Potty Training Miracles

I have written about potty training a few times on our blog already.

You may remember the enthusiastic and optimistic post, and the failed self-consolation post. I decided after the 2nd post that this topic wouldn't receive quite so much attention in the future. It would be a blip on a post about something else, "also, we're potty training again, seems be be going better/the same/worse, and we're still working on it." But I might not have sworn off of it if I had known that I would be writing a different kind of post, the "seemingly miraculous and piece of cake potty training just days before the new baby is due" post. That is what has happened around here in the last week, and to be honest, I'm still shocked by it.

I have Chris to thank, and also a little Batman toy.

The Batman toy was given to us by a sweet friend, and meant for Jayce to open in the hospital so that he could have something to keep him entertained when the baby arrived. It was set aside so that he wouldn't open it, but he did at some point.

Last Sunday, Jayce was playing outside with his new water table. He had splashed water all over himself, so we took his shorts off and eventually his diaper. We thought we would see how this advice went over, "When it's warm, just let him run around outside with no under ware and/or pants on and he'll just train himself." He was not interested to say the least. He seemed self-conscious, or uncomfortable or something. He kept asking for us to put his diaper and pants back on and eventually went inside himself. It didn't work.

The next day Chris randomly said, "Hey Jayce, let's see if Batman has to go potty," and took Jayce and Batman to the bathroom. He put Batman on the little potty where he "went," then Chris went, and then Jayce went. Out of nowhere!! This was the first potty success we have had in 6 months!

This continued for the rest of the night and Day 2. Not even at regular intervals! Basically, whenever Chris went potty, Jayce went with him and he went too, like this was nothing out of the ordinary! Jayce wore under ware, not pull ups, and had no accidents! I was shocked!

On Day 3, there was a little bit of resistance. Jayce didn't want to go a few times when Chris took him, but it was okay because he was still dry in between. Chris told him that he could go outside to help grill if he went to the potty first, and Jayce ran to the bathroom, dropped his pants himself and went! Later on in the night, he told Chris that he had to go #2, and then went. Batman was now out of the picture and he was going by himself without any fun little games or anything. We are now on Day 6, with only a few (wet) accidents, but for the most part it seems to be a done deal.

I am trying not to celebrate, but I want to celebrate!! I realize that this is too much potty info for many people, but I just can't believe our incredibly good luck! What are the chances that Jayce would just decide that it is time to use the potty in the days leading up to the new baby's birth?

It's also funny to reflect now on all of the "methods" that we tried and Jayce had no interest in. The timer, candy incentives, cool big boy pants, the Elmo potty video and Elmo potty doll, a reading station, letting him be naked outside, etc, just didn't work for us.

But the other advice, the kind that required us to just be patient and wait for him to be ready, was what we actually needed to hear.

You can't force it, you just have to wait for it to happen.

Boys are tricky, one day he'll just be ready, he'll go and that will be it.

Patience is not one of our best traits around here, and neither is letting things happen at their own time. It's ironic that Jayce and the baby are both teaching us that lesson in the same week, as the 37 weeks mark has passed, without induction, and we are now just waiting for our little girl to arrive.

But what a great present Jayce has given us this week! Even with a few accidents here and there, only one child in diapers at a time seems like a great thing!