Potty training -- boy style

With 3 potty training success stories under my belt (julianne, catherine, and madelyn), I felt well prepared to tackle the issue with Adam.

All 3 of my girls hinted at "readiness" from about 18 months on (woke up dry, wanted a new diaper when they wet, liked to sit on their potty, etc.) and with each of them it went like this.

Monday -- get rid of all diapers, potty train their doll, provide plenty of fluids, clean up accident after accident, keep showing them the fun candies that they will get when they succeed

Tuesday -- same

Wednesday -- some success 50 %

Thursday -- some success 60 % (one exhausted mom)

Friday -- not enough success, 100% exhausted mom, tons of laundry and a new package of diapers.

I had had enough and we were done. I tried hard for a week and I was done -- they were close, but i lacked the stamina to make it through.

With each girl I let 4-6 weeks pass, with not a mention of potty. Then I got the courage to try again and it went like this.

Monday -- get rid of all diapers, provide plenty of fluids, lots of candy treats, potty train their doll, watch potty movies, read potty books, go potty crazy -- a few accident, lots of successes.

Tuesday - Today -- nearly all successes!

It seemed with all the girls that that second time was a charm, they just seemed to get it and they were all right at 2 years.

So with my "EXPERTISE", I tried with Adam. I knew the first week was just the warm up, but I went through all the same motions. He was a little older (as he had been slower showing readiness, and it was the dead of winter here!) and the first week was trying.

He showed limited interest, could care less about accidents, cried when he succeeded, did not want the candy. I gave up Wednesday night.

So I tried again 4 weeks later. This time he did a little better, ate the candy so much he threw up, ended up running a fever and by day 2 I was done again.

He just did not have the motivation that the girls did.

My friend mentioned to me that her boys needed cars as motivation and then my sister-in-law who just potty trained her son said in her blog that she used cars also and so I went shopping and bought cars monday night.

Adam saw the cars and I told him that when he went potty he could get one. I was thinking I might try again next week (cause I like to start on a Monday morning), but he ran right down the hall, pulled off his pants, took off his diaper, went pee and earned his first car. He then went through all the steps I had done the past 2 attempts. He got out his "doll", pulled out his undies, got rid of all the diapers, etc. . . He definately let me know we were starting today, right now, at 7 pm in the evening!

He has had a few accidents over the past 3 days, but overwhelmingly he has had success. So far this morning he finished earning all his cars, all his stickers, and just got his brand new dump truck! I just needed the right reward!

Yeah for Adam. Yeah for Mommy. What a win, win situation!