Three-Day Potty Training - Days 2 & 3...and Beyond!

I'm going to go ahead and warn you - this post will mostly be about poop! (but we'll call it "#2" - ha!)  After the first day of potty training, Caleb really had the hang of using the potty for #1 so that part was pretty uneventful.  On day 2, he had a few little dribble accidents but that was it!  Our next hurdle to jump was of course, getting him to go #2 on the potty.  On Saturday, we knew he had to go.  It's not hard to tell with him.  He really...and I mean REALLY requires privacy when going #2.  Who can blame him?!  LOL.  Anyway, we know he's doing his business because he goes in his room, shuts the door, and stays in there playing for at least 20-30 minutes.  He always stands in the same spot and plays with cars on the top of his toy shelf.  If you go in his room and interrupt him in any way, he gets highly upset.  When he's done, he will come out and tell you.  Simple as that!
Anyway, Day 1 (Saturday) he refused to go on the potty.  He told us multiple times that he wanted to play in his room....which is code for having to go #2!  We did not let him out of our sight so he did not go.  Day 2 (Sunday) morning, Rhett went to Sunday school and I stayed home.  Caleb told me a few times that he wanted to go play in his room, but I did not let him go in there alone.  Around 11:30am, I was in the kitchen feeding Aubrey her lunch.  Caleb was in and out of the kitchen and living room.  Yes, I was breaking a rule by letting him out of my sight, but I was ok with him going into the living room without me.  He won't "go" in the living room...only his bedroom.  Well, I guess I let my guard down for a brief moment and he somehow snuck to his room while I was still feeding Aubrey.  He must have tip-toed and he didn't close the door.  He always closes the door.  I think he knew that I would hear the door shut and come get him - that little stinker! (no pun intended)  Well, needless to say he did his business in his undies.  :-(  Poor guy, he was upset about the dirty underwear so I took him to the bathroom to get him cleaned up.  I was actually kinda glad he went ahead and did it once so that he'd know how gross it is to have dirty undies!  The rest of day 2 was uneventful.  He really did great going #1 on the potty all day and had no major accidents (well except for the above mentioned!).

Day 3 (Monday), Rhett took off work so he could continue helping me.  I am so thankful he did.  It made it so much easier to do this with his help and not on my own.  That would have been stressful to do while caring for Aubrey too!  Anyway, Caleb didn't have ANY #1 accidents on Monday - yay!  He really did catch on quick!  So at some point on Monday, we knew that he had to go #2 again.  There's not much to say here except that we did not let him go in his room alone...so he didn't go. 

On Tuesday, he obviously still had to go.  I felt bad for him holding it for so long, but we decided to go ahead with our plan of no diapers.  I was going to give it to Wednesday before I called the pediatrician to see what we could/should safely do about it.  Honestly, our biggest concern was him becoming impacted, which I have heard of happening.  In short, he did not "go" on Tuesday either.  By Tuesday night, it seemed like his tummy was bothering him (obviously!).  We kept telling him that if he went on the potty, his tummy would feel better.  We told him that over and over.

Wednesday rolled around and after breakfast, I KNEW that his tummy was really bothering him.  He said he wanted to go lay down in his bed.  I kept reassuring him that it was ok to go on the potty and that if he did, his tummy would feel so much better.  Poor guy.  I really did feel bad for him.  I prayed all morning that he would go.  Isn't it great that we can pray to God about anything...even poop!  :-)  After we ate lunch (he hardly ate), he was acting really distressed and saying things about his tummy and bottom.  I think he just really could not hold it for another minute, so he finally said that he wanted to go poo poo on the potty.  I forgot to mention that the day before, we'd offered to set up a TV tray in front of the potty so he could play with his cars and go like he did in his room.  We had also offered to leave him alone because we know he likes his privacy.  Well when we got to the bathroom, he asked for his cars, table (TV tray) and for "mama leave you alone."  He was so serious about it.  SO, of course I obliged.....and he FINALLY went after 3 days!

I jumped up and down and screamed and acted a fool so that he would understand how big of a deal it was!  I was/am so proud of him for it.  Isn't it funny how things like your kid pooping on the potty will make you proud?  Ha!  He was proud of himself, too - you could tell.  We opened his remote control cars and he loved them!  I texted Rhett and interrupted his lunch with the news...eat up, LOL.  It really was and still is a big deal!  And I am happy to say that he is now going both #1 and #2 on the potty and has had no accidents during the daytime since his little dribbles on Monday!  We are so happy and relieved (no pun intended there either, LOL).  :-)

Playing with his remote control car!

So for nighttime, we are still chugging along there.  I wake him up around 11:30-midnight and take him to the potty.  Then Rhett wakes him up in the early morning and takes him.  Out of the last 7 nights, he's had 3 nights with an accident and 4 without.  I guess that's not too bad.  I'm assuming that one day he will just stop having night accidents once his body gets that figured out....hopefully sooner rather than later.  We've got the bed layered with mattress protectors and fitted sheets so we're not doing full on sheet changes in the middle of the night.

Overall, Caleb did GREAT with this 3-day method.  We are so proud of him!  OH, and we have already made several trips out of the house and he hasn't had any accidents on the go!  Let's hope it stays that way because that is one thing I don't want to deal with out in public!