Potty Training: A Serious(ly exhausting) Business

On Thursday, Evan (with absolutely NO bribing or threatening from me) told me he wanted to take his diaper off. He has NEVER done this so I am going for it. Let's do this!

Thursday

• Evan plays outside sans pants and pees (I mean REALLY pees) in the potty with no coaxing from me. He just ran over to it, sat down and did his business as though he'd been doing this all his life. When I pick him up to hug him, he says, "I'm so proud of you, Mom!" I'm so proud of you too, buddy :) We do an insane potty dance, call Daddy and eat M&Ms in celebration.
• Success again! Evan has been nekkid from the waist down all day and has had no accidents on the floor or furniture AND he peed in the potty again (see below). Call Daddy, eat more M&Ms.

Friday

• Evan is pants off from the time he wakes up and pees on the potty all on his own! Daddy joins in the celebratory dance, eat M&Ms and now add watching the "family video" (the Bumble Bee montage) to his potty incentive package. Thank you again, Heather!
• We head down to Aiden's house to play in the pool. Aiden is also potty training and is therefore nekkid from the waist down in the yard. Sweet! Strip Evan down and he and Aiden take turns on the potty. Evan pees! Do celebratory dance, Evan eats M&Ms, pb&j sandwich and jolly rancher popsicle.
• Evan wakes up from his nap with a super wet diaper and a big ol' load. We have not even broached the topic of pooping in the potty. We've learned from 12 + months of potty negotiations with this little dictator not to push our luck.
• The rest of the afternoon is a dream! Evan runs to the potty each time he has to go and has no accidents! He even wears undies and shorts to ride his bike with Daddy in the evening. He eats his weight in M&Ms and watches the family video 14 times. Brian and I now have the montage song memorized and based on the lyrics, we can perfectly time when Evan will laugh and say, "that's my favorite" (the picture of him with the cactus scratches).

Saturday

• The day starts awesome! Evan pees on the potty twice and then gets ready to go to the car wash with Daddy. He sits on the potty for several minutes before they leave and we get no results. We put a potty in the back of the car and undies on Evan. Off they go.
• One hour later, Evan walks in the door....wearing a diaper. Uh oh. "Buddy, did you have an accident? Yeah, I had an ax-sa-dent in Home Depot." Brian comes through the door with wet shorts and undies in hand. Apparently the Petersons aren't very popular at Home Depot at the moment.
• E sits on the potty again before his nap but no go. He wakes up from his nap with a super wet diaper. He says he is ready to go on the potty. Pants off! Let's get back on the horse! He sits on the potty before we head out to ride bikes but another no go. We're just going to the end of the street, he'll be ok....right?
• Wrong. We get to the end of the cul de sac and Evan gets an odd look on his face, "Daddy, I have to pee!" Brian leaps off his scooter and dashes across the cul du sac with intentions of tucking Evan under his arm and doing the Heisman down our street to the "endzone". Alas, the whistle has been blown and this play is over, the puddle on the bike seat made. Evan rides home with wet pants.
• The wind has been let out of our sails. We try to get Evan to go on the potty a few more times but the accidents must have discouraged him. He sits on the potty for extended periods of time but produces nothing. After Brian leaves for the Rattlers game, Evan and I sit in his bathroom for close to an hour. He wants to repeatedly read a potty book where the little girl has an accident. We discuss how everyone has accidents and getting back on the horse tomorrow. Evan wants to know what's this about peeing on a horse?

Sunday

• We have peed on the horse! I mean, we're back on the horse and peed in the potty! Eat M&Ms (see below) and put on diaper to go to Costco.

• We're gone for about 2 hours and when we get home....score! The diaper is dry and Evan immediately sits on the potty (with the lap top at his feet playing what else? The family video).
• When I come out of the nursery from putting Hollan to sleep, Evan is eating M&Ms...a good sign. He and Daddy look super excited about the contents of his potty. I peek inside and yippee! Pee and a sort of poop!! (If you need further explanation on "sort of poop", please email me...I want Evan to speak to me as a teenager/adult so I will refrain from posting that explanation in cyber space).
• I make the brave decision to look into a summer camp for Evan at his preschool, which requires kids to be "reasonably potty trained". The camp isn't until mid June and is only 4 hours/day for 4 days, we should be solid, right? It's non refundable....
• I also make the decision to cancel our monthly size 5 diaper order with Amazon and order training pants. I am a confident and supportive parent!
• Evan got up from his nap with a wet diaper but did bust out a pee before his bike ride. On which he wore undies with no accidents.
• The afternoon is awesome! We have several more pees and then after dinner, Evan runs over to the potty and says, "I have to poop". Brian and I purposefully ignore E on the potty in hopes that the lack of attention will de-pressurize the situation. This could be HUGE!
• And it was. In all senses. He did it! Yay yay yay yay yay yay. You would have thought that Brian and I also had our first poops in the potty by the celebrating that was going on!
• Evan finally gets the much discussed and anticipated red Ferrari Enzo and a bonus red McLaren F1 GTR. (See Below)

It was a great weekend, to say the least! We have an army crawler and a potty user, in just a few days. I think we will all sleep well tonight. ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.