Porter Potty (hehe) Training

Well this has been an on going challenge at our house.  But what it really boiled down to was me, not Porter.  I would work with him for a couple of days and he would do really good, but then I would put a diaper or pull-up back on him when we would leave the house.  I didn't want to deal with accidents while I was out and about.  But then the diaper would stay on the rest of the day.  It was the whole "one step forward, two steps back" scenario.

Finally, I decided we have to do this once and for all.  And if that meant we had to stay at home all day every day for a week or two than so be it.  (And that is REALLY hard for me to do!)  I put him in his big boy undies and swore never to go back.

Day 1 and 2 were tough.  He was anti-potty.  When I would ask him if he needed to go potty he would get really upset and say scream no.  He wanted nothing to do with it.  And he didn't use the potty at all.  But surprisingly, I saw progression still.  How?  Well, when he has a diaper on he pees a little bit here and there, he basically always has a wet diaper all day long.  So, with him not using the potty during day 1 and 2 you would think I had a lot of accidents, but no, that wasn't the case.  There were only 2 or 3 a day.  This little boy would hold it all day long.  And usually, he would run outside when he wet his pants, which was nice for cleanup!

Day 3 and 4 got better.  One thing I was worried about from previous potty training attempts was that when he would go #1 he would grunt and shake and pee a few drops and think he did it, without emptying his bladder.  So on Day 3 when he had to go to the potty after holding it for hours, he had his first experience filling that little potty up!  There was still some hesitation, but he was going.

The 2nd half of day 4 I was feeling like we were having it down.  Instead of me reading when he was about to go and rushing him to the potty I had Porter telling me when he needed to go, and holding it until he got to the potty.  He wasn't having accidents and I was feeling like we had it down.

Today is day 5.  We have had no accidents today.  Twice this morning while I was cleaning house I have discovered that he has taken off his pants and undies by himself and is sitting on the potty going #1.  And then, again, I discovered him on the potty by himself and he had gone #2.  He has gone a little before but never a full bowel movement.  I was glad I came downstairs when I did, because he had just stood up and looked in.  He wasn't so sure about what he saw, I could tell he was a little scared.  But Jared and I jumped up and down and made a big deal which made it more exciting.  Today he keeps going by himself, or coming and telling me "I need to go pee pee again."

I am sure there will be steps back, and some accidents in the future, but as of right now, I feel like we did it!  I feel like he has totally gotten this potty thing down.  The biggest challenge we have is that he is still afraid of big pottys.  Which makes running errands a bit hard.  Last night we went to Jared's football game and he was fine with going on a tree, but didn't like the big potty.  This will be something we will have to work towards.

I am SOOOOO proud of him!  He is growing up, and as much as I hate him growing up, I was looking forward to this part of it!  Yahoo!  (Below is the big boy... attempting a thumbs up...)