Yesterday afternoon before we put on our swim suits and got ready to head outside and play in the sprinkler, something BIG happened. Amazing, actually. Wonderful definitely!
My baby went to the potty. My almost 21 month old sat on the potty and went, twice! Like a big boy! For the first time ever!!!! We clapped, cheered, celebrated, and gave hugs and kisses. Garrison and I were SO proud. =)
Then he went again before he got in the bathtub last night. Then again once he was in the bathtub. Ha! We're just taking baby steps here.
I've known for quite some time he might be ready. First we had a couple of times when he told me he went poo poo. He would say poo poo or diaper and start pulling on his diaper or his pants to let me know he was ready to be changed and feel clean again. Then we had an off and on stretch when he'd be dry first thing in the morning. It was sort of shocking (and didn't last long, but still a sign of being ready). Lately he will either tell me right before he has to go (#2) or right after. Soooo, the readiness signs have been there we just never acted on them because we were still in school and because when I tried sitting him on his little potty seat (the same one Garrison used that sits up on the big potty) he would cling to me like he might fall in or just start asking (or trying on his own!) to get down. Therefore we suspended any pushing, pressuring, or potty training temporarily.
Now, I have always planned to potty train Austin the same way we did Garrison. We had very good success with Garrison so why not try it again? Which means the time was coming soon no matter what. It was around 20 months when we introduced Garrison to the potty and started letting him go every night before bath time and just getting him used to the idea. I have no desire to potty train for a year or something crazy, so after that we just tried to make sure he was good and ready before doing the hard core training. And it worked! He was completely trained, night time and everything, shortly after turning 2.
It may work that way for Austin, it may not. But we're gonna try it out and see how things go. And like I said, we will be looking for signs he's ready and sort of following his lead. If he's not ready, we'll suspend training temporarily just like we did with Garrison. (And since I'm talking about it so much, here's Garrison's potty training "story".)
For my own memory and documentation purposes, here's a play-by-play of how things went down yesterday afternoon...
Right after they finished up their snack time I told them to start cleaning up because we were going to put on bathing suits and go outside to play in the sprinkler. The best way to play outside when it's this hot is in water! All of a sudden Austin walked up to me and started saying, diapah, diapah, and had a look like he had to GO. So I checked his diaper which was all clean and decided to go sit him on the potty to see if anything would happen.
He sat there and did great. He didn't try to get down. He didn't hang onto me. He just sat there and pointed out all the little Sesame Street characters on his potty seat. But nothing happend. Garrison was hanging out in the bathroom with us really wanting to witness this big milestone. He was super curious. And I think the audience and pressure were distracting for Austin. Finally I had to send Garrison away with the promise that I'd definitely call for him if Austin started to "go", but since he never did we decided to try again later.
Later came within about 5 minutes. I went to change while the boys were playing together and I heard Garrison say You haf a go potty Austin?? quite loudly. I ran to the living room and thought I was too late based on the look on his face but grabbed him up and took him to the potty anyway.... and he went!! Yaaaaay!! We were so thrilled and proud! We didn't put him on the potty again until before bathtime and I already explained how that went. =)
Soooo, let the introduction to potty training begin. No timers yet, no public bathrooms yet, no stickers or m&m's yet... just trying to find a routine of him actually going when we sit him on the potty at home at set times. Once we've established that, we'll move forward and determine if he's ready.
I would LOVE for him to be potty trained for school but that may be a little too high of a goal. We'll see. Hopefully school will help/encourage the process instead of hurting it. I guess that's my only fear.
For now we're celebrating. Baby boy is growing up and doing great with the introduction!
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