Potty Training - Day 3

Well, I've made it to the 3rd day of this method of potty training.  I fortunately slept a lot better last night and had high hopes for the day ahead.  After all, Reagan had a very successful day yesterday.

He awoke earlier than I would prefer, but we got started right away.  I told him that we'd change his diaper and put him in big boy pants.  Immediately, he was resistant.  He didn't want to wear underwear today.  I wasn't about to give up, so I convinced him to put them on.  Here is my log for the day:

6:45a put on underwear
7:30-7:40a stood, nothing
7:50-8a sat/stood, nothing
8:05-8:10a sat, nothing
8:35a pee!!
9:50a pee!!
11:25a pee!!
11:45a poop!!
12:45p nap time
2:45p woke up, put in underwear
3:35p pee!!
5:05p pee!!
5:25p pee!!
6:40p pee!!

From the time Reagan woke up until his first pee, it was a rough go.  He tried going potty three times before he actually went.  Every time I had him stand or sit, he was resistant; he continued to say, "I don't want to."  At one point, he was actually angry and throwing his hands down.  I knew this was a bad sign and thought a little bit about my approach.  Shortly after his second pee of the day, I had a conversation with a friend (thank you KR - you've been a HUGE help!!) who shared that a big thing with this method is getting the child to learn the urge to go.  I realized if it had been longer than an hour or so, I would just start to make Reagan stand in front of the potty because I thought he needed to go, not because he actually showed any signs of needing to go.

After this conversation, I decided to let Reagan lead me in knowing whether or not to have him attempt to go.  What a difference!!!!  Reagan became a lot less resistant when I told him to stand in front of the potty.  The only time I got resistance was when he was watching a movie and didn't want to take the time to pee (even though I put the movie on pause!).  It was also a much quicker process; he would usually pee within a minute of standing there.

I had already decided earlier in the day I wanted to venture out for a short time to see how things went. To be honest, I was a little nervous, but knew I couldn't stay cooped up in the house forever!  After his snack and afternoon pee, we went to Kohl's to buy him something special - Thomas underwear!  He has some underwear, but I thought we could reward him with Thomas undies!  He was so excited to get them.  I also decided to make a pit stop at Starbucks on the way home as a little reward for me ;)  I asked Reagan several times throughout this one hour outing if he needed to go or if he had "pee-pees" and the answer was always no.  And he was right - we made a successful trip out and back without an accident!

By the end of the day, I truly believe Reagan is now starting to understand the urge to go.  He doesn't always tell me or make an attempt to get to the potty on time, but it's obvious by his actions (moving around a lot, touching himself, etc) that he needs to go.  This is when I tell him it's time to go and he usually does.  All in all, I can't believe that at the end of these 3 days, Reagan is fairly well trained.  Of course there will be accidents in the future, I'm sure.  However, a whole day without any accidents seems like a dream come true in the potty training world ;)

On a related, but side note: when I woke up Monday morning and decided to make a go for this, I didn't really think about how potty training would affect my life after the 3 days.  I didn't really take into account that I'll have to plan the timing of my outings around the last time he peed and when I think he'll need to go again.  I realize there are public restrooms, but until he's really comfortable, I would prefer he pees at home.  Or how long can I plan to be out of the house before I should come home?  Can I take him to "fun places" still or should I wait until he's really confident in knowing when he needs to go?  Or what will it look like for him to be at Church/Sunday School/Bible Study?  Will I put him in a Pull Up or just let the workers know we are potty training and to come get me?   There are still a lot of questions I need to address, but that's okay.  I feel such a sense of accomplishment and relief right now knowing we've made huge strides in this area!