Monday, January 19, 2009

Tonight he's going potty like it's 2009

Yay, Pumpkin!


We have hit a major milestone in our household. On Friday, I picked up the boys and was given some great news: Pumpkin used the potty!!! I was pretty surprised since I have not really been working on this with him. We have talked about it, and he has accompanied most of us to the bathroom on occasion, but after a rough potty training period with Peanut, my mantra was: He will use the potty when he is good and ready. Fortunately, he has been positively influenced by our wonderful daycare provider and by a little boy who just turned three and is actively learning.

So, with so much pomp and circumstance over his first pee in the potty, he did it again the next day and the next day. A few times this weekend he has told us he needed to go and he wasn't able to complete the mission, but I told him how very proud I was of him for trying. While I was reading him his nighttime books last night, in the middle of a (non-potty) story, he looked me in the eyes and said out of the blue, "Mommy, I peed in the potty!" I said, "I know, Pumpkin! I'm so proud of you!" When Pumpkin was an infant, he flapped his arms like he was imitating a bird learning to fly, and he still does this when he gets really excited; my mom said I did that, too (apparently, I have grown out of that, though, thank you very much). Anyway, every single time he talked about using the potty, he did his arm flappy thing. It makes me teary that he is so proud of himself! In fact, in the midst of going, he was yelling, "I did it! I am peeing in the potty!"

Just to keep the enthusiasm going, I have slowly pulled out my potty pack: Peanut's old favorite potty DVD called Potty Power (which I highly recommend to any other parent going through the process), another classic potty video called Once Upon a Potty and two books: Too Big for Diapers and The Potty Book for Boys. (However, I draw the line at ordering these guys.) I have decided that when he says he isn't interested, I am not going to push. He seems totally thrilled with these new books and shows right now, so I have used them as a way to reward him for doing such a good job. But he didn't expect anything even though he received a lollipop at daycare the first time he went. In fact, he hasn't asked for any sort of reward at all; he was so proud, I think that just actually doing it was enough of a thrill. Anyway, keep your fingers crossed for me that he will be much easier than his older brother and that this enthusiasm will not wane anytime soon.

Gotta go...it's time to potty! :)

10 comments:

Kelly said...

Yeah for Pumpkin!! :)

(I am hoping Jake will follow suit soon..... but not wanting to push it, he is so darn stubborn!)

Fun Things Kids said...

Good luck with the potty! I spent most of the summer training my little girl and I thought I was going to tear my hair out. It seems like you have taken a better approach. Great blog!

Anonymous said...

Hooray for Pumpkin!!!
Love,
K.

Gemma said...

Good job, Pumpkin and Mommy! I have always been a fan of the laissez-faire approach. As someone told me when I was trying to train son #2, no one goes to Kindergarten in diapers. :) And they were right!

peggy said...

Yippee!!

Kristin said...

Yay Pumpkin!!! Way to go!!! :)

Lisa said...

Yeahhhh, Pumpkin! This is a big deal. Congrats. You know I would have posted 15 times about potty training. Heck, I started a blog about how mine wouldn't potty train. It looks like you have it under control so I am REALLY happy for you both. :-)

L a u r a said...

Hurray for Pumpkin and his new Potty Power! A little Peer Pressure can be Productive!

L a u r a said...

Just wanted to let you know that I just participated in your original idea--Flashback Friday--on my blog today. It's a great idea...but our reason wasn't so great. See why =(

Have a great weekend!

Ms. Friend said...

Oh, I remember the old potty training days. Girls are pretty easy though! I have missed comments from you and Gemma! :) Hope to see you back around my blog sometime! :)

Kirsten