Bye-bye diapers!

I dreaded it.  I'd heard it was difficult and took forever.  I read books, blogs, webpages, you name it... all in search of the Perfect Plan.

In the end I took the advice of friends ahead of things I'd read (probably should have started there in the first place!).  So the official agreement was:
Do not start potty training a boy before he is 3.

Considering that Hannah decided to potty train herself while I was still pregnant with Oliver (she was about 22months old and one day refused to put on her diaper and that was that!) I thought 3 just seemed sooo old.  And maybe it is.  But talking to friends with more than one boy, I was told that they had tried pre-3 and post-3 and had very different results... those that were potty trained before 3 took longer, had accidents that lasted longer, and in a few cases needed pull-ups at night for longer.  Those that they waited longer with, trained easily and had less set-backs.  So I decided that was the route for me!!

I also decided that Lock-Down would work best for me.  Since running around with the kids, and Hannah's school schedule and so on made lock-down impossible, I decided to wait until school was out for the summer.  Making Oliver 3yrs and 2.5months.  I put aside a week... the first week of summer.  We had Breakaway starting on June 21 and I wanted him potty trained by then.  I dreaded the week but was determined....

AND...

He was potty trained in about 4 days!!  I know it is different for each child and their personality and so on, but I was so excited and so proud of him (and, for some reason, myself!)  It was boring boring boring.  For the first 3 days we didn't leave the playroom.  Movies, TV, games.  Cold turkey with the diapers, just got rid of them and brought out the Spiderman underpants.  And every 15mins bathroom break.  And I did 2 loads of laundry the first day.  I thought he'd never get it.  But he did.  Started Monday June 14 and by the Thursday he was going by himself when he needed to, celebrating, asking for rewards (ha!), and feeling like a Big Boy.  And no diapers since then.  He has been a pro when we are out, and all through Breakaway, and even at night... no pull-ups needed (I make him wear them just in case, but so far they've been dry every morning). 

Way to go, Oliver!!  So proud of you!!