The Grand Prize

Dear Sawyer,

We are SO proud of you!

You have done an outstanding job at

learning to use the potty.

Today, you got your last reward -

The Grand Prize,

you might say.

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy you made this whole process.

We didn't use candy, or treats each time you used the potty...

but it did cost us about a dollar a week and a visit to the

toy aisle to pick out a new matchbox car.

(I figured if we used candy we'd have probably paid more in the long run anyway...between bags of candy and possible cavities later on)

Easy peasy. We lucked out!

Hooray for no more diapers!

Hooray for our big boy!

Seriously. SO PROUD of the boy. He was ready long before I was, and has been going on the little potty since he was something like 15 months old - now and then. I thought maybe he was too young, but since he persistently showed an interest, I decided in January to just be committed even though running through parks and parking lots and grocery stores etc. when we're out and about for the first few weeks seemed like more work than changing a diaper. Pretty much, this his how it went down (for those who are interested - don't feel obligated to read the potty training details --)

oh, if you are a parent who is thinking of potty training - remember that EVERY CHILD is different so trying this method on your child will not ensure that he will be fully potty trained at 2.5 years, but you never know!?! Sawyer just happened to be ready at an earlier age than average for a boy in the United States. but if your child isn't ready yet - don't worry, sooner or later we all learn how to use the potty :)

POTTY TRAINING 101...FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO KNOW...

Once I decided to commit (after the craziness of the holidays :), I picked a date for no more diapers. I picked the day we were to come back from our Florida vacation. So, a couple of weeks prior, I kept telling Sawyer (in a very excited way) "no more diapers when we come home from Florida!" and on vacation I kept reminded him and asking him "what happens when we get home from Florida?" we would smile and say in unison "NO MORE DIAPERS!"

So, true to my word, even after flying with two kids across the country and getting home feeling tired and unmotivated, the first thing we did when the shuttle dropped us off was go to take off his diaper..."NO MORE DIAPERS!" And so it went...

The days were great. Besides, of course, the constant voice in my head "ask him, ask him in 5 minutes" - now that it's done, it's nice not to have to always look at the clock and ask him every 15 minutes. The only thing he was nervous about was what I will refer to as #2. He was also nervous about falling into the big toilet, so we resolved that issue by buying one of those little seats that fits on top and is child-size. We got over the nervousness about #2 by talking about how at the beach when we throw rocks in the water they go "SPLASH!!!" and after that, he was STOKED for #2. He still shouts from the bathroom "Do you hear it? SPLASH!" What a relief to get over those small obstacles. From there on out he did amazing.

The first couple of nights, we put pull ups on him. But I realized they felt too much like diapers and he could easily fall into a bad habit. So, to reinforce all the good, we had him wear a cloth diaper (he had worn them 90% of the time up until Aspen was born, and then I got a bit lazy and relied more in disposables). Anyway, with the cloth diaper, he could certainly feel the wetness on some mornings and was in a hurry to get them off and get to the potty. Over about 2 weeks time I started noticing that his cloth diaper was dry each morning. So, we decided to get rid of the cloth and just do underpants at night and see how it went. And it went great! In 6 weeks of no diapers whatsoever he only had one accident when he ran to the potty but couldn't quite get out of his zip up jammies in time. (it was midnight). Funny enough, he goes to bed with a sippy cup of water around 9pm and we don't have to wake him or take him potty or anything and he drinks the water throughout the night and still wakes up dry! I think he has learned bladder control.

Okay, so the prize factor. First (thanks to a suggestion from one of my sisters and a couple of friends) we thought about what motivates Sawyer. CARS. Easy. So, each time he went potty, I told him he was doing a great job and if he kept doing a great job, he could go pick out a prize - a new car. I didn't want to give him a car every time he went, so just talking about it worked for him. So, once a week we took a trip to Target and he got to pick out one of those little matchbox or hotwheels cars. I made a big deal about it and he usually got additional praise from other moms in the toy aisle "Good Job!"

So, I'd say he was fully potty trained in 3-4 weeks. The only thing I had to do then, was to get him to understand that he wouldn't get a prize every time we went to Target ;) So, a couple of weeks ago I told him he had learned to use the potty and he wouldn't get to choose a prize anymore. Today, we went to Target and his eyes were ON FIRE when he spotted "Red" - the firetruck from the movie Cars. I usually on let him get one of those cheap little cars, and this one was like $15. I started to say it was too expensive "oh, too much money, Mommy?" but instead, I saw a perfect opportunity to end the prizes with a BIG prize, something that would make an impression. So, Red came home with us today. In fact, he is "napping" right next to Sawyer as I write this :) And my boy couldn't be happier. And I couldn't be more proud of him. He's such a little guy. But getting so big. So fast. Sometimes I want time to freeze, but then he just keeps getting more and more fun as the days go by.

Anyway - sorry for the novel on potty training, of all things. At least I didn't post pics of my boy sitting on the pot (though I admit I did think about doing just that) those are things the whole www doesn't need to see. A lot of what I write on this blog that turns into novels is just for my records and for me to remember. So thanks for humoring me!

*on a side note, it has been said that children who wear cloth diapers potty train earlier. Seems to be true in our case, so far. I have also re-committed myself to cloth diapers for Aspen. I feel good about using them and they save us $$$ that can be put to better use than trashing our environment for future generations. I do use disposables sometimes when we're out and about - but my goal is 75% of the time cloth. I spend less than $10/month on diapers. Any one have questions about cloth - fire away! I love sharing info I've learned from research and experience!