Pee Pee on the POTTY!!!

I've decided that it's time to put my foot down when it comes to Owen and the potty. He's 3 and a half years old, and was showing absolutely no interest. I, however, am getting so tired of the dirty diaper assembly line between the two boys, that I figured I'd have better luck potty training the 3 1/2 year old than I would with the 4 month old ;-)

I started on Thursday afternoon after picking Riley up from the bus stop by letting Owen just run around the house naked for a few hours, hoping that he would at least go SIT on the potty at some point. By the time 6 p.m. rolled around and it was time for supper, I put a diaper back on him so that we wouldn't have any "surprises" at the dinner table. Wouldn't you know it, by the time we were finished eating, his diaper was FULL of pee. Arghh!!! At this point it's almost time for bed, so we gave up on it for that day.

Friday morning after a speech therapy session with Jodi, we had a few errands to run, so the diaper stayed on. Then it was home in time for lunch, a nap, and then to pick Riley up from the bus stop. As soon as we got home, we took his diaper off for some more naked time. As Owen was playing, he started to pee a little bit, so we ran into the bathroom and sat right down on the potty seat. This did not go well. Poor little guy had to go so badly that he couldn't hold it anymore, but was screaming and crying that he wanted his diaper and that he was scared :-( I felt so bad about this (and still do), but I held him down so that he could not get off the potty until he was finished, all the while he's crying and screaming. At that point I wanted to cry, too, but I know that he needed to be pushed, so to speak, or else he'd be happy in diapers for a long time to come.

I finally got him calmed down for the most part and he finished. I'll admit- I'm not above bribery in situations like these with my kids. I promised him that if he went pee pee on the potty again, we'd go right to Walmart and he could pick out a toy. It took quite a while of me sitting on the bathroom floor holding his hand while he tried, but he did it! Of course I packed all the kids up and off to Walmart we went, even though it was almost 7 p.m. and soon Owen's bedtime. He chose a train named Dennis from the Thomas the Tank Engine series :-)

Today, we have had MUCH success! Maybe even a little too much, lol. I printed out a reward chart for Owen, so that every time he goes to the potty, he gets a sticker on the chart. When it's full, he gets a new Matchbox car (thank God they cost less than a buck!) He went a few times on the potty this morning (each time I was by his side holding his hand). Then it was off to Walmart again to pick out another train (this time it was a train names Stanley), for keeping up the good work. I also of course needed to get some new underwear for our big boy (Scooby Doo ones!), and some stickers, markers, poster board and a glue stick for our reward chart. All in all, Owen peed on the potty 13 times today!!!

And I am exhausted. Who know potty training could be so tiring? Looking back, it was pretty darn easy with Riley. Then again, they say it's harder with boys. By this afternoon, Owen was so excited and proud of himself that he was literally going about every 15 minutes. And of course I had to go with him and hold his hand. I hope the going every 15 minutes part of it doesn't last long.

Here are some pics from our successful day:

We are so proud of you Owen!