Potty Party

That's right, I typed "Potty Party."  

My party-throwing has reached a whole new level.  It all started awhile back -- probably around the time Rudy turned 2 -- when I started thinking about the looming potty training I was going to have to face sooner or later (but more sooner).  I read several things online, talked to other moms - new and old, trying to soak up any tips/information I could get.  I didn't really know where to begin.  I decided I was so "all over the place" that I needed to reel it back and maybe find one approach that seems to fit us and go strong with that.  And so came, Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day: Proven Secrets of the Potty Pro by Teri Crane. (<---  the supposed pro). 

I took a few days to read the book cover to cover.  Then a couple weeks to gather all my supplies (and enlist Gran's help, of course!). 

This method centered around a one-day "party" (which was supposed to have a theme -- I chose Spiderman because Rudy has a thing for him and it's pretty easy to come by!)  Rudy woke up to find his bathroom decorated, a present waiting for him on the potty, a potty chart and new, shiny stickers. 

I also had prepped a tray full of treats (a couple M&M's, a starburst, a couple Reese's pieces in each cup...yum!  Who wouldn't want to go potty?!) and a tray full of mini drinks with crazy straws (not pictured) of Sprite, Orange soda, Sparkling juices, gatorage, and lemonade (who wouldn't want to try them all?!).  In addition to these treats, I also had prepped a box full of wrapped (in Spiderman wrapping paper, of course) presents as extra incentives... several potty related books and DVD's and a few "big" presents for big successes -- Spiderman slippers, pajamas, cup, bowling ball set, etc.  

 

So what was Rudy's first present of the day, that got the party started?! 

Scotty Potty, of course!  ... seriously... the box actually said "Scotty Potty" (it's an anatomically correct doll that wets on demand - no joke.  And why it has to look so he/she-ish and creepy is beyond me)  

At the direction of the book, the first few hours of the day were spent "teaching" Scotty how to go to the potty.  The idea was that by teaching the doll, I was teaching Rudy the concept without the pressure of him having to perform.  Scotty even had his own big-boy underpants (made curteousy of Gran - Spiderman ones, no less).  So all morning I had to stage "accidents", successes, rewards, etc.  Every time Scotty pee-peed on the potty, or even tried, he got a treat.  And since Scotty was so nice, he let Rudy have it, "if he promised to try using the potty someday" -- little did he know I was hoping that someday would be later that day!  Rudy did really well bossing Scotty, giving him drinks, treats, getting excited for him when he went on the potty, putting stickers on his chart, etc.  He was equally pissed and disgusted when he had an accident on the floor.  He said, "No, Scotty!  Yuck!"  And then to me, "Oh no, Mom!" and motioned for me to clean it up!  Every so often we opened up a present - and the time between Scotty's bodily functions was spent either reading about the potty or watching a show about the potty.   

 Then we broke for lunch.  And following lunch, it was Rudy' turn!  He opened up his own Spiderman big-boy underpants and he was thrilled to put them on!  Unfortunately we had no activity before it was time for his nap, which was really frustrating to me.  Rudy did agree to sit on the potty, but nothing came out.. no accidents... no nothing.   

Of course the kid would take a great nap that day!  The book said to have 4-5 potty episodes before dinner time, which was when Dad would be home and Gran, Papa, Grandma and Grandpa were coming over to celebrate Rudy learning to use the potty <--- all factors the book instructed.  So when he woke up and we went back to the potty talk, I was hopeful we could at least get some sort of action in to be celebrating!  Well, we got some action…but not quite what I was hoping for...  3 accidents right in a row.  And then it was time for everyone to come over.  So instead of congratulating Rudy for going potty on the big boy potty, everyone congratulated him for learning to use the big boy potty (it works, right?).

Check out the life-sized (I swear it's bigger than life-size) Spiderman "walking" balloon.  The kids were a fan, but that thing was so creepy!  I had it hiding in the pantry for about a day before and let's just say I had fun with John and Mom asking them to grab something from the pantry for me, without telling them what was in there :)

So Day 2:  Day 1 was exhausting - constantly "on" and constantly focusing on the potty - wore me out!  But Day 2 was a new day.  He woke up bright and early and started the day with a poop filled pull-up (more on that later), followed by 2 pee-pee accidents.  These quick, right-in-a-row accidents were happening, I think, because he would start to go, notice it, stop himself, get cleaned up, then the rest would come out... and over and over. 

I was home with the kids with no plans - I had intended on staying in doors for at least 3 days, up to a week, to get Rudy potty trained.  Day 2 was a long day.  We basically sat in the bathroom all day long.  Poor Avery is such a trooper.  She sat with us all day, too.  We had books, toys, the drinks, iPad, etc all piled in our tiny half-bath.  We spent 2-3 45-75 minutes spans just sitting on the potty.  The kid would not go. 

At lunch time I started to doubt myself and this whole process... is this normal?  is he ever going to get it?  did I start this too early?  where did I go wrong?  should I just give up?  wait and try again in a month or so?  But a quick pep talk from Jenna and I was regrouped.  After lunch it was pull-up on and nap time.  I'm pretty sure he was waiting for his pull-up to get put on to go. 

When he woke up from his nap, just before Dad got home, he sat on the potty and actually went pee-pee!  I think I confused him, though -- considering I had tears streaming down my face.  I was so proud/relieved/thankful (and, in my defense, I was tired/stressed/full of pregnancy hormones!). 

Rudy got his sticker and treat, and we clapped and danced around like crazy!  Avery was even joining in, bless her.  Dad walked in the door almost immediately after and Rudy was SO excited to tell him.  Then we called up his grandparents and shared his BIG news!  I texted Jenna too - since she had been so helpful the day before.  Her and Ryan were on their way to dinner down the street from our house so they stopped in to congratulate Rudy - it was all so exciting!!  

And from then on, Rudy only had 1 accident each day for the next couple days and then no more accidents since!  It's incredible.  He is doing SO well with the #1.  He even does it all by himself now.  He hovers over his potty or climbs up on the big potty like a pro.  And he has no problems going in other bathrooms or anywhere else.  I was dreading being those parents that constantly say, "Do you have to go potty?" every 10 minutes.  But we haven't had to be those parents with Rudy, at least not that I've noticed :)  He is really good about letting us know and holding it until we get to a bathroom.  He even sleeps through naps and nighttime without a pull-up now…But that part wasn't quite intentional…

Rudy started getting a rash on the backs of his legs, right where the pull-up or underpants were.  He was complaining it would hurt so we would let him wear his mesh shorts commando, which actually made it easier for him to go by himself.  Then at night we started not putting them on because we thought that long of a time could be the culprit.  We load him up with lotion and Aquafor and it seems to be getting better.  Of course the bitterly cold extreme temps I'm sure don't help his poor skin.

So remember how Rudy was difficult with the #2's?  Well...not much has changed. 

The first morning that he woke up with a pull-up on, he woke me up with hysterical screaming.  I quickly go into his room and he had put his hand in his pull-up and was standing in his bed, so disgusted, holding out his poop hand, crying and saying, "ick! ick!"  No big deal... this was new and accidents happen.  I didn't make a big deal about it and told him it was ok and we would get him cleaned up and "next time, you can go in the potty!"  I thought, "Well at least I know he doesn't like poop in his pants!  He'll be using that potty in no time." 

Rudy would regularly go 2-3 days without pooping and the doctor said that was fine, it may just be his "normal."  But when Rudy was reaching the 5 day mark on no poop activity we started to get concerned.  The next time he pooped was when I was putting Avery down for her nap.  I came back to the living room and he quickly showed me where he had pulled down his pants and pooped on the floor.  Nice.  But I thought, "Hey - it's progress.  I was out of the room, he didn't know what to do, but at least he knew to pull down his pants, right?"  We kept telling him, "If you go on the potty, we have an extra special present for you!"  Gran was over one night and she was talking to Rudy and said, "What do you think your present is?  Maybe a ball?  Or a new toy?..."  and Rudy cut her off.. "Yea!  Ball!"  I did not have a ball...btw.   

The next time he went, John basically caught his poop in the toilet.  We made it "count" and got all excited, etc. because he technically did sit on the potty and poop got in it.  We were hoping this was the small step that pushed his fear out the door.  He immediately said, "Ball!"  So off John and Rudy went to Scheels to pick out a new ball... thanks, Gran :)

Another several days past and we started to get concerned again...and then real concerned when he would dance around, hold his bottom, squirm, and walk with his butt cheeks squeezed together -- all trying to keep the poop in.  He was clearly holding it and clearly uncomfortable!  It got so bad that we were basically pleading with him to sit on the potty and just try.  He would admit he had to go, run to the bathroom, sit down, but then immediately get up and say, "All done!"  We tried everything to keep him on there as long as possible - songs, books, new shows on the iPad, games, etc.  He wouldn't have it.  We even tried giving him grape juice and a suppository to get things moving, but nothing helped.  It got to the point that he was crying on the toilet, resisting us completely.  One day I couldn't stand it.  The poor kid wouldn't even sit down to eat, he was whimpering nonstop and obviously in pain.  So I said, "Rudy, do you want to put a diaper on to go poop?"  And he whimpered, "Yes"  -- within minutes he pooped.  And he cried "Oww, Mom" when I was cleaning him up.  That's when I decided I was going to be strict about giving him Miralax and fiber every morning for a week (before I called the doc) because he was regressing in his bowel movements and he was likely back to the point that he was not only scared to go, but it was going to start hurting to come out.  Since then, he has gone poop 1-2 times a day -- but either in his pull-up or a diaper.  He still does AWESOME with pee-pee.  Just when he has to poop, he lets us know he needs his diaper.  We still push for him to use the potty, talk about it often, etc, but we don't want to make it a stressful thing and he will figure it out soon enough.  Afterall, he's only two and a half and it's only been about 3 weeks since we started potty training at all.. I'd say he's doing pretty darn good!  And Peach is just starting to not act like the bathroom is a place we hang out in.  After the first couple days of potty training, no matter who went in the bathroom, she would come in and have a seat on the floor… like that is just what we did now.  

And did I mention during this time we all were pretty sick?  About day 3 of potty training, Rudy was looking and sounding horrible and was clearly not feeling well.  I took him to prompt care and sure enough, he had the respiratory flu.  The next morning Avery and I started in on the similar symptoms -- sore throat, fever, head cold, lethargic.  We all were on tamaflu (even though we had all had the flu shot.. grrr!).  The kids had a few rough days, but then seemed to get better each day.  Unfortunately, I seemed to keep getting worse.  I ended up back at the doctor's office and had come down with not only the flu, but the secondary infections as well -- like double ear infections (who knew adults even got those?!).  I was miserable.  On the day I was supposed to work that next week, I hibernated at my parent's house to rest for the day instead.  I was worthless.  Luckily after the antibiotics kicked in, I started to feel much better.  But that was a rough 7-10 days for us!

But now we are on the mend.  Rudy is a pee-pee in the potty pro and hopefully he gets the other end figured out soon, too!