Peep, pee pee, and poopy please!

I can't even believe it's time to start thinking about potty training Tripp. He's not even two yet. I'm excited to think about no more diapers, but I shudder at the thought of having to take two kids to a public restroom. Ew.

I haven't mentioned here yet that Tripp has been going potty on the potty since about 18 months. Not consistently, of course, but the first time he went peep on the potty was at about 18 months. Ms. Monica, one of Tripp's teachers, calls pee pee "peep". I think it sounds much nicer, so I now call it that as well. Ms. Monica asked me about the time Tripp was 18 months if we were potty training. She was surprised when I looked at her and laughed. Why would I be trying to potty train a boy at 18 months? Hadn't even crossed my mind. Apparently he is very interested in the potty at school so she started putting him on it. He hadn't gone at school, but she encouraged me to put him on the potty at home. So I have been.

I decided to start putting him on the potty after bath since, in typical boy fashion, he likes to try and pee on the carpet when I take him out of the bath. To my surprise, Tripp would peep on the potty 50% of the time. Then he started telling me he had to peep. The first few times I put him on he didn't go. But then jackpot - he went! Then he told me he had to poopy. That was fun. I put him on the potty and he didn't go. I gave him a little while to gain his composure so he could keep trying, after all M&Ms were on the line, but he told me "ah dun" (all done) so I took him off and proceeded to grab his clothes. I turn around and what do I see? Tripp pooping on the floor ... running across the hall pooping. Yep! Tripp pooping all over the floor. Awesome. It was then I learned I had to be smarter than him, but also that he knew when he had to go potty. I find this amazing.

First poopy potty (as he would call it) - Tripp told me he had to pee pee so I took him to the potty. He was taking a long time so I was trying to coax him off thinking he probably had already gone in his diaper. But, to my disbelief, he ended up pooping ... it was hilarious ... he was laughing and yelling and getting a big kick out of it. He was trying to stick his head between his legs so he could see down in the toilet - yes, I know, nice - it was hilarious. I should've videoed it. That would have been something fun to pull out on his first date. I started yelling for John and he came running in ... so did Sophie. We had a big party in the bathroom celebrating Tripp's first poopy. We ate M&Ms by the potty. lol Sorry for TMI, but I have to write this down since my child is a potty training prodigy. Ok, not really, but I am excited that he's poppied on the potty a few times since and he's not even 2! And, btw, I've brought up M&Ms a few times. That is the "prize" he gets for going potty. It worked for Sophie and it seems to be working for Tripp.

Let me just say that I am not getting my hopes up. I'm not pushing the potty training thing, partly out of laziness (sad, I know), partly due to my fear of having to take 2 babies to the public potty, and partly because I'm not sure if Tripp is ready. But some days I wonder if I'm doing enough, if I should be encouraging. Tripp moved up into the big kid room at school last week and he has been going potty every day. Sometimes he has a dry diaper, sometimes not, but he is going. Ms. Monica was so excited to share that news with me. Tripp really likes going potty. I told John today maybe we should buy some underwear for him and see how he does. Maybe he won't like being wet in underwear and will start using the potty. Maybe this will be the beginning of the end of diapers. I guess only time will tell.

Success!

Sophie has been a rock star potty trainer! We finally decided to get serious about potty training and I'm so glad we did. We are at a point where I would like to document success. Potty training success!

I read something a long time ago that said if you want to potty train quickly to forgo using diapers or underwear on the toddler who is training. So I decided to try that route a month or two ago. Sophie thought it was really funny to run around as "naked butt." She would laugh and dance around and sing "naked butt" LOL! I only did it for a day or two before putting pull-ups and underwear on. I don't care how weird that sounds, it worked. Before we did naked butt, she would have accidents when she was wearing her underwear, but since the experiment she has not had one accident at home.

Anyway, so although she's pretty much been potty trained while at home for the past several weeks - since I posted the last post about potty training - she wasn't really potty trained at school. She would go on the potty once or twice per day while the rest of the time she would just go in her pull up. One day I realized that she was probably not using the potty at school because she had a pull up on. I guess she considers the pull up as a diaper and not underwear, so the connection for her is to treat it like a diaper. I decided the best way to fix that problem was to send her to school in underwear. Just cold turkey - no diapers, just underwear.

I spoke to her teachers and they said that at some point that is what all parents do. They advised me to pack a bag with a lot of pants and underwear. So I promptly took myself to the store and bought Sophie a bunch of underwear. Up until that point she only had 3 pair. I never thought shopping for my 2 year old's underwear would be fun, but it was! She looks so cute in her little underwear and there were a ton of designs to choose from. I immediately bought the Elmo underwear because for some odd reason she is in love with Elmo (we don't even really watch much Elmo!). I also bought hearts and polkadots as well as princesses. Wouldn't you know, she started clapping and cheering for Elmo and Abby! LOL It was so cute. I guess I could call this a really neat "mommy and daughter" moment.

We've been sticking to the plan and sending Sophie to school in underwear. We've been doing this for about 2 weeks now. We let her pick which underwear she'll wear at the beginning of the day - it's always Elmo! LOL Each day has progressively gotten better. Each day that I pick her up I immediately check her out to see if she's wearing different clothes. Sure enough, she always is. Last week she had 2 accidents on M, T and 1 accident on W, Th & Fri. Weird thing is the accidents were poopy accidents more recently and that is something she's never done at home. On Friday we bought Sophie her own little backpack to carry her spare clothes/underwear to school in. Yesterday was her first day taking it to school. I don't know if that was her lucky charm or what, but she didn't have an accident yesterday. She went all day without pottying in her pants. YAY!! Same with today. Two full days of no potty accidents.

We are experiencing potty training success!! Yay Sophie, we are so happy and proud of you! I know there will still be some accidents here and there, but you are really doing a great job. I can't believe my baby girl is using the big girl potty! I have taken you in public also. It wears on my nerves because you using a public potty is just yucky to me, but we deal. You do great, even though you touch everything. Ew. Anyway, I love you baby! We are so proud of you!

Here is Sophie on her way to school yesterday with her good luck charm (her Strawberry Shortcake backpack!)

Poopy in Potty

Can you guess what I am going to say? Yippee!! Sophie went poopy in the potty today! We are so proud of her and, more importantly, she is so impressed with herself!

This is a pretty impressive moment. We aren't really actively trying to potty train Sophie. As sad as it may be, we just haven't had a whole lot of time to dedicate to potty training. Plus, truth be told, the logistics of potty training just kind of freak me out. Like when you are traveling, where do you stop to let the kids potty (a gas station?)? What if they have to go multiple times, do you stop multiple times? If you do, how long does that extend your trip/driving time? Or when you are at Target and there is an emergency and you have both babies - what do you do? Yuck - public restrooms and germs! Ew! Just gross. I'll get over all that, I'm sure. LOL But for all those reasons, plus we have the little baby to worry about, we haven't really been trying to potty train her. That's not to say she's not trying to potty train herself. She's a smart one, I think that is what's going on!

Every day at school she sits on the potty when it's time for a diaper change. She never potties. She does come home from school saying "I pee pee (or poopy) in the potty mommy." I'm not sure if she thinks she is going in it or if she just says it because she has sat on the potty. Here at home I do sit her on the potty when I change her diaper or when she says she has to potty, but she never potties. Thing is, she knows when she has to go, at least the poopy part because she tells us she has to go and she usually tells us just before she actually goes. Not usually enough time for us to get her to the potty and she usually runs once we get up to take her, but she definitely knows when she has to go and we take her if we can get to her before she goes. I only say we aren't actively training her, because we don't ask her if she has to go and we are consistent about taking her unless she requests the potty.

So today I heard this conversation:

Sophie: "I have to go poopy in potty daddy."
John: "Ok, let's go potty."
John (yelling): "Hun, come here! Sophie's pooping! She pooped in the potty!"

I ran in there to see what all the excitement was about. There was John holding Sophie on the big potty and Sophie just smiling from ear to ear. We were clapping for her and telling her she did a great job. She kept saying "I poopy in potty Mommy." I never thought I'd be so excited about poop or a potty, but I was. So once she got off and we cleaned her, she looked in the toilet and said "Mommy! Look! Poopy in potty!" It was so funny. She just sat there and stared in the toilet saying "Look at poopy!" until we convinced her to flush the toilet. The excitement on her face was priceless! I probably should have taken a picture, but I thought this was kind of a private moment so I didn't :-)

I have always been told that it's tough teaching the poopy part of potty training, so for her first potty experience to be poopy it just seems so random. I'm just amazed that out of the blue Sophie just poopied in the potty. I hope it's not a fluke! I just thank God we've taught her to stop calling her girly parts a "birdie". I wish I knew who taught her that! LOL