Potty Training for the Clueless (Like me!)

Yes. I admit it. I'm ashamed, but it's true.

My 3.5 year old son isn't potty trained.

Everything I read and heard told me not to push him, that it only made things worse. So I didn't. And didn't. And didn't. And now I am expecting another baby in a couple of very short months and I'd *really* like to not have 2 in diapers since they're so far apart in age. Plus the one and only preschool we could find in this tiny town doesn't like kids who aren't potty trained. So I figured it was time to force the issue, gently.

We've tried doing underwear. Setting timers. Pull-ups. Little potties. A special seat on the big potty. Nothing seemed to interest him.

Recently, he caught on that Daddy went peepee standing up and wanted to try. So we got a stepstool and let him try that. Success! He likes standing up. We bought some more underwear and now he has more characters to choose from. Thomas, Shrek, the boxer briefs like Daddy wears and the neat Gymboree underwear have been supplemented by Nemo and Scooby Doo. He likes picking out his underwear. He likes having special soap (we bought the Huggies foaming kind) and special treats when he potties like M&Ms, stickers, jelly beans, new crayons, a small toy now and then, etc.

The past couple of days we've been at it hardcore. Timer goes off every 45 minutes, he MUST at least try to potty. Underwear only when he's awake...no more pull-ups. He can do everything himself except get his underwear back on if he takes them all the way off and turn the water on to wash his hands. We even had our first outing in underwear last night and he was successful in staying dry!

So I'm leading him, but letting him make his own decisions to an extent. He still won't poop in the potty and I'm letting that go for now. But he is using the potty even before the timer goes off if he needs to. I call that progress. Just 2 days and it seems like he's got the pee thing down. I can't complain!