Adventures in potty training!

*Mostly for my memories, lengthy post about bowel movements, read at your own risk* :)

I write this as we are now 2 weeks with no accidents! We attempted to potty train a few times in the past 6 months, partly because I felt like I should, or Rowan showed some interest, etc. However, I don't think the time was quite right (neither he or I were committed enough). So, as our snow trip to Sapporo neared, we decided that immediately following our trip would be the perfect time. I knew I didn't want to do it right before (who wants to undress a kid in a snowsuit to pee a million times walking around a big city), so we talked it up for a few weeks beforehand that when we returned from the snow there would be no more Rowan diapers in the house! It was also perfect because there was a solid week where either Grant or I could be home, we didn't need to go anywhere, I didn't have to involve Alexa in that first week of hard work, etc. So...when we got back from Sapporo, we woke up the next morning and put on underwear! And guess what?! That morning he pooped in the potty and didn't pee in his underwear the entire day! Wow, this potty training thing really was all about timing, had we already been successful? I think I had unrealistic expectations from the start because 2 of our close friends here pretty much potty trained themselves with little parental effort. So I in the few attempts we did in months previous, I got a little discouraged that things were as "easy" as I thought they should be. So, I did a little more reading to prepare, had slightly more realistic expectations and decided that we weren't giving in, mostly because I knew Rowan was entirely capable.

Fast forward to day 2 (after our perfect day 1), we woke up in the morning, went pee in the toilet and put on Olaf underwear (he picked out a pack of Olaf underwear since our potty training theme had been so centered around our snow trip :) We had a treat jar on the toilet where he would get an M&M or a Good and Plenty (yes, my child LOVES black licorice :) if he peed, and a pack of fruit snacks if he pooped. I made an decision not to let him have sweets besides this during the day, to make it even more enticing. Well, as long as we reminded him to pee once an hour, he did awesome. Totally dry all day. However, pooping was a different story. We got pretty lucky on that first day. He decided that pooping in the potty was overrated and for the next 4 straight days, he pooped in his underwear but had a nearly perfect pee record. Luckily, he usually told us when he pooped and walked like he had been riding a horse for a week straight with the turd hanging low in his pants :) On day 6, I was feeling a little discouraged like he was going to continuing pooping in his underwear forever. This particular morning I left his underwear off, not really sure why, but he was naked for a few hours that morning. I left him downstairs to play while I went upstairs to get dressed, but told him that if he needed to go to the bathroom to call to me and I would be right down. Not a minute later I hear him call "Mom, I need to poop!" I grabbed Boden and RAN downstairs (not much can make someone move faster than a not quite potty trained naked toddler downstairs who for the first time ever is telling me that he has to poop! I told him to meet me in the bathroom which he did, and he sat on the toilet but nothing came out. I had him try for a minute but he insisted he was done. So...we got up, and went back to finish getting ready and 30 seconds later he yells it again. Same exact thing happened, I ran down, nothing happened and I went back upstairs. Then, I minute later he calls again. I want to brush it off but I know I can't ignore it even though we've had 2 false alarms. He ran into the bathroom when I got downstairs, sat on the toilet and immediately pooped! He looked down between his legs into the toilet and exclaimed, "I MADE A SEAHORSE!" I was seriously SO proud. It was one of those super proud mom moments that I almost can't explain. He was learning his body and had finally succeeded at something we had been working on. The seahorse comment totally cracked me up! This was a huge breakthrough and we were seriously so excited.

The next day was an Alexa day, so I said the naked thing had worked and for the next 2 days while she was here, he pooped in the toilet both days! Grant and I both felt like this was finally maybe going to happen :) The next day I was home, he continued to do great with pee this entire time (but still requires reminders). If you let him go too long he will pee just a tiny bit in his underwear, realize he needs to go, then tell you and finish in the toilet. This isn't terrible since he doesn't really make a mess, but is still less than ideal. That morning though, he was naked again, said he needed to poop (after a false alarm a few minutes before). He was putting cars on his transporter and insisted on putting the final two cars on. He put one on, then squatted down to put the last one on and I look over and see poop coming out onto my rug! (our entire house is hard wood except this ONE area rug). I am totally grossed out an annoyed mostly at myself for not insisting he immediately get on the toilet. I made him "help" me clean it up (really just watch me clean it up) and he said, "thank you for cleaning up my poop mom". That almost made up for it.

That was his last accident at home (and he's been wearing underwear ever since :) He had one more accident when we were out to eat one night but told us immediately. Since then he has gone to the bathroom in stores, restaurants, aquariums, parks, etc.

I honestly look forward to him pooping everyday because it is seriously hilarious. He is obsessed with looking down and telling me when has come out of his bum. We started with sea creatures (sea horse and sting rays were the most popular initially) but we have moved on to a fairly consistent family of habu snakes. He likes to name them (our family) and thinks they are lonely if there's only one. It is hilarious and adorable.

I know that we will probably still have a few obstacles, but I am proud of how well he has done and I think we are almost there. We started with him wearing pull-ups at night but a week ago decided that he wanted to wear underwear to bed (and I thought why not, that's why we have a waterproof mattress pad, right?) Well, he woke up around 1am yelling that he needed to pee, so we took him pee and he went straight back to bed. I sort of felt like I'd rather him just wear a pull-up and not wake us up to pee, but also thought it was cool that he could know even when he needed to pee in his sleep. Since then, he has worn underwear to bed every night, has woken up to pee one more time and has slept through the night and woken up dry the rest of the week! So maybe we got super lucky with nighttime potty training? We'll see!

He still gets a candy when he pees (when he remembers which is about half the time) and we still make a pretty big deal out of pooping so he earns himself fruit snacks (which really if he eats one pouch of fruit snacks every day that he poops I don't really care ;) I told him that we could do something of his choosing when he had no accidents for a week (this was in my desperate stop pooping in your pants phase hoping that SOMETHING would motivate him). When he finally accomplished it, he decided that he wanted to go to the mall. This is one of his favorite places :) There is a great aquarium there and he loves Toys R Us. I thought I would despise going to Toys R Us when I had kids, but it actually isn't bad (at least at this stage). All he wanted to do was get to go there and "touch toys". So, last week we went to Toys R Us, walked down the aisles and touched toys for over an hour. There was a big part of me that really wanted to buy him something for this great accomplishment, but when I really thought about it, I realized he has plenty at home and really wouldn't gain anything from taking something home. Not to mention the fact that I'm not sure he realizes that you can buy things there, haha! He wanted to touch toys, not buy them, so I need to keep that going for as long as possible. Occasionally it's hard to get him out of the store because he wants to keep playing, but I've never had a meltdown because we weren't buying something. It's pretty great.

Good work Rowan! This is a valuable skill that you'll use for the rest of your life! Here's to making many more families of habu snakes to flush down the toilet together!