Potty Trained Owen!

My little OD has conquered the challenge of potty training, and I have conquered the challenge of potty training him!! It was NOT easy AT ALL!! But he's awesome and stuck with it and we were successful!! 

Here is the run down... Get ready for a lot potty talk! 

The whole potty training Owen has been on my mind for a while. I knew he wasn't ready quite as early as June was, so we waited and then the holidays hit and we waited and then I we have this little baby coming, so I thought that we would wait, but the more I thought about it, the more anxious I got about waiting too long, dealing with a new born and potty training and then really lose my motivation and not potty train him at all until he was older. 

So, the week that Dan went back to work I figured I would just do the "3 day training" thing I did with June, and see how it went. Dan was pretty busy with work and had a lot going on, so he was gone a lot that week, and in all honesty it just made it easier to potty train. He was on a business trip the whole week I potty trained June and it was kind of nice not having to worry about dinners, and we were able to just stick to the schedule without any interruptions... NOT that Dan is an interruption but the distraction of exciting daddy being home, caused accidents... 

Since Dan had a busy week it pushed me even more to at least attempt potty training Owen. 

I did the exact same thing I had done with June. It was successful the first go around, so I figured I would make a go at it again. Well, it didn't go as according to plan. 

I started the 1st day on a Wednesday. Owen and I went and picked out some "special" underwear and plus his Paw Patrol ones he got for Christmas, we were set. I did grab one generic brand undies just in case we needed them with lots of accidents. GOOD THING I DID!! 

I rolled the rug back, put the potty in the middle of the floor with books, and cartoons ready to be turned on. I set the timer for every 20 minutes and we prepared ourselves to be quarantined in the house for the week. I learned quickly that staying home like that was much easier with just one child, but we had things we needed to do and June had activities we couldn't miss. We did the best we could. The first day though, we were at home and did not leave all day. I prepped ourselves for that with a run to the dollar store and loaded up on crafts and activities for the kids to do. That way we could stay close to the potty and the timer. 

When the kids woke up, they thought it was pretty fun to have the little potty in the middle of the living room. I instantly switched Owen into his big boy undies and we set the timer. We were a go! 

It was a long morning!! A loooooong morning. I made the mistake of expecting it to go like June's potty training experience. My fault for that, but had no successes in the potty ALL MORNING LONG! I had already kind of given up and it only being the first day, that was a bad sign. Also my fault to have such a bad attitude towards it. I really didn't think potty training was actually going to happen. I just wasn't in it. But I promised myself three days or at least until the weekend, to see how it went, so we stuck out the first day. 

Owen must of known that it wasn't looking good so he FINALLY went in the potty!!  We claimed our first success!! Then it was time for naps and I was really relieved! Constantly watching him, making sure he didn't go anywhere in the house that could be stained with pee and the blasted timer going off every 20 minutes. I was already cooked and we had the rest of the day to go. 

After naps, he woke up wet (expected) and peed a small amount in the toilet. It was then accident, accident, accident. I was done. What was I thinking doing this... But Owen was so excited about his sticker chart and M&M's that I decided to keep going. 

Yes, I kept a very detailed log. Honestly it works for me and I loved having the reference from my last blog post about potty training. 

Potty chart Day one. 

DAY TWO: 

We woke up and did the exact same thing we did the day before. We did have to leave the house for bit to take June to school, and I just prayed for him to not have an accident. It was good to have June in school for the day, so that I could just focus on Owen and not feel like such a bad mom for neglecting June. 

We got home, I stripped Owen down and he was just hanging out in his undies. 

For the record day two was HELL! I am sorry for the harsh language, really, but it was the worst day of potty training! I pretty much cried all day. I kept telling myself, Why was I doing this, I'm so tired, I'm so pregnant, whats the point? Who cares if I have two kids in diapers... So on and so forth. It all ran through my head. "Three days Les" Thats what I kept telling myself and Owen was so happy with his underwear on that I had to just keep going. 

By nap time I was COMPLETELY DONE! I had even put Owen back into a diaper, and in all honesty I felt really relieved. I just couldn't bare the thought of cleaning up another accident. I called Dan, and he told me that if I really wanted to quit it was ok and we could try again later... I was so done. I saw this and it was exactly how I felt by the time Owen went down for his nap. 

Day two was so beyond awful. Owen was fighting me with the whole timer thing, He was just constantly having accidents. I was getting mad and wondering who pees this much?!? He hated putting a diaper back on, and I felt so awful for making him put it back on. It was just all around a rough day. A REALLY ROUGH DAY! Dan came home later that night, and saw how extremely tired I was and took care of the kids baths and made it his priority to put them to bed. I just cried. 

We had ZERO success that day. I told Dan I was done and that we would just have to wait until later. He was totally understanding and I felt like a failure. 

DAY THREE:

I woke up that morning, but didn't put the potty out in the living room. I just kept it in the bathroom. I wasn't sure if I should just completely put it away or what... 

I was feeling a bit better about the whole thing and figured I might as well at least finish out the three days. As soon as the kids woke up, I took Owen straight to the potty to put undies on. Dan was very surprised because after the day before it was pretty clear I was done. But after sleeping on it, I knew I had to just give it more of my time and effort. 

He woke up completely dry in his pull ups. With undies on, he had a bit of a dribble of an accident and a HUGE PEE IN THE POTTY!!!! SUCCESS!! So, we kept going. I did realize that Owen needed to just figure it out on his own. The kid cannot be pushed into anything, so I stopped setting the timer, and let him just kind of learn for himself. If he hadn't gone pee every two hours or so, I would simply just ask and if he told me no, then I wouldn't force the issue. He did so so so much better that morning! 

He did drag over a chair at one point to try and reach the M&M's. This is how I found him. Haha it was pretty funny. I totally caved and gave him one. We both needed the stress release. 

That day, June had a birthday party to go to, and it was horribly frightening to go out. We were only on day three, He hadn't been on any big potties yet, and I knew we would be gone for a few hours. I hesitated to even go, but June really wanted to see her friends and after being stuck in the house so much, I couldn't blame her. 

We made it to the birthday party, and I watched Owen like a hawk. I even thought of maybe just putting him in a pull up for the party, but I thought, no. Let him learn, put him in big undies and deal with the consequences. Step it up Lesli! I gave myself a lot of pep talks!

He did SO GOOD!! We played and had lunch with our friends, then he said "Toot, potty" Thats his code words for I need to go. So we attempted the big potties and they scared him. I didn't expect anything less. He told me several times he needed to "Toot, potty" but as soon as we walked in the bathroom he ran out. It was just too scary. He then had an accident. I felt so bad because he really was trying! I completely forgot about our little fold out potty seat that can sit on big potties but even then I wasn't sure he would go because he was still used to the little potty training toilet. 

I got him all cleaned up, changed his pants and undies and we headed home. Really it turned out ok. We survived our first outing and on day three! That's big! 

Day three was a complete turn around from day two. I figured where we were actually having successes we should stick with it! I am so glad we did!!! 

DAY FOUR: 

A blissful day! He didn't have a single accident, woke up dry and we all felt like we could breath a little easier. That maybe he was actually getting the hang of it! 

DAY FIVE: 

It was church day! Nursery!! Another big scary thing! He wouldn't be with us for two hours, but he did great. We still weren't on big potties yet, but he did go on the little toilet they have in the nursery room! It was a big victory! 

After church, He did have a poop accident. The poor kid is a chronic constipated child and so when he goes, he goes. It was his first accident though with poop and he did NOT like it. I think that helped him learn to tell us quicker when he needed to poop! 

Dan got him cleaned up and headed home. Then he had seriously the biggest poop I have ever seen the kid make! (SORRY THIS IS SUPER GROSS! FEEL FREE TO STOP READING!) I  might also  scar my children for life when they read this in our blog books later on in life. Hahaha sorry kids!! 

It went well enough on day five and I felt like we were actually getting to the point where he was potty trained! 

DAY 6: 

It was a Monday, so we were able to be home much more. I figured that it was time to put the little potty away and get him used to going on the big potty! He wasn't super thrilled about that. He liked his tiny potty and was sad when I put it away. But we got him a sweet little seat that hooks onto the big potty when he needs to go. He got to pick it out so that helped sitting on the potty. The first time he went, it really scared him and he wanted off instantly, but with singing "Wheels on the bus" and "Patty Cake" he learned that it wasn't too scary. There was no looking back from then on. 

He did his business on the big potty all day long! 

DAY 7: 

I had a doctors appointment and we were out and about of the house basically all morning. We dropped June off from school, shopped a bit, had my appointment and had lunch with daddy! Owen totally nailed it! He peed in the big potty and didn't have a single accident. He was telling us when he needed to go and everything! 

Super successful day!! 

I stopped keeping track after we hit the week mark! He has had zero accidents and even peed at the park! He is telling us when he needs to go, and waking up completely dry from naps and bedtime. He has even woken up a few times in the night to tell us he needs to go!! 

So I called it... He is potty trained! 

He filled out his chart completely and was able to go to the store and pick out basically any toy he wanted (with a spending limit of course!) 

He picked out this truck and it hasn't left his hand since. He even sleeps with it. We are now officially done with the potty chart and M&M's and now he is just my potty trained little boy!! 

 All in all the experience was awful! hahaha!!

But I am so happy that we stuck it out. That I took a step back and realized that Owen needed to be potty trained differently than June. When I did that everything changed. Owen was a bit harder to potty train than June was, but Owen caught on WAY quicker. Given though, that June was about six months young. 

I am so beyond proud of him for how quickly he grasped the concept. I no longer fear where he is or what he is doing. I know he will come and tell me if he needs to go. It's so nice. I mean its super annoying to now have to find a bathroom everywhere you go, but we are taking it with heart. It's such a successful thing to get potty trained! It's a big deal to them and it is to me too! I have to admit I give myself a big shout out for not quitting! 9 months pregnant and all! (I really need to stop potty training my children when I'm so pregnant! Haha)  It's an accomplishment that is no easy task!!! So beyond proud of my big boy!!!! 

Now, lets just hope he doesn't regress when his little sister arrives! :)