The Best Time Was...

Michael (my Buddy) is 3-years and 4-months old now. Wendy & I have been trying to potty train him since last summer. He's been doing OK with #1. He still has "accidents". But, more often than not, he goes on the potty to pee. And I guess like any other kid, it was taking longer for him to use the potty to take a poop.

We've tried lots of things like "time to feed the fishies", or putting him on the potty every 30 minutes, or letting him sit in it for awhile. I've tried bribing him with "I'll let you stay up with Dad & watch TV if you poop in the potty."

But, until tonight, nothing was working. Messing up his underpants did not deter him. Sitting with him in the bathroom right before bedtime did not help. We'd put a pull-up on him for bedtime and within 30 minutes, he'd be calling Wendy or me with the sad news. We even tried putting on the pull-ups, waiting about 10 or 15 minutes, and getting him on the potty; but we still never caught it on time.

Since he was pretty consistent with going almost every night right after we put the pull-up on, I got an idea. Tonight I said to Wendy, "let's just put him in bed with no underpants, no pull-ups. I'll put the potty right in his room." I told him not to mess up his bed and that his potty was right there. I told him to call me if he needed help. I figured he might not want to mess up his bed and that he might just want some privacy with the potty in his own room.

I'm sure it was beginner's luck, but 10 minutes later he was calling me in there and he did what he needed to in his potty. We did some hugging, some high fives, and cheering. Mel & Brian said "way to go!". Then we did the ceremonial parade down the stairs - first to show Wendy our success, and for me to announce that "I am a genius!", then to feed the fishies.

And after I put the pull-ups on him, he went on his potty again all by himself. Twice in one night. I am a genius!

However, he did make one more deposit in his pull-ups before the night was over. Two out of three ain't bad!