Potty Training- The End

I had a dear friend ask me about potty training success with Adam, and I realized that I have never wrapped up the saga here on the blog.  It seems small now, but I know when I am getting ready to potty train Emma I will be scouring my blog for clues on how long the joy of potty training lasted the last time around.  So, here are the details.

For a long time, Adam would NOT pee on a toilet without the potty chair.  We carried the potty chair around with us everywhere we went.  We eventually had a day when I forgot to take it along, and he had to go, so a choice had to be made.  Either he sit on the toilet seat or stand in front of it (another step of potty training that took quite a while to warm up to).  He chose to sit and has been fine with using the actual toilet seat sans potty chair ever since.  He can stand just as well, but he seems to prefer sitting.  I'm fine with that as it tends to leave less mess behind. 

We took the potty chair with us on our Disney trip.  We got to know the locations of the bathrooms at the Magic Kingdom very well.  He had several accidents on the trip, but it was just a hard time to be potty training.

I learned that I could expect to take Adam to the bathroom about every 2 hours during the summer.  He still says no when I ask him if he needs to go, but I have learned not to ask.  I just remind him that it's time to go.  The 2 hour time frame has since dwindled down to morning, noon, afternoon, and night. At least one of those trips to the potty each day is taken by his own initiative, and he never needs help finding the potty when it's number 2.  On his own, he is finally starting to admit yes, I need to go to the potty.  He is just starting to voluntarily remove himself from whatever toy, show, game, or book he is engrossed in to get to the potty on time.  Usually I have to herd him in the right direction before he will go, but I rarely see him doing the potty dance.  Last week he was just too busy running and jumping and being silly before bedtime to sit on the potty, and as a result, 5 minutes later when he was standing on the toilet to brush his teeth, he couldn't hold it any longer.  I realized I couldn't remember the last time before that that he had wet his pants.

That is pretty darn impressive.  The boy has come a looooong way.

Even more impressive is the fact that, somewhere along the way, he night potty trained, too.  He has never (knock VERY LOUDLY on wood) wet the bed, and we have long since packed away the pull-ups.  He seems to have a bladder of steel, and even after a long night, he doesn't need to rush to the potty right away in the morning.  That is very, very nice.  I fully expect set backs to come in the months ahead, particularly after we move to Iowa.

So, in closing this chapter of potty training, it was just about the same as Leah's experience.  It was dreadful for me.  It was hard work and lots of effort for him.  It was totally worth it, and I'm so proud of my little buddy for reaching such a huge milestone.