Potty Training!

I am writing this entry entirely for my own purposes so I can remember all the fun we had with Cruz in potty training! No really, it hasn't been too bad, just different than what I expected. Shawn started Cruz in big boy underwear probably a little over a month ago. I didn't think Cruz was quite ready but Shawn was bound and determined to have Cruz potty trained that weekend. I don't know if he actually thought it would take a weekend, but he was around to assist Cruz for 2 solid days. Surprisingly Cruz did really well. I continued that following week. For Cruz though, the draw of wearing the big boy underwear was wearing off. So I quickly came up with the 2 M&M policy. Every time he went pee pee or poo poo on the potty he got 2 M&M's. That worked for a few days and then the accidents started happening again. We were at Walmart walking down the candy aisle and Cruz picked out Good and Plenty's for his new potty treat. I couldn't believe he would actually like those, but that worked for a few more days...and then the newness of that wore off and it wasn't as much of a draw to go potty on the big potty. Right before Shawn's parents came into town, I was ready to throw in the towel. Changing pants and cleaning poopy underwear was getting a little old. In fact, after Cruz would poop his pants I told him he had to put a diaper on because I wasn't going to let all of his underwear get dirty. Plus, Cruz really started fighting me when the potty watch would go off and I would want him to try to go potty. It was becoming too big of a chore to fight with Cruz every 30 minutes to an hour about the potty. Shawn's parents came into town and that was some fresh blood to help Cruz with potty. We again were back to trying to go on the big potty. We tried several more tricks like having his favorite stuffed animal, "Hector" watch him go potty or other toys. That sort of worked too. He was having less accidents and seemed more willing to go. I then remembered a friend had a potty poster where her son got to put up a sticker every time he went pee or poo on the potty. So, after Shawns parents left I got some fun stickers and made a poster. We have been doing that for about 2 weeks now and he seems pretty taken with getting to put a sticker up. I did away with the potty watch because it seemed like making him go so much was turning him off. I have noticed in the last 2 weeks his bladder control has gotten a lot better and he can tell me now when he needs to go pee pee. Also about a week ago we started seeing if Cruz wanted to stand to go pee pee instead of sit. When he would sit he would want to take his pants and underwear all the way off and it was getting to be a big deal. So we put all of our stools by the toilets and Cruz has done an excellent job with standing. Plus it has been a lot easier on me. He can even go by himself and he really likes to do that, which makes me a little nervous! Poo Poo is still a little tough, but I do think we are getting better. So what has worked the last 2 weeks has been the sticker poster, standing up, and 2 marshmellow ghosts for going potty. While we were at Shawn's work party on Friday another couple that has a 2 year old little boy said they just finished potty training and their son did great. They went straight to underwear both day and night. Someone had told them when you put a toddler in diapers at night it confuses them. So this weekend we went to underwear at night. We put Cruz's little potty chair in his room on top of a lap pad. We told him if he needs to go pee pee or poo poo in the night to just get up and go on that. So far he has done great. Both mornings we have woken up to Cruz screaming, "wipe my booty"! He made it to his potty chair in his room and went poo poo. So, cross our fingers maybe this will help Cruz to know that all poo poo and pee pee needs to go in the potty either day time or night time! That is our potty story to date. I think we are on the upward learning curve of this whole situation. Now I just hope he doesn't revert when the baby comes!! :)