It's Potty Time! (Potty Training Boot Camp)

My Potty Training, week long journey experience with my 20 month old son. Please make note that I am not making any claims that what worked for me will work for you. I am just sharing my experience.
Since my son was about 8 months he has been telling me "I boo boo" either before he was about to go, during the process of going, or after he went. Because he was so young, I did not get into the potty training, but I did encourage him to keep telling me, then at 10 months we bought a potty chair, again because he was so young, I did not have any expectations, I just wanted to get him familiar with sitting on the potty, so he would not be scared of it. So yes, I have notbeen very consistent. Now that he is getting so close to two, I thought it was time to really get on the ball.

First Day (Tuesday, December 9, 2008)
Potty Training Boot Camp Began! This is a combination of methods I have heard or read about earlier on before I was even thinking about potty training him, as well as things I did with my daughter 6 years ago. So I began by putting him on the potty as soon as he got up, most adults have to use the bathroom when they first wake up, so it is usually true for children too. I put him on the potty 10 minutes after giving him somethingto drink. If I put him on the potty any later than 10-13 minutes he didnot make it to the potty. I gave him some commando(no ?undies? or diaper) time, as well assome "big boy" underwear time. He went through 5 outfits today! I almost forgot the first time he peed on himself today, he pointed to the floor and said ?Damn it.? I am embarrassed to say, he learned that phrase from mommy. I am sure I don?t have to say, be careful of what you say around your kids, they will repeat it. I would like to clear my name and say that I did not teach him this on purpose, and I have tried to teach him otherwise. The more I tell him not to use it the more he says it. Lately I have been trying to ignore it, and not acknowledge him when he says it. He does not say it as much, but I am looking for a word or phrase to replace it with that sounds similar. Still working on that though, if there are any suggestions, please feel free to let me know. I tried doughnut?don?t ask?I was trying?that was the only thing I could think of that sounded close. I don?t use a lot of profanity, that is probably the worst thing that I say the most?I am working on it?for the sake of my parakeet son. At least I can say that I did not teach him to say ?I farted? on purpose, like someone else I know, I am not going to say any names (daddy!). Oh no, I was not embarrassed when my son blurted this out at the grocery store last week. =IOh yeah, he went "stinky" on the potty for the first time today, so that was a plus.Yay!
Day 2 (Wednesday, December 10)Today, it was a rocky start. I thought I would do something different and put his potty in the living room while he was watching "Elmo's Potty Time" on DVD, hoping he would sit on it and stay there longer since Elmo would keep him entertained. He did not like that, he was very resistant he did not want to sit on his potty, and he told meso. I got the picture, I left him alone for a little while, but I did not want to be defeated so I put his seat on the big potty, which is where he has been going in the past. I was putting him on the big potty before, because it is not as easy for him to escape, if he is on the big potty. I sing songs to keep him entertained in the bathroom and read books, but basically if he has not gone in the first few minutes that I put him on there, he gets irritated. I probably would too. So, back to today, I did the commando, and the big boy pants for most of the day, after I gave him something to drink, 10 minutes later I put him on the potty and he went each time. However before, I got my timing down today, he was commando, and he peed two x's within 15 minutes in the same spot...ON OUR CARPET.The highlight of the day...we were in the bathroom with daddy...his potty was in there, so I had him sit on his potty since the big potty was being occupied. Let?s just say that one of the adults (clearing throat) was having a business meeting. This is why he was on his potty. After the business meeting was over he took his seat of his potty...I thought he wanted to put it on the big potty, but no, he just was taking it off, and he put it in the space where I always place it after he has gone to the bathroom or tried to go. So after he removed the seat, he went back to his potty sat down, had hisbusiness/serious face on....AND COMMENCED TO PEEING ON THE FLOOR...he was sitting on his potty, but since he did not have the seat on there with the "tee tee blocker" pee went all on the bathroom floor. My fiancé and I were laughing so hard, it was hard to contain myself, but after I pulled myself together I congratulated him and encouraged him to finish, because he was looking at us like "what is so funny I am handling business here." I told him good job, said yay, and told him I was so proud of him for using the potty like a big boy on his own. We were making so much noise in the bathroom, my daughter had to come and see what was going on. I really was so very proud of him...obviously he needs to work on his aim though. LOL He was so proud of himself. I just wish I would have had all of that on video tape.

Day 3 (Thursday, December 11)
Day 3 in my potty training boot camp, and it has gone pretty well! My 20 month old son was commando most of the day and he only had one #1 accident and one #2 accident. Luckily both of those times were the times he was not commando. whew! He told me two of the times today when he had to go, most recently about 20 minutes ago, he tapped me on my leg while I was checking my daughter's homework and said "pee pee." So we ran to the bathroom,and he commenced to peeing like a little race horse. I am so proud of him, but I know the journey is not over yet. Potty Training is exhausting, even for him, he took a nap today (YAY!), which he does not do to often. I know he is still pretty young, so I am not getting too excited, but I am proud. I have heard for a very long time that it is harder to train boys, so I will just have to wait and see how this process goes. Any how, for those of you potty training, hang in there! I know it is frustrating at times, but it is such a big accomplishment for our little ones, so try and have fun with it.

Day 4 (Friday, December 12)

Another Rocky start, but it was completely my fault. I heard him make some noise at 6am, which is an hour earlier then he usually gets up, but I thought he would have to go to the bathroom so I went to get him, and put him on the potty. Let?s just say he was VERY resistant and he was already wet so I did not make him stay on there long. I put him in the bed with me and daddy for a little bit, but it was not long that he requested ?Mulk? (that is Milk in his language?lol). About 20 minutes after growing tired of being in the bed he says ?Im wachin it? ?I wanna wach Elmo.? I don?t think I need to translate that. So we get up, and watch ?Elmo?s Potty Time.? He needed another cup of milk at this time so I gave him another cup and sat down with him to watch Elmo. We had about an hour before his sister needed to get up and get ready for school. 10 minutes after having his cup of milk, I asked him if he needed to potty, he said no, but I took him to the bathroom anyway. He was resistant, but he did go. I thought we were back on track, and things were looking good. After we dropped my daughter off at school we came home and I was getting ready to do some of our usual routine, but he wanted to go outside. I told him it was too cold. He went and got his hat and shoes (he had on his slippers) and said ?outside.? Before we went outside I asked him if he had to go to the bathroom, he said no. I said ?ok.? So I open up the garage where their toys are, and where it was a little warmer, so he could play. So we are outside no longer then 10 minutes and he starts peeing. Did I mention before that he was commando? =0 He was standing on his sister?s scooter, so he peed all over that as well as on the floor and on his daddy?s mat he has down under his workout bench. I swear my kid pees like a race horse?maybe that is a boy thing. LOL Sorry for the details, but the pee just shot out of his pajama?s like he did not even on his pajama pants. I told daddy about the incident, but sister does not know that her scooter has been (clearing throat)?broken in? I don?t know if I am even going to tell her. After that he did pretty well. I had to keep asking him if he needed to use the bathroom and putting him on the potty 10 minutes after I gave him something to drink.

Day 5 (Saturday, December 13)

Woke up about 6:45am, took him to the bathroom, and he peed. We got his milk and started to watch Elmo?s Potty Time, this is upon request of course. If you purchase this DVD and your child likes it be prepared to watch it back to back ALL day long. Also, child will sing and hum all the songs all day long. My son?s favorite part of one of the songs he sings is ?you?ll do it.? So I thought I would take a cat nap, while he was sitting in my lap watching Elmo, don?t worry with my cat naps, I still hear everything that is going on, especially with him. Don?t ask me how, but I just do, I am sure many of you mommies out there can relate. So about 15 minutes later he says ?pee pee,? I ask him if he has to pee pee, he smiles and his little face lights up and he says ?pee pee? again, so I rush him off to the bathroom, and he goes. He was commando up until his nap (diaper goes on at nap and when we leave the house and of course bedtime), and he did not have any accidents. When he woke up from his nap, I put him on the potty and he went. I put him on the potty again before we left the house, and he went. Our first stop was Target, since we got such a late start we did not do much this day. About 15 minutes of being in the store, my daughter had to use the bathroom, and my son claimed he did too! Since I am not a big advocate of public restrooms, I did not put him on the potty. I am in search of a traveling potty. When my daughter was his age I would hold her over the public toilets, seeing he has a different part, and pee will go every where if I tried to do this with him, he did not go to the bathroom at Target. So we get to our second destination, and after about 20-30 minutes of being there, my son says ?pee pee.? I brought his seat from home, since I knew were going to our relatives, I was not sure if he would go elsewhere, but I brought it just in case, and I am glad I did. We rushed to the bathroom, put his seat on the big potty, and he started to pee. His diaper was wet, but it was not warm (from touching on the outside) so I know it was not recent, I am guessing this was the pee from Target. He used the bathroom a few more times while we were there, and again when we came home, before and after bath time, before bed. So he only had one accident today. Yay!!!

Day 6 (Sunday, December 14)
The day went pretty well, he had a couple of accidents, but for the most part he did a great job! I guess he thinks he is grown now, because he does not like for me to take him to the bathroom unless he has told me he has to go. So now I only ask him if he has to go, and I continue to ask him throughout the day along with reminding him to tell me when he has to pee pee or boo boo. For a minute I thought he had it down, we got to the middle of the day with no accidents, and then it came time to go ?stinky.? I put his potty in the living room, he found it more entertaining to stand on it then sit on it, since it is also a step stool. Then he wanted to sit on it with the seat off. Any how, he said boo boo, so I asked him if he had to go, and he said no. I said are you sure, he said no, so I left him alone and went back to washing the dishes. Shortly after I went back into the kitchen he starts walking over to me and says ?paper towel? I asked him why he needed a paper towel, and I also noticed he was walking funny. As he takes a few steps towards me a (those with weak stomachs, don?t read the next part) stinky rolled out of his sweat pants. As I went over to the potty I seen that he let one go over there too! LOL Yes, he was commando under those sweat pants. I take it he did not like having stinky in his pants, because he has not done that since, but it has only been a week, so who knows he may have another stinky accident. Yes, my little man is a bit of a neat freak, so he wanted to clean up his mess, he even asks for a wipe to wipe down the toilet after I take his seat off the big potty. He has seen me wipe it down with a wipe so now he thinks he is supposed to do so as well. After that occurrence, daddy said ?put a diaper on him, it?s like having a puppy.? After the ?stinky? episode I put him in the bath to get all cleaned up. He went potty one last time for the day, but this time it was on the potty.

Day 7 (Monday, December 15)
Today was a great day! He woke up dry again! There were no accidents. He went potty on the potty all day long. I had a diaper on him today, all day, but it was dry every time I took it off to put him on the potty. Again, I only put him on the potty when he said pee pee or boo boo. I don?t know if he gets offended now if I take him to the bathroom without him telling me he has to go, but he does not like it if I try to put him on there if he has not said he has to go. Mommy has learned her lesson. So he tells me boo boo, and starts making his ?business face? so I take him to the bathroom. He tells me ?no, no potty? and I ask him to please try. So he sits there for a minute, but he does not want to go, but I can see that he needs to. Poor baby, I think he was a little constipated. He did not want to be on the potty so I took him off. I am washing dishes again?seems like I am always washing dishes?any how, he is behind me and standing very still, making his ?business? face, so I take him to the potty. I notice he does not want to put his bottom down on my arm, so I am thinking he has already gone, or it is about to come out. We make it to the bathroom, but (weak stomachs may not want to read) his ?stinky? is already starting to come out, and if I would have lifted him up quickly to get him on the potty it would have went on the floor, so I just caught it in the diaper, and let him see me flush it in the toilet, as a reminder of where ?stinky? goes. Then we flushed the toilet and said bye bye to the boo boo. So wait a minute, does this mean he was not accident free today??? After this I am thinking, accidents are done for the day, he is getting ready to take a bath and go to bed. He gets all fresh and clean, I take him out of the bath, put on his t-shirt and get ready to put some lotion on him and then he says ?pee pee? I ask him if he needs to pee pee he says no, and as I get ready to say are you sure, and was going to put him on the toilet anyway?.HE STARTS PEEING LIKE A RACE HORSE? it all got on the bathroom rug, and a little bit on his shirt(does this incident also count as an accident? lol). So I get ready to take off his shirt because it now has pee on it, but he does not want me to take it off. I say to him ?there is pee on it, you need a clean shirt, mommy asked you if you had to potty.? I hurried up and put on a clean shirt, so he did not start a riot. I am thinking he was cold that is why he did not want his shirt off, maybe even why he peed on the floor, who knows. We did our usual bedtime routine, bath, brush teeth, bedtime stories, and singing(Please no requests, my singing is only for my kids, they are the only ones I am legally allowed to torture with my singing, lol), but he had to go one last time to the bathroom, but this time he told me and let me take him to the bathroom and he peed on the potty like a big boy.

Day 8 (Tuesday, December 16)
Today was even better than yesterday!!! He woke up dry, and he had absolutely NO ACCIDENTS. He went potty all day, he let me know when he needed to go, and I took him to the bathroom, and after he went we did our usual celebration, Hi-Fives, Good Jobs, and Hugs. As he gets more and more experienced, I will ease back off of the celebrating, but this is a HUGH accomplishment right now. I get a phone call from my daughter ?mommy I left my lunch on the counter can you bring it?? Of course I am not going to let my princess starve so my son and I drove up to her school to drop off her lunch. When we got back I sat in the driveway for a few minutes because a song I like came on the radio and I wanted to hear it, just as the song was going off, my son says ?pee pee.? I am thinking, well here goes the accident for the day, I confirmed he had to go, and I said ?hold it, don?t pee pee? we rush in the house, and get in the bathroom, and guess what HE MADE IT! Whew?close call. We even went to Target later in the day?.ok I think we go to Target too much?LOL?any how, he used the bathroom before we left, but because he is a very new potty trainer I put a diaper on him before we left and I will continue to do so when we go out for at least a few more weeks or I may put pull ups on him while we are out, but considering we just bought a big bag of diapers, I kind of want to use them. Ok back to today, so we left for a little over 3 hours, and about 20 minutes after being home he said ?pee pee? so we went to the bathroom, and he went potty, did I mention that his diaper was dry! He did not drink very much before we left, and he used the bathroom before we left the house, so I guess that explains the success of our outing. He even went ?stinky? on the potty today on his own, he did not have any close calls today. He told me ?boo boo? so we went to the bathroom so he could go. He said this two times before actually going. The first 2x?s I could see him try, but it just was not time to go, so he said ?all done? that means he wants to get off the toilet, so I took him down. After the third time, the ?business? face was on, so I made him stay on the toilet, he said ?all done? before he really was, but I asked him to stay on the potty and try. After a little encouragement he stayed and he went ?stinky? and when he was all done, he was all smiles and very proud of himself. I am starting to think he gets embarrassed or he wants privacy when he goes #2. This would not surprise me because I remember my daughter use to run off in a corner and go #2 and I know other kids do that as well when they go #2. I wonder what it is about going #2 in front of others. I know as adults most of us don?t really like to do so either, I guess we start that as little kids, who knows. So today was very successful, no accidents all day, and we were even able to leave the house.


So to sum it up, keep potty training simple, and fun for the kiddos and yourself. They get frustrated when there is too much pressure, as well as the parent gets frustrated when they have too many expectations. Kids pick up on all of our emotions, so a frustrated mommy or daddy also leads to a frustrated child.

My Personal Tips:
1. Introduce your child early on to the potty before you are even thinking about potty training. When you get ready to potty train they will feel less anxious and apprehensive, because they are already know what the potty is and what it is used for.
2. Let them see you or an older sibling use the bathroom. (I let my son see me use the bathroom, as well as daddy, but he did not see our ?private parts?) The point is to let him see that we all use the potty.
3. Let her be free, let her go commando. (No undies or diaper) Doing this makes the process go faster.
4. Teach all of the bathroom essentials, use potty, wipe, flush toilet, and wash and dry hands.
5. Potty Training Boot Camp- Once you commit, start first thing in the morning.
6. Keep encouraging, stay positive, keep if fun, and follow through, if circumstances permit.
7. Be PatientBesides the technicalities one other thing that I do that may not seem like a huge deal, but myson loves it...we race to the bathroom when he says he has to go or Icome chasing him to put him on the potty, and he thinks it is sohilarious, which I guess makes it fun for him. Once I have caught him, I swoop him up and we rush off to the bathroom. I make a big deal when he makes it, and I tell him good try or thanks fortrying if he does not have to go at the time I put him on the potty. I also thank him for trying if he had and accident, and tell him it?s ok, he will make it next time.I don?t know if I can consider him potty trained just yet, but as of today, he is doing really well. Don?t get me wrong I am sure he will have some accidents, and we will address them as they occur, and continue to be loving and encouraging.

Good Luck to all the potty trainers out there!!! I hope you found some, hope, humor and support from my son?s and my potty training experiences.

Staying At Home With Children...

Staying home with my children was a tough decision, and is a tough decision for many stay at home parents to make. I had a great job and worked for a great supervisor, and had a wonderful repore with all the employees. I even got a promotion before I went on maternity leave. Some will say, actually many will say why would you not return to work if you had all of those great things. Seriously, how many people can honestly say that they love their job? In today's society two incomes are usually needed to make ends meet. So why not return to a great place of employement where the pay was good, and the employees were nice, and for the most part everyone got along?

I went on a long maternity leave, and finally me and my better half decided that me being home with the kids would be best. I was torn. I enjoyed working for my boss, and I did not want to leave her without anyone to assist her, but what I wanted even more was to be at home with my kids. I went back and forth in my mind of what it would be like dropping my newborn off at day care (I did not have to do this with my first child, I stayed home with her for the first year), and dropping my school aged daughter off at school, which she would then go to after school care until I was able to pick her up. It saddened me to think about my newborn son sleeping in a carseat most of the day or strange crib, constantly getting sick, and not recieving the love and affection from mommy or daddy throughout the day. It saddened me even more thinking about my daughter being dropped off before school, so I could make it to work on time, and then staying after school, until I was able to pick her up. With me at work, their father at work, and the kids at day care and school, when would we see each other, or should I say when would we really spend any quality time together? If I would have gone back to work, there would have only been a couple hours in between picking up the children and bedtime to do anything. After picking up the children, I would have to help with home work, try to spend some quality time with the baby, cook dinner(eat, hopefully we would all be able to sit down together), clean, get everything ready for the next day, read bedtime stories, put kids to sleep, then finally it would be time for me to try and wind down, hope to spend some quality time with my honey, go to sleep, wake up and do it all over again. I know many, many people do this every day, without a complaint without hesitation, and I commend them for doing it, it is not easy. I just could not see myself and my honey working to death to pay someone else to raise our kids. Part of the joys of having kids in being able to watch them grow up. Again, not everyone is able to stay home or even wants to stay home, these are just my personal opinions. Being a mommy is a never ending job, but being a stay at home mom, is even tougher. You hardly ever get a break, but I still would not change anything.

For those of you considering staying home, it is a tough decision and it should be well thought out, and you should have a back up plan, a couple of back up plans if possible. It can be done, but you will have to budget, communicate with spouse/significant other, be supportive of one another (this includes the entire family), and most importantly, have faith, believe that you made the right decision.

Protect Your Health

There is no better time like the present to take care of your health. Friends may go, family may go, finances may even change, but your health needs to last you a lifetime. No one else can physically change your health for you; you have to make the decision to change your health for yourself. Protecting your health starts with making lifestyle changes. Examples of this would be changing your eating habits, i.e. not eating too late, or not eating too much junk food. Being cautious of what you put in your body will take you a long way. When you have good nutrition, and your body heals itself from the inside out, you feel better, you experience less health issues, you are more likely to exercise, you increase your energy, you are less likely to need prescriptions filled from the doctor, the list can go on and on. There are many benefits to taking care of your health.
A side note, most prescriptions are just a quick fix and they only band-aid the problem they do not necessarily fix it, and some prescriptions may even cause problems in other areas that you did not have before, then you will need a prescription for that issue. The cycle can just continue on and on, leaving someone with many "pills" or "prescription drugs" to take and not improving their health. They actually begin to hinder their health. People have to start asking more questions about what is being prescribed to them. That is what doctors are for, to help you improve your health. Time and time again, many will go to the doctor for an issue the doctor will prescribe something, and the patient will not ask why it is being prescribed if there are any alternative methods (natural) to fix the ailment, what side effects will it cause etc. If more people started holding doctors accountable for what they were recommending, and questioning what the doctors are recommending, in turn the doctors would question what the pharmaceutical companies are trying to pump patients with, and there would be more healthier people. I think doctors are great, and there are many out there that truly care about their patients and their well being, but one does need to be aware that there are some doctors out there to strictly turn a profit. It is sad, but it is true. Many will prescribe unnecessary prescriptions, prescribe prescriptions knowing it will cause other issues, and will not necessarily volunteer the side effects, especially since they should be listed on the bottle (you have to do your research), schedule unnecessary appointments. All these things put extra money in their pockets.
A perfect personal example for me would be a pediatrician recommending that my daughter be on asthma medication through the whole spring season, as well as prescribing two orders of two of the five medications she was prescribing for me to pick up for my daughter(basically increasing how many drugs I was going to pick up). Although I had benefits to cover some of the costs, I still had to spend close to $100 on what the pediatrician recommended, and I did not even pick up everything she prescribed. Also, that bag of medication is still sitting in a closet and it has been for over a year. I just could not see my daughter taking drugs that have steroids in them and all other kinds of chemicals that would not guarantee her health, and in the long run make her much bigger then she needs to be considering the amounts of hormones, as well as potentially having her little fragile body dependent on the medication. Of course I would never put her breathing (lungs) in jeopardy that is certainly nothing to play with, and I gave her some of the medication to help with the wheezing, but that incident just made me do more research and find ways to decrease her chances of having any flair ups in the future which would lead to her needing the asthma medication. When you make lifestyle changes, your health can improve dramatically. We have an air filter, we do not clean the house or wash our clothes with harsh chemicals (bleach is a big do not use in our house), she gets good nutrition, and on occasion supplements to help with allergies and asthma and lots of exercise, and limit the amount of dust she is around, basically limit her exposure to anything that would cause a flair up (being cautious of what you surround yourself with is protecting your outer health, or outer body). She has not had any asthma flair ups since these changes. At the signs of a cold we make sure she gets lots of vitamin C and I give her supplements that have assisted her with allergies and asthma. Basically boost her immune system to fight off the cold which can cause flair ups.
So why would that pediatrician recommend or write all of those prescriptions, yes some may say because she truly cared, but in my opinion to get her bonus check. Yes, for those of you that are not aware, doctors get bonuses when they write out a certain amount of prescription drugs, I don?t know if there is a magic number per month that allows them this bonus, or if it is per prescription, but they are rewarded. In saying that, you must take care of your health; protect your health, as well as the health of your family. It starts with educating yourself or seeking out better ways to increase your health or maintain your health. This is not an over night process, especially if you have a lot of bad habits. It is a process and it will take time and dedication to make the changes. Maximize your nutrition, exercise, and yes drink lots of water. I must say it, but before you make changes to your ?diet? you should consult with your doctor, everyone?s situation is different so you want to make sure what ever you are considering doing is not going to interact negatively with what you are currently doing, i.e. those that have health concerns and/or are taking medications. If you do not feel like you can make lifestyle changes alone, get some outside support. When I say outside, I mean anyone other than yourself that is going to give you the mental support and motivation you need to keep striving to reach your health goals. This person can be living in your home, i.e. spouse, the first step is asking for the help if you need it. Find a system that works for you, there are many methods or ways to go about becoming healthy, and every single one of them is not going to work for you or you may not like how it is structured; keep looking until you find what is appealing to you. Finding a system you like is what is going to keep you pushing forward easily. Most importantly do not give up, your health is important and it is necessary to take care of it. Don?t let the work of becoming healthy scare you, it is worth it(less hospital stays, less doctor visits, less prescription drugs, less money out of your pocket), and I am sure your body will thank you.