Potty Training - 101

"Oh yes, I love potty training" - said no mother, ever.

You definitely will not catch me saying that! Potty training has to be one of the toughest milestones that we've gone through, with our son. I will say that I looked forward to it, in the sense that I was so sure that it would come as second nature to him. Everything else, he's picked up like it was nothing! I thought, "He's so smart. He loves being a 'big boy'. He's going to get this down in no time at all." - I couldn't have been more wrong (about the potty part). We literally tried everything: potty sticker chart, potty prize bag, peeing on cheerios in the toilet, a tiny-talking Mickey Mouse potty, going pee off the back porch with Daddy, candy in a jar (above the potty), an Elmo potty seat cushion, stern talking to's. People suggested to even put him in his "big boy underwear" so that if he goes, he will know what it feels like - but who wants to clean that up?

All of the above went on for months... and months. Between September 2016 and January 2017, Jude had only peed in the potty a handful of times, at daycare. Never at home. He did poop once, the tiniest turd I've ever seen, at home - and you would've thought he'd seen a ghost, afterward.

As of Friday, January 6th, 2017 - I am proud to report that Jude is now, finally, using the potty on a regular basis! "Hallelujer" and "Praise the Lort" (for all of you Madea fans out there). I'm not sure what it was, but something clicked. It could've been our persistence and encouragement, it could've been the fact that more kids at his daycare are using the potty now, or it could've been that he was just ready. I had told my husband, the Thursday evening before, "Okay, in the morning we are going hard at this potty training thing." Low and behold, as soon as Jude woke up that next morning, we went straight to the potty and he peed. He's been letting us know when he needs to go, and actually going, ever since. There were high fives, lots of praise, a high pitched "You did it Bubba!" and smiles. There might've been a Disney Cars' big rig bought, afterwards, too... and a slushy. Don't get me wrong, we are still working on the pooping portion of it all, even though he's been dropping some number two's as well. But, this is an awesome start! Pull-ups all day and rarely any accidents - at home or at school. We are on our way to "big boy underwear", people!