his cute Thomas hat? Crocheted by my Mom, aka Poppy - The Crazy Hat Lady. More info to come!

First Time in Undies!

He's turning into a boy, right before our eyes. He's gotten so much taller (I still have to take him to public health for his 21 month stats!), more coordinated (which is a feat in itself with me as his mother!), and the milestones are just piling up. Here's a pretty special milestone...

Doesn't he just look adorable in his little gonch!! Speaking of that word...is that a term you have heard of or use to describe boy's underwear?! I totally grew up with them being called gonch/gonchies or ginch/ginchies! My SIL Laura had no clue what I was talking about when I said, "I bought Braden some teenie tiny gonch and they're so cute!" She looked at me like I was speaking Chinese! Anyway, those undies stayed on for about 10 minutes, he said down in my lap...and peed! Do I look like a potty to you??

Another milestone I'm looking forward to is getting rid of that pacifier. In all honestly...it doesn't bother me that much. He never has it out in public and doesn't really use it at home much (other than sleeping) unless he's feeling sick/sucky or it's right before bed time (as pictured above). The only reason why I haven't rid the soother yet, is our trip to Maui. He still likes it to fall asleep, and I want that crutch to lean on when we travel! I'm hoping it will help his ears with the plane too. But when we come home and he turns 2...bye bye, soother!

Potty Learning

I think we're supposed to call it learning vs. training, now...right? Seems about right, especially for a 21 month old! We bought a little plastic potty from Ikea for like $5. It's perfect, and Braden loves his "dotty". He sits on it all the time clothes on, or off. A few months ago he sat down on it, fully clothed...and farted. I was a proud mama. He was getting the idea of it...right? Then, on Halloween night...a small, tiny miracle fluke.

Braden's under-the-costume diaper was quite soggy, so I took it off and let him go commando until bed time. I figured if he had an accident, I'd just clean it up. Well, he kept grabbing at his boy bits, so I was unsure if that meant he wanted to go pee, or if he was just happy that the boy bits had some freedom from the confinement of a diaper! Jay and I kept asking him if he needed to go pee on the potty and he would say "no". He usually says no to most things, so we took it with a grain of salt. He knows what the potty is...but he doesn't know what it's for yet.

Then, all of a sudden, he took off like a shot to the bathroom. I could hear his potty sliding along the floor, so I ran, helped him pull down his pants and helped him sit on his potty. And then...a fart! And another fart! "Yay, Braden! Good boy - wayta go!!!"

He stood up...and low and behold...

...one tiny, little poop!

BRADEN POOPED ON THE POTTY!!!!

"Jay, Jay, JAY!!! Braden did it! He pooped on the potty! Quick, get a cookie, a treat, a candy...SOMETHING!"

So Jay came running to meet us, Braden was literally jumping for joy with pride, and he ate his first Smartie ever, in celebration of his first poop on the potty! Then we called his "Poppy" (my mom) and told her the good news. I always figured if he ever peed/pooped on the potty and we make a big stinkin' deal of it, he'd want to do it again - he loves to be praised!

I know it was a fluke, but ever since then...he wants to sit on the potty and he even makes "bearing down/grunting" noises. I'm pretty sure he knows that he can poop on the potty now...but whether or not he actually comes to get us or wants to do it again...only time will tell! Having big cousin Luke over sure helps, because Braden watches Luke go on the potty and wants to be just like him. Braden's tolerance/attention span doesn't make for much patience to actually sit on the potty though! So come the time for actual serious potty training...I think we'll have to position the potty in front of the TV and enlist the help of Bob and Thomas! Also...we'll probably have to load up on lots of fluids!

But for now...we're just learning! :) How about some votes for Braden? Click on the buttons below my name!