Potty Training

Once the fun of the birthday party ended, we decided to get serious with the potty training. As the last friend left, we told Henry that since he is now 3 years old, he is big enough to use the potty. We went cold turkey - Henry helped throw all of his diapers in the trash, we put the diaper genie on the curb, broke out the underwear, and went at it.

Yesterday afternoon was OK. This morning was bad - every pair of pants he owned, plus two pairs of sneakers were soaked by nap time (something else got on the carpet that we will not speak of). We broke a cardinal rule of the "3 day potty training" regime we are following and took him out this morning (to Liam's 1st birthday party - happy birthday Liam!) and naturally he peed on their floor (although Liam's sister Meredith peed on our floor a few times while she was potty training, so I guess it evens out). By nap time today both Henry and I were very frustrated.

This afternoon, he was fabulous! Three successful trips to the bathroom, all unprompted by me (he would be playing and yell, "I have to go potty!", then run to the bathroom and do it all on his own)and no accidents! He is VERY motivated by his rewards - mini marshmallows and jellybeans. It was great! I know that tomorrow we may be back to square one, but this afternoon gave me hope that someday we will leave the house again without bringing five changes of clothes with us. The rest of the week I am skipping the gym and Henry's school is closed for Spring Break, so we will stay inside and hopefully soon have a potty trained child!

Potty training means we have been hanging out in the backyard a lot: