On the Road to Success - Toilet 2, Underwear 1

My youngest is going to be three next month. Three seems to be the average age for my children to finally get the "potty" thing. My youngest does not talk as well as my other two did at that time, so I've been a little worried about this. However, he has been showing an interest, his timing is just off. He'll come tell us after he's gone in his diaper and then he insists on sitting on the toilet for anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour!

So today we decided to put him in a pair of his big brother's underwear and see how things went. I talked to him ahead of time and he was very excited about getting to wear underwear. I told him that if he did well this weekend and started using the toilet regularly I would take him to the store to pick out his own underwear. That really got him excited - he ran around the house telling everyone - although we could not quite make out what he was saying.

It is now nap-time and so far the score is Toilet 2 (one pee and one poo!) - Underwear 1 (pee). So, all in all I think we are off to a good start!!

END of DAY UPDATE:
Final count is Toilet 3, Underwear 1. And the lone poo of the day made it in the toilet. YEAH!!! We are definitely on our way!!

Music to My Ears - Potty Time

Last night I heard something that is music to the ears of any mom with little ones. Tyler & Austin were playing in the other room when all of a sudden I heard Austin say

"Hold on, sissy! I have to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back!"

And off he went to the bathroom all by himself! I can't even begin to express how happy that made me. Less than a month ago we couldn't even get him to use the toilet (although he obviously understood the whole concept) and now he is taking time out of playing to make sure he gets to the toilet on time!

Two down - one more to go!

October 3 Words

We all had so much fun last time we did the three word project that Becki decided to host it every month. Visit Blog Mommas to see the other blogs participating this month.

I guess this 3 word project is not entirely true, it is a bit of wishful thinking. But I figured maybe it will get us in the right mindset and soon it will be true!! It actually comes and goes. Some days we really seem to be making progress and others, we just want to give up. But I guess that is the way it works. We'll just keep trying.

Potty Training Woes

Okay, so I'm frustrated now. About a month ago we were well on our way to having Austin potty trained. He was excited to go on the toilet and would even tell us when he had to go. Then all of a sudden he has regressed. He'll go on the potty for me if I constantly ask him to go and make him go in the bathroom and try. If I ask him if he needs to go though he says no.

However, for Shaun he won't go at all. Shaun will ask and he'll say no. Shaun will make him try and he will not. I've tried to talk to him about it, but he just smiles and says "I go potty in my underwears!" He does not seem to care at all if he goes in his underwear.

He turned three last month and I'm frustrated and don't know what to do now. We've tried so many things and they'll work for a day or two and then, "poof" no more!

Especially since he absolutely refuses to cooperate with Shaun, who stays home with him all day.

Okay, so now I have it out. Thank you everyone for listening to my whining tonight.

What's New?

I'm in the middle of quarter end right now, so very busy and lots of hours at work, but I really miss writing and decided to take some time out to update anyone who is still visiting my blogs on what is going on with me.

Shaun is now officially a stay at home dad. He is still doing his Harley work, but things are a bit slow now. And he is able to do that in the evening and weekends when I'm home (except this weekend when I'm working). We hated taking the boys out of daycare because she is like part of the family for us, but we are still involved with one another and the boys are getting much more "daddy time" now. Shaun will be sharing carpool duties with our now ex-daycare provider for Tyler and her grandsons.

Tyler starts school in two days! She will be going full days now. I can't believe my baby is going to be in 1st grade! We went to meet her teacher on Thursday and I kind of wish I could go with her. She got to choose her desk and chose a seat in the front row. She absolutely loves school. She is also very excited because we had to buy her a Bible for school. She already has a couple at home but this one is for her to use at school. They will be spending 20 minutes everyday in school reading and some of that will be the Bible.

Austin is on his way to being potty trained. YEAH!!! He still does not have the poop thing figured out and he still has his accidents, but he is spending a large part of the day in "underwears" now as he call them. Shaun's mom was here last week for a few days and I think she was a big help in getting him excited about using the potty.

Jesse is walking, or I should say running, all over the house now. Once he finally started, he caught on really fast. At first he looked a lot like Frankenstein walking around the house but that stiffness is disappearing fast. He wants to run everywhere now, but doesn't have his balance down real great yet. Now instead of Frankenstein, he just looks tipsy.

That pretty much sums up the major events in our life right now. I hope all is well with you and your families!

Photo Friday - Potty Time!

So today I decided I was going to embarrass myself. Not sure why, but I'm in a good mood so I figure I'll share some pictures that I get a chuckle out of.

First, my mother sent this to me recently.

I can't believe she took this of me, but then I remembered this picture of Austin. Of course in his, he still had his diaper on. He was so excited because he got on the toilet by himself, even if he did forget to take off his diaper.

We've really not made much more progress yet with Austin's potty training. He has gone a few times, but overall does not seem to interested. He likes to sit on it, but still does not really have it figured out. I want to get him potty trained for convenience and the cost of having two in diapers, but at the same time I don't want to push him and make it a horrible experience for both of us. So I continue to encourage him and see where we end up!

Potty Training Tip #1 - Be specific

We are in the process of beginning the attempt to potty train our middle child. Austin is our eldest son and is 2 1/2. He loves the idea of sitting on the potty, either the little one or on his special seat for mommy & daddy's big toilet. However, he does not really understand the purpose of it.

I don't have high hopes that we'll accomplish this training anytime soon, but I figure if he likes to sit on the toilet, maybe we'll get lucky and he'll figure it out.

So, mommy took him to the store to pick out some stickers (he loves stickers!) and made him a brightly colored chart that hangs over his little toilet in the bathroom. He is very excited to sit on the toilet and is even more excited about the idea of putting stickers on the chart. Tonight after Tyler's t-ball game we came home and made a "potty" attempt. Here is how it played out:

Austin sit on toilet and proceeds to fart. He smiles at mommy.

Austin:
I did it mommy!

Mommy:
No honey. You need to go potty. That is a good start, but you need to actually potty in the toilet.

Austin:
Oh! (This is his new thing, "Oh!")

Austin sits there for a few more seconds. He then looks down and points to his "lower region"

Austin:
This stays down Mommy!

Mommy:
Yes, Austin. That stays down. Mommy appreciates that.

Austin sits for a few more seconds, then jumps up.

Austin:
Mommy, I done potty! I get sticker now!

Mommy (looks in potty):
Not yet. You need to actually go potty in the toilet to get a sticker. There is nothing in the potty. See? (points to empty toilet) You need to put something in the potty to get a sticker."

Austin:
Oh!

Austin sits on toilet, holds the sides, scrunches up his face and grunts hard. He then gets up, turns around, looks in the toilet and then hocks a big fat loogey in the toilet.

Austin:
Look mommy, I get sticker now! I put something in the toilet!

I guess I need to be more specific as to WHAT needs to go in the toilet.