Potty Training Bootcamp

***Sorry in advance if this post is TMI, but I want to remember these days and the process. Plus, I want to have good embarrassment material! :) ***

Now that Tyler is 3, it is time that he is potty trained. Plus, he kinda HAS to be to start in the 3 year old room at his new school in a few weeks. He has been hit or miss at school and he hasn't had much success at home, but honestly it is because we haven't really focused on it. But, he is ready and can do it...he just doesn't want to.

So, I decided that the first completely free/unscheduled weekend AFTER we moved back into our kitchen, we were going to do the 3-day potty training bootcamp. You basically do nothing for 3 days except work on potty training your child. You go no where and you have to have your spouse home so that they can be with your other kids. My sole job for 3 days is to teach, encourage and clean up after my 3 year old while he runs around in a t shirt and underwear and learns to use the potty. Sounds fun, right?!

Last weekend, we decided to tackle it. We talked it up with Tyler all last week and told his teachers to really encourage potty use to set the stage for our training. He was actually having some really good success at school leading up to Friday, so that was encouraging. I did all my grocery shopping in advance of the weekend, got caught up on laundry, bought potty training prizes, stocked up on underwear, and Russ even mowed the yard on Thursday so we could be prepared to do nothing else during the 3 days. We took up all the rugs we could except for the one in the den and we covered that one with plastic. When I picked the kids up from school on Thursday, we even went to Kroger together so that Tyler could pick out his own candy treats. He picked chocolate covered raisins, candy corn, dinner mints and some cherry gummy things...Ha!

Doing a little practicing Thursday night with Daddy.

Friday morning, we got Russ and Caroline out the door and then Tyler and I got to work. We gave all his diapers to Caroline and he helped me move them from his room to hers. And then he picked out his underwear. I let him eat whatever he wanted, which included popcorn and lots of juice boxes, aka potty juice. He had 2 accidents right away in his underwear, but after that he was accident free the rest of the day. He even pooped in the potty and stayed dry during his 3 hour nap! Way to go Tyler!!  He was so excited to get prizes for doing well, too. We are not tackling nighttime potty training just yet, so he is using "nighttime underwear" (aka a pull-up) at night.

Showing off his first pair of underwear!

His poop in the potty BIG prize...a garbage truck.

Playing play-doh in his baseball briefs.

Proud after filling up the first row of his sticker chart for a prize!

Playing with his potty prize, Slinky the Dog from Toy Story.

Washing his hands is part of our potty routine.

A funny thing that I want to remember about day 1: We are using a combination of a little potty and a seat that goes on the regular toilet. One of the times Tyler asked me to go potty with him, so I sat on the big potty and he sat on the little one. He told me to "tuck my pee-pee and close my legs" (like I always tell him so he won't spray everywhere) and I said that I was a girl and girls don't have pee-pee's. He looked at me and said, "Who took your pee-pee, Mommy??" Ha!

Over those 3 days, I prolly asked him 1 million times if he had to go potty. He only had one accident on day 2 and 3 and they were both during naptime. Hooray!! We were flying through toys as incentives, so I created a sticker chart that is working pretty well. And, he is preferring to stand up to go pee-pee so we are working on aim. He has done awesome at daycare so far this week in underwear and the only accidents he has had is because he doesn't like pooping on the potty. I'm hoping time and encouragement in this area will help.

It is still crazy when I see little boy underwear in my laundry basket...gosh, he is really getting SO big!!