Potty Party Day

Well, today was the big day...the diapers went away and big boy underwear took their place. We used the Potty Train Your Child in One Day method.

We had a Camping Party! We had our indoor campground set up in the living room and the Potty Party room decorated too!

When Landon woke up he found "Alex" (an old Cabbage Patch doll of mine) in the bathroom with a present. Alex received his big boy underwear this morning. Landon spent the morning teaching Alex how to use the big boy potty. Alex had accidents, and Alex had successes. After each successful trip to the potty Alex got to put stickers on his potty chart (with Landon's help of course!) and then got to go into the kitchen and get a snack (with Landon's help of course!).

(please note: Landon dressed himself this morning!)

We spent the day doing all kinds of camping games, animal games, etc. Alex would let me know when he needed to go to the potty and Landon would help him go. There were a few times that Alex didn't let me know in time and he had an accident or two (prunes were used for Alex's poop - I spared you the photo! - although I've never eaten a prune before, I now know I never will!). We were all gung-ho this morning - moving and grooving and doing a great job! After Landon's "nap" (or two hours in his bedroom, out of his bed, singing, reading books, and playing) it was his turn to try. I was really afraid that since he hadn't had a nap the afternoon was going to be a disaster. It started off pretty bad when I told Landon he had a present in the bathroom. He got real excited and ran in there. When he opened the present to see some new books, some special stickers, he was excited. When he saw the underwear he had a melt down. There was no way this kid was going to put these on. He hid behind the commode crying. I finally got him calmed down a little bit to ask him what he was afraid of. He told me he was afraid it would hurt. Broke my heart, but I knew I needed to press on. With a little bit of encouragement from me (and Dad who came in from his office to help a little bit) Landon put on the big boy underwear. I tried to get him to sit on the potty right away, but NO WAY!! We stepped back, and went to the "campsite" and read a few books. After a few minutes I told him we needed to go to the bathroom and try to sit on the potty. Encouraged him with a few stickers and off we went. When he sat down he threw a fit, but I kept him there, encouraging him, loving him, and letting him know he would be just fine. After about 10 minutes he wanted to get up, so I let him. He could hardly walk he was holding his legs so tight. I encouraged him to sit again and told him that it wouldn't hurt him if he put his pee-pee in the potty. After a minute or two - it let loose! He pee-peed so much - I couldn't even imagine he could hold that much!! We jumped and screamed, high-fived, and cheered!! He washed up, got his stickers for his potty chart and ran to tell Dad. Dad was very excited!! To celebrate we went to the kitchen and Landon had his favorite treat - ice cream with M&M's. The rest of the afternoon we had 4 more potty trips!! No poop, but who cares!! He had several accidents (small ones and then we finished up on the potty), but I'm sure he will start to understand the sensation of needing to go BEFORE he goes, soon (?). To celebrate our BIG BOY- we went bowling. He was so sweet - when we got to the bowling alley he asked if Alex was coming too. "He said he went pee-pee on the potty too!"

(almost impossible to take a picture in a dark bowling alley with black lights using a point and shoot camera!)

After bowling we went out to eat at his favorite place - "His Barn" aka La Hacienda Ranch. He even rode on the BIG horse for the very first time. (Too much growing up for one day!) After dinner we went to Starbuck's for some coffee, and then back home. He did have one accident at the bowling alley and one at Starbuck's, but for a time span of over 3 hours that wasn't too bad.

I won't go so far as to say that Landon is potty trained - he has accidents 4 out of 5 times, so tomorrow, although no Potty Party - we will continue to stay home and work on it. We will continue with stickers and potty treats. We've got some small gifts that we will give him when he goes to the potty without an accident. I'm hoping that a full day of practice will help; he really only had about 6 hours to work on it this evening. I'll keep you posted on our progress!

Prayers requested for my patience!! I've got to get some sleep this evening; coming off a retreat weekend with VERY LITTLE SLEEP!! I was exhausted today!

On that note - Good Night!