Oh, the joys of potty training...

I started potty training Maverick when he was 28 months old, or 2 years, 4 months old. Everyone says that boys usually don't potty train till they're at least 3, and that they're difficult to potty train. I didn't find any of this to be true. I have this "mom app" on my phone where you can ask any sort of mom-question, and women from all over the world answer with their experiences and advise. A common question that I see asked on this forum is "how will I know when my son/daughter is ready to potty train?" ...and almost every time, they answer with the same answer: when they're waking up from naps/bedtime dry, they know how to pull their pants up and down, and are showing interest in wanting to not wear diapers anymore. I emphasized the "waking up dry" because they all say that's the main sign--and that just wasn't true for us. I'm not saying that it isn't a potty training sign--because it most certainly is--but its not the only indicator of being potty training ready. Maverick had never, not once, woken up from a nap or bedtime with a dry diaper. If I had waited for that sign, then he would probably still be wearing diapers now at 4 years old. I fully believe that you'll know when your kid is ready to potty train--so there's no point in stressing about it. Here's how we did it:

I remember I started his first day of potty training on July 11 (and I only remember that because it was 7/11, lol). We were going to use the 3-Day Potty Training technique I had read about in an article that Baby Center had emailed to me. Its a very simple and easy technique, your kid just has to be ready for it. On day one, you bring a potty training toilet into whatever room you and your child spend the most time in, then let them run around naked all day. You don't leave the house. Ask them every 15 minutes or so if they need to go pee, have them try, and if they get even the tiniest amount of pee/poop in the toilet, make a HUGE deal out of it. Dance around, jump and shout, give candy or stickers as rewards, and give lots of praise. They very quickly catch on that if they go in the toilet and not in a diaper, they are a big kid. On day two, you do everything exactly the same as day one, but you add in a 30-minute trip to a nearby park. Before you go to the park, you have your child try and go pee in the toilet, then explain to them that you are going to go to the park and can go to the bathroom again when you come home. Don't put them in tight pants; put them in very loose, flowy shorts (or a dress for a girl). If they make it the entire park trip with no accidents, they get LOTS of praise (but the most important thing to remember is: if they do have an accident any time throughout this process, never get mad--they're learning and trying their best). Day three is the same as the previous two days, except you do two-30 minute trips to the park; one in the morning and one in the evening. When these 3 days are over, your child should be potty trained.

Maverick learned this very quickly. We rewarded him with m&ms--1 m&m if he went pee in the toilet, and 2 m&ms if he went poop. He very quickly learned how to control his bladder, let a tiny bit of pee out into the toilet, collect his m&m, then do it again every 2 minutes. This kid was on sugar overload--he was running circles around the house! Once we figured out he was doing this, we switched from m&ms to stickers, and he was equally excited. Of course there were accidents along the way, and there were accidents after this 3-day training period, but he understood it. I had him daytime-potty trained in 3 days! Nighttime potty training was a whole other story though.

I decided to hold off on the nighttime potty training until he started waking up dry from naps. Weeks, months, and even a year went by and he had never woken up dry. I started to worry and think that I was doing something wrong and that it was my fault.. and in reality, it kinda was. He used his diaper as a crutch. I realized this two weeks before he turned 4.. There had been times where I was getting him ready for bed and would put him in his diaper, then for whatever reason need to take it off, and he would have already peed in it. He was awake, he knew how to pee in a toilet, yet he continued to pee in his diapers. Finally, one night, I decided to take away the diapers cold turkey. I just had a feeling he would be fine without them. Joe and I went to target, bought 2 protective plastic sheets, then headed home. I layered sheets on Maverick's bed: regular sheet, protective sheet, regular sheet, protective sheet, regular sheet. This way, if he had any accidents in the middle of the night, I could just take off the top layer of sheet/protective sheet and he would be all set. I wouldn't be changing sheets all night long. I set a pile of blankets in his room, next to a pile of pajamas (so that we wouldn't be fumbling around all night looking for these things.) We were set, and I was stressed out!! We woke up the next morning, and to my surprise, he hadnt had any accidents! I was over the moon;  my hunch was right--he was using his diapers as a crutch because he knew he could pee in them! Of course there were some nights he would have accidents, but he hasn't had one in months and I can say that he is 100% done with diapers. I did it!

They say that potty training boys is a lot harder than potty training girls, but I'm not so sure about that. I'm getting ready to potty train Madison and she is very stubborn. I've tried to potty train her before, but she refuses to go on the toilet: she ended up pooping on the tile instead (thank god we have tile!). We went out the other night and let her pick out her very first pack of "big girl undies" and she picked out some Minnie Mouse ones. We've had a busy week and weekend so we haven't started the process yet, but I think that having her undies and being able to hold them is building up the anticipation for her--she cant wait to wear them.

Hopefully this process will go as smoothly as it did with Maverick--and then we'll be a completely diaper-free house!! We've been buying diapers for 4 years now--we're SO over it ;)

**If any of you are interested in reading up on the 3-day potty training technique, I still have the email from Baby Center and would be happy to forward it to you. Just leave me a comment with your email address!