Diaper Duty

With TWO in diapers we've done a whole lot of CHANGING, for the last year plus. 

And we spend a whole lot of money on these ... 
diapers, wipes, pull-ups, diapers, wipes, pull-ups, diapers, wipes, pull-ups, diapers, wipes, pull-ups ...

And we spend a whole lot of time chasing 2 toddlers. 

BUT that has ALL changed. 

BECAUSE . . .

Connor has STARTED to use the POTTY!

AND UNDIES!

We are in a NEW stage of life here in the Stanger HOME. 
And it can be s t r e s s f u l, CHALLENGING, and exciting!

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The 411 on Potty Training Stanger Style . . .

Prep:
We began with getting the little potty around Christmas time (last year) and we introduced it and he sat on it ... sometimes ... we started getting pull-ups a couple months later and started pushing a little more. Having a few successess in the mornings but nothing regular. Finally we decided it was time for Potty Training Boot Camp. I read tons of stories, and ideas, and articles, and I was so scared to start. There were so many horror stories and it just seemed utterly impossible. I felt like I had been putting it off for an eternity. But it was finally time, considering he was starting preschool in the fall. After reading a post from Childhood Memoirs entitled Get on the Train and a post from Visionary Womanhood entitled Potty Training: Mom of Nine Tells All I finally decided to take the plunge and plan out how and when we were going to start. We decided to start the July 8th hoping to have a longer span without any interruptions in routine. My sister was here and helped a lot with Bella so that I could focus on Connor, and acted as back up support (which I needed). Firstly, we went out on the Saturday before and took

Connor to Walmart. He got to pick up new UNDIES! He picked Disney ones with his favortie characters on them from Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, Toy Story and the Incredibles. He also got to pick drinks and snacks! He wasn't too into that so I picked for him I wanted him to have lots of options, so I tried to pick drinks in different shapes. We got a big seltzer water Orange flavored that was our substitute for soda and he loved it. We also got juice boxes, and Hawaiian Punch bottles, Minute Maid lemonade cans, and a few more. In terms of snacks we got salty snacks and things with no water content: crackers, cookies, chips, and more. I know it seems like a lot of junk but it is only for one to two days.  Connor also got to pick out a present that he could only play with after his first success on potty day! I decided a play doh activity would be best and he picked play doh tools which came with a couple little jars of new play doh, which was perfect because ours was all hard and gross. I also liked the thought that he could play it in the kitchen on the floor so accidents would be easy to clean up. For the next few days I put the toy up high but in plain sight so he would ask about it, and we would say not today, on potty day! Same with the snacks and drinks. The night before we printed off potty punch cards on card stock. I knew he would love hole punching the card for each success. It was nice that we found these ones (below), he had just seen Monsters University, and since he is such a monster lovin little boy it made things all the more exciting. 

Day 1 (July 6th)

I set the potty up with a towel underneath and found a whole bunch of potty episodes from cartoons on youtube and amazon prime. I set the laptop up on the table, right in front of his potty. When he woke that morning right away I got very excited and told him it was finally POTTY DAY! So we laid out all his special undies and he got to pick which one he wanted to wear (we had a few trying all of them on episodes but I just let him because it intensified the excitement that this was all about the potty and underwear day). And then I got him a big drink and we started watching Bear in the Big Blue House, while he sat on the potty. It took awhile and for the first couple hours in the morning he didn't really know what to do so he just sat on the potty, every time he got up he would have an accident. But finally we hit the click!
Success x16 and Accidents x6
Five of the accidents were in the morning really close together and all on the kitchen floor for easy clean up and most just required a new pair of undies. But after that it clicked and he did GREAT! To be honest all morning he never left the potty; afraid to have another accident, and finally got brave enough to venture out to play and take a nap on the couch (we laid out towels on the couch and blocked the chair in case he had an accident on it that would be hard to clean up). I started identifying signs that he had to go. Aka the potty dance. So I would remind him then, and he promptly run over and go (needing help only to pull his undies up). We continued to watch movies all day and celebrate and eat snacks and drink lots. He was going potty regularly with false alarms thrown in all over. But making it all the same when it was time. And we didn't even use the timer theory like I started with earlier set for every 20 mins, to try and go potty. He did go number 2 once, I think it was just remarkable timing. 
At night I put a pull up on him.
Obviously I decided to make Connor sit to pee. So we don't have to worry about aiming. 
Day 2
He woke dry and changed into underwear right away. We had the potty set up in the kitchen again and continued the same process with a show on the laptop (Rugrats).We laid off pushing salty snacks and drinks. So he didn't have to go as much. In the morning he kept running to the potty, singing "I don't know how to do this anymore" as he sat. He had a lot of false alarms but no accidents. SO PROUD! Success x 7 Accidents x 0. 
Pull up again for bed.  Day 3 
He woke up dry again! And reminded me he needed underwear, liking the whole process and getting used to it. Accident x 1 (Not quite getting the other half of the potty experience:) He continued to have successes on the potty, but later in the evening he started having to go number 2. I was a little stuck at what too do. After insisting it was time for him to try the potty, he ran off behind the chair and went in his pants. His first accident of the day. I immediately told him how yucky that was and sat him on the potty to continue to try and go. He didn't, but I wiped him and put undies on him. He was a little upset the rest of the night, but continued to go potty. I knew that if I gave him the option of a pull up he would go right away in it and would be more likely this would happen in the future. We stopped doing the punch cards regularly and only if he reminded us. 
Pull up for bed.
Day 4
Woke up dry again. NO ACCIDENTS ALL DAY! And he got the other half of the potty experience down.  Couldn't be happier! He still insisted on treats, so we toned them down and started doing less and less.

Outings:

He was doing so amazing we went to lunch at McDonald's and I was so confident that I put just underwear on him. Well he promptly got up to the top of the jungle gym and shouted, "Mommmm I went POOP!" So excitedly! I also noticed his pants were down. And yes McDonald's was full at the time. Fortunately, he did have his underwear still on. I ran up and got him as he came down and took him to the bathroom where he truly had gone poop and pee. He was so proud, but confused. I cleaned him up and put a pull up on him vowing to never go anywhere without a pull up again, ever! It was quite the experience to remember. 
After that we went everywhere in a pull up, for at least month and a half and then I started easing up a little wearing underwear if it was going to be less than an hour or so out. Everywhere else was pull ups although he never went in them... well until we came home and he said "Oh I have a diaper on", then he'd go in it. 

Sleep Training:
Connor is amazing and never had an accident so after a week we just stopped pull ups at night, we weren't doing them at naps anyway. He has been dry every night. Pure luck. 

Little potty to Big potty:
After about a month of using the little potty in the bathroom, I put it away and we started using the big potty with a potty seat. It was a little hard to get used to and he didn't exactly like that transition. Several times over the next few months he would be known for pulling the little potty out and going in it again. Which was a big no no. Fortunately it wasn't long before he was just as comfortable as before. 

Regression:
Connor had oral surgery on August 17th. He got a tooth pulled. The event of the surgery obviously left us in pull ups for a couple days. He did have a few regular accidents as he got back into the swing of underwear. And from then on he had a few accidents a week for a couple weeks. I felt so frustrated but he still did great and my worry that we were back where we started was wrong it all came back to him in no time. 

Standing up:
Connor learned this all on his own and it was just simply his decision. He has never liked going potty on BIG potty's (public restrooms), I don't blame him it is quite an ordeal holding your wiggly toddler on a potty trying to go to the bathroom, especially a boy. About 2 months after the start of potty training, one day at church, I took him to go potty and we got ready and he said "No, I want to stand." So he did and he did great. 
Learning to aim successfully is a whole different story, for awhile he needed lots of help then just a little and now 3 almost 4 months later he still misses sometimes. It is tricky and the taller the boy the easier I think this process will be ;) And he stands up regularly now to go to the bathroom. 
Where are we now? 
Connor has started preschool and never had an accident there. We went on a long trip to Boise (Early Sept) and he wore a pull up, but it was dry the whole way, there and back. We rarely use pull ups to go out now. He is very good at reminding us he needs to go when we are out, with ample time to find a potty. He is much more comfortable in public restrooms ever since he learned to pee standing up. If we are out, he will even hold it if we are in the car. He has never had an accident at night since we started training. I have no idea how we got so lucky there but we sure did, (knock on wood). We are so proud of him and his progress. I hope Bella turns out to be a good potty trainer too. I really feel strongly that waiting till 3 was what made it a relatively easy process. 

September

Along with Summer ending and Autumn beginning, school has begun for Shea and were prepping Connor for Preschool starting in a couple days.

We've also had a lot of adventures this month.

September began with a Boise trip for us, so we could visit Shea's brother CJ. We also played at the pool, and park, and did some shopping, and enjoyed some new restaurants. It was hard coming back, but there is nothing like coming home to your own bed.

We've also harvested some of the corn Shea planted at his parents house this summer. It has been delicious having so much fresh sweet corn to eat, but I will be the first to admit we are officially corned out.

We have taken advantage of the park lately, especially the nature park in Rexburg and loved throwing rocks in the South Fork of the Teton River. Throwing rocks is a favorite past time of ours :) Next time we hope to bring some bread to feed the ducks with, instead of faking them out with all our thrown rocks.

 

 

 

Yesterday we went fishing! A first for our little family, all except Shea, it was a lot of fun. I am convinced that Bella's favorite part was digging for the worms. She loves playing in the dirt! I was actually shocked we even got Connor to touch one, "eww it wiggles".
Connor was SO excited for fishing, but he lost interest pretty quick and after the first catch he declared that this was "gross" and went off exploring. He really wanted us to throw the fish back in because it was a "bad fish", I think the fact that we were telling him we were going to cook it up and eat it was a little daunting. Even if earlier he had been excited for just that part, fish is one of his favorite foods. But seeing it alive may have put a hault to that in his diet.
I really enjoyed fishing it was really fun, I need a lot more practice to get it down though. I didn't catch anything no matter how much Shea wanted me to, he was so anxious for me to catch my first fish :) But no such luck. Shea got two though and his Dad caught one with Connor helping reel it in. Bella got all giddy when someone caught one and she loved watching the fish in the net. Later that night we cooked the fish up (the boys got to do all the work), and for my first time eating trout I thought it was pretty good!

It isn't too long before we start October, and October is a big month for us so wish us luck as we begin our Birthday, Anniversary, and Halloween planning.

OH and before September ends I am determined to make an Apple Pie! I am craving a piece right now. Can't wait to get all the ingredients today, for my dutch apple pie mmmmmmm :)