Potty Training Attempt #2 Day 3

Joel III has had it. He's sick of being in the house for sure. This morning he woke up with a huge rash from an early morning diarrhea. The culprit: too much G2. I did see this coming... however I wasn't sure how else to get him to drink a lot. I was hoping the G2 would not give him diarrhea like juice does.. I was wrong. Somehow he must have known what caused it too bc after breakfast he refused to drink any G2. But really he wouldn't drink anything. I accepted that. I was kinda sick of potty training also. Oh I forgot to mention - we have been doing some "Potty Scotty" training as well. Each day we have played with "Potty Scotty" at least 3 times, giving him water, then having him sit on the potty, he pees, then we reward him. The 'we' being Joel III and I. He really enjoys this. However, the doll leaks quite a bit.. so we don't do it a ton. I do think though that this helped Joel figure out what was going on, especially day 1. We began the morning like the other mornings with nothing happening until around 11am. Then 3 hits then lunch. Then nap. Good Start.

After his nap Joel took him on a short trip with sweatpants on. He returned with the same sweatpants on... no accident! However, we knew that would be a good time to go based on his history. (pees in diaper during nap, doesn't pee again until around 5pm) The Joels came home around 4:15 and I promptly had Joel III sit on the potty. I decided that since he had been doing so well and had a huge butt rash that he could keep his sweatpants on. Also... poor kid has been pretty cold I think. We continued sitting on the potty every 20 mins or so until 545 when he had another hit. Another big accomplishment during this time: learning how to pull down and pull up his own pants. You are thinking: "He's 2 years old and he doesn't do that on his own yet?" yep. that's correct. no interest in dressing/undressing himself whatsoever. I have tried. he says "Mommy do it." So I do it. At the time it wasn't really a necessity. Now it is. So I made him do it. And he did.

Then dinner. (the past 2 dinners he has had accidents) Before we eat I remind him to tell me if he has to go potty. About halfway through a fabulous dinner (meatloaf + mashed potatoes and gravy + dried strawberries for Joel III) he looks at me and whines. This one of the first "warnings" that he has ever really given, I whisk him off to the potty and he sits for a few minutes but does not go. We return to dinner. He says loudly "Dizzy Dizzy, go way go way." (he wants the dizzy feeling he has to go away. I mean it should be clear.) Joel and I look at each other quite confused and I whisk him off again just in case. He sits for a few minutes but does not go, I say "ok it's time to go back to dinner" and he says, "Dizzy Dizzy" again... and sits back on the potty voluntarily. At this point I figure he is just trying to get out of sitting at the dinner table but.. Sure enough... this time he pees! I guess I shouldn't be surprised.. "Dizzy" is one of the few 'feelings inside' that he has articulated to us. and he knew he wasn't hungry or sleepy I guess. ha. We end the day with one more hit and then Joel cuts his hair and then bath time. .. An Accident free day! wow.



Totals From Day 3
Successes 6
Accidents 0

Now what? Honestly I didn't expect this much success. Fellom recommends another 3 months of pantless days around the house to 'make it stick.' Ok it is the dead of Winter. I felt bad enough making him do 2.5 days freezing his little privates off. Not to mention the difficulty of climbing into and out of seats .. (putting his unprotected privates into a scary position) However, I do think there is something about the comfort of close-fitting diaper/panties/pullups that will encourage peeing. I think we are going to stick with sweatpants and no underwear around the house and when out and about. I'll keep you updated on the results.

update 10-30-11: This update comes to you almost a full year later, woops! This second trial (done at exactly 24 months) pretty much 'worked' and we considered this the time that Joel was fully potty trained. We kept Joel in sweatpants with no undies for 3 months.  Babysitters and child care workers did find it a bit weird, however it was super easy and it worked.  We did, however, have to take Joel to the potty at his specific times in order for him to not have an accident.  If we forgot, he wouldn't say anything until after it happened.  We learned this pretty quickly and it wasn't hard to remember to take him at 11am, 5pm and 7pm.  Thankfully, though, when he had his accidents, they were usually very small as he would realize what was happening and then hold it and then say something.  We did have a few problems with other people watching him who forgot to take him at those specific times and he, like clockwork, would have an accident. We still put a diaper on him for naps and nighttime.  He still goes pee in the diaper.  He actually learned early on that we would do this and so he would hold his poops until nap time or nighttime.  Just so he could poop in the diaper.  This hasn't been too much of a problem, except of course when he poops at the beginning of the night.  We give Joel a special treat for going poop in the potty and he does occasionally.  We are not pushing that area too much.  Since about age 2 1/2 (30 months) Joel has gotten much better at telling us when he needs to go potty, which is helpful.

Potty Training attempt #2 Day 2

Things have been going very very well. We are so impressed with Joel. Last night I had to leave to judge a gymnastics meet so Joel was on his own with both babies for an hour or so until Joel III went to bed (with a diaper on of course!). During that time Joel III had another success and Joel was thinking 'man he's really getting the hang of this!' To add to things, Joel had a small meeting at our house that was starting right after Joel III got in bed. Joel left Joel III alone for about 5 mins as he checked on the rest of the house to straighten things up. Sure enough when he returned he found Joel III sitting on top of one of our storage ottomans with a large dark ring just below his bottom. Apparently the feeling of something soft on his bottom was the cue or something as Joel III acted like nothing had happened. Joel felt a little overwhelmed at this point as he had about 30 minutes to give Judah a bottle, get Joel III to bed, clean up the accident and clean up the house! I think he survived.

totals from Day 1
Successes 6
accidents 3


Day 2

This morning we had a similar story to Day 1. Joel did nothing until around 11am. We were sitting him on the potty around every 20 minutes.. more frequent around 11am because I knew it was coming. Sure enough we had a hit at 11am and then another hit shortly afterward with a surprise - watch the video to hear about it -



I was so pumped and then we had lunch. During lunch at some point he peed in his booster seat. He did say to me "Go potty Go potty" near the end of lunch and I whisked him off to the potty only to discover he already went. We put a diaper on and I put him down for his nap.

Joel woke up from his nap pretty cranky and not happy to take his pants and diaper off. I let him sit on the couch next to me (sitting on a towel) and watch a video while I nursed Judah. We had one more hit then it was dinner time. Near the end of dinner he said "Go Pee Go Pee" and I whisked him off to the potty to discover the same pool of urine in his booster seat. Hm.... something about that seat feels comfortable to him I guess. In the evening I knew he should have one more pee so I was sitting him on the potty frequently. The timing didn't work out and while playing with a toy I heard him exclaim, "Pee! Pee!" He was pointing at it on the floor in front of him with a surprised look on his face. Then it was bedtime. Hm.. he does much better in the morning I guess.

Totals from Day 2
Successes 3
Accidents 3

Overall I'm pleased. We are starting to get a feel for when he goes and he is feeling more comfortable with the whole thing. Hopefully tomorrow he will give us some warning before an accident ... most of the hits are from times that we mandate him to sit on the potty. However there have been a few times that I say "ok Joel, your time is up, do you want to keep sitting on the potty?" and he says "Go potty." and he stays there and pees.. maybe he just wants me to leave him alone.

Potty training attempt #2 Day 1

Ok. So I'm not gonna lie. I/We were not excited to do potty training this time. Perhaps it was the failed attempt from last time, or the thought of cooping up a 2 year old inside for 3 days, or the thought of pee everywhere, or maybe the reality of a more opinionated child... or perhaps just the combination of all of these.

Looking at the calendar this seemed to be the best time to do it, and I didn't want to wait too much longer as Joel is still eager to please us and curious about potty things. Fortunately we just had Joel's 2 year birthday party yesterday so we have plenty of new toys to keep him busy. More positives: Joel is realizing the privilege it is to have the full attention of his parents (he gets less and less of it these days) so the bare-bottomed method definitely gives him more attention. oh and lest I forget - we have been working on drinking from a 'real cup' which he really enjoys, this will give us the chance to perfect drinking from a 'real cup.'

Morning of Day #1
Successes 5
accidents 2

Woo Hoo! Joel spent the entire morning playing half naked and drinking 'juice' (full strength G2.. yummy treat for him!) by 11am still nothing had happened. We were getting a little nervous. We sat him on the potty a couple of times for about 5 mins each to no avail. Then of course while playing, he looked at me with huge panicked eyes and started wiping his legs with his hands. He had peed on his legs - nothing major, just a few drops. I could tell he did not like it though. I reminded him that his pee goes in the potty and we tried siting on the potty again. ..no luck. I pushed more G2 in the 'real cup' which he really enjoyed. By this time he's had about 12 ounces and only a few drops of pee so I know something will happen soon. Joel and I start to take turns sitting him on the potty for about 5 mins each, every 20 mins. Joel III and Daddy were playing in the other room and I hear "Belly Belly!" in kind of a whiny voice from Joel III. Joel says "I know your belly is big does it hurt?" Joel III says "Belly Hurt." So Joel takes him to sit on the potty for a little bit. Sure enough a few minutes later I hear "uh oh." from Joel III in a loud voice. We looked with anticipation inside the baby potty. ... a few drops of pee!! yeay! we gave him 1 skittle and then did a big song and dance. (To 'The Lord's Army') He had so much fun and was so bewildered that he got all that attention and a candy from just a few drops that he quickly returned to the potty after the dance and deposited a few more drops. We rewarded him again and Joel and I looked at each other thinking, "how much longer can we do this?" Secret: that time we cut the 2 minute song in half. after the second success Joel shouted 'Go Potty!' again.. and so I returned to the potty with him.. wondering and calculating how many drops it would take to = 12 ounces of G2/milk. This time a huge flood of pee came out. Mommy and Daddy were relieved.

One more accident and one more success and it was lunch time. Great job Joel III.

Here's a video we took this morning

Christmas with 2 kids = more than twice as hectic!

We had our family Christmas a few days before we left for Cincy. I received the coveted Dyson Vaccuum that I have been desiring for a few years so I was pretty excited. I gave Joel a monogrammed shave bag and some new running shoes. We gave Joel III a 'latches board' and 2 things in his stocking - a $1 plastic snow globe and a $5 small firetruck. Judah didn't know it was Christmas so he didn't get anything. Here's a video of Joel opening the fire truck.



We have always traveled to our parents houses for Christmas. We don't mind the drive.. Most of Joel's family lives in the NW Ohio area and most of mine in Cincinnati. It is a great time to see everyone and celebrate. I enjoy it thoroughly. 2 years ago I was about to pop with Joel, and traveling to Cincy and Van Wert was a nice to get my mind off the fact that my feet weren't fitting into my shoes anymore. 1 year ago Joel III took his first steps in Cincy and it was pretty easy to cart him around from place to place. However, this year I never thought introducing just one more family member could increase the 'stuff' level by so much! The amount of diapers and Christmas presents alone would barely fit into my little Corolla with the 4 of us. The thought of then adding our luggage was laughable. So we reluctantly took the huge Moose to Cincy and Van Wert. Hm.. I guess it's time to get a minivan.

This brings me to another 'stuff' issue... TOYS. Joel and I have mixed feelings about toys. We have already decided to not do Santa Claus. We will wrap presents for our children, but they will know the gifts are from us. I love the fact that I can stay at home with my kids. However, a house has a ton less toys and is generally a more difficult environment for a 2 year old than, say, a day care center. Plus, in order to get anything done, the kid needs to entertain himself safely (and maybe even learn a thing or two). Hence the need for toys. The con side - toys take up space (this is my beef) and well lets face it, the good toys usually take up the most space. Joel's beef - more and more toys fuel the consumeristic lifestyle that we would like to discourage both in our own lives and in the lives of our children. Romans 13 speaks of this "Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have" Even so, we knew that we at least needed a few trains and cars for Joel because apparently, rattles just won't do it for an almost 2 year old. So we are very grateful for the toys we received for the boys.
Here's a pic of Joel opening up one of his most favorite toys from Christmas - a train set from Gamma. He has been obsessed with his train set, magnadoodle, and matchbox motorcycle. (Side note to family members reading this blog - don't worry if he's not obsessed with your gift this week, I'm sure he will be next week.)




Here's Indy, Joel's cousin 1 year older than him opening a gift. A highlight in Cincy was attending the show Awaited which we attended last year. This year, we encouraged Joel III to watch the 'show' and he stayed attentive for the entire hour and 15 minute program!! He loved it. When we asked what his favorite part was he thought about it and said "Camel." This was a huge deal to us because normally after asking him a question like that he would reply, "part?" but instead, he actually answered the question with a word that he came up with on his own, and he answered it appropriately! go Joel III!


Here is a pic of the Awaited program put on by Crossroads church in Cincinnati. After Cincy, we woke up the sleeping babies, packed up the enormous amount of stuff we accumulated, drove through some scary snow, and dealt with a cranky boy in the back seat for the 2.5 hour drive to Van Wert. Joel was anxious to see his cousins and Gran and Grandad, I was anxious to take a nap.
Here's Joel with his Gran and Grandad and his closest cousin in age - Lizzie Spath.





Here's a pic of the aftermath of the Penton Christmas present opening extravaganza and a video. Above is Joel's sister's youngest child Kate Crummey, amidst some boxes, Emily's dog Gyver and some other presents in the background.

We had some quality time with our family especially Mike and Lindsey (engaged on Groskopf side) and Matt and Mollie (married with 2 little ones on Penton side) so that was really nice. But, wow, we were excited to return to 4507 Braithway st. I am hoping that next year will be a little more relaxing because we won't have a 3 month old sporadically waking up in the middle of the night, but I fear the relaxing days are over. ohwell. We had planned on another 3 day potty training fiasco, however Joel wound up having some serious diarrhea and green snot So I figured it wasn't the best time.