Potty Training | how to tackle with a toddler under 2 years

HA HA. Like I know the answer to the title of this post. But seriously, I should give you the update on cloth diapers past the age of 18 months. Um, it gets a little old dealing with "adult" size, shape and yes you guessed it smelling poop on a daily basis. I kept wondering, "When does this potty training stuff begin?" because,

I'm READY!!!

So, being the cheap, I mean *green* mother that I am (Seriously the cat is out of the bag, I STILL don't have my compost bin over here. Can someone just drop that thing off? I used to be such a good com-poster. AH hem, being the *green* mother that I am, I asked about used potties (is that gross?) on my MOM'S Club North email listserve. I love this group ladies, if you are a Flagstaff Mom, it's a great way to network amoug other moms and swap stuff... errr, like used potties and find used cribs and all that on the cheap. I get so many bags of clothes from other mom's just dropped at my door and when we had Harper they arranged for 10 meals for me in the first two weeks. It was luxury. It's $25 a year, so it's a DEAL!


ANYWAY... I got one, for free. AND...

I put it in the bathroom. Matt and I (and Tia Kate) talked endlessly about pooping, peeing and potties with Owen for months. We bought Once Upon a Potty (used of course) and read it (note: I changed some words in that book because I am just NOT calling it "pee pee and poo poo." I just call it what it is: poop and pee. No need for double cutesy words around here. Also, it's a penis folks, and that's what we call it. So we read Once Upon a Potty (just saw online that there is a DVD) and a Mom's club friend also gave me "Elmo's Potty" book and the more potty books and potty talk the better. We also let Owen come with us to the potty and talked about pooping. I mean this might sound weird, but there is no privacy when you have kids, people, it's all in the open, so just embrace it. He was very curious and I think that helped. We would talk about how big boys don't cry (HAHAHAAH) and big boys poop on the potty and little babies (ie: my new baby Harper) pees and poops in their diapers.

Let the brainwashing begin...

Starting at 20 months we had a lot of success with him peeing on the potty at the end of the day right before we changed his final diaper. He had been peeing on the potty just once a day for a truck sticker for about 6-8 weeks. We kept asking if he wanted to try pooping on the potty but he would always say "no" and get a little irritated. I figured we shouldn't rush him especially at this age. I kept reminding him if he did end up pooping, he would get a lollipop.

One day (around 21.5 months) Owen didn't stop chattering and didn't fall asleep for his nap. (this kid naps like a champ and he doesn't like his fragile schedule to be interrupted). So, it was easy to know something was wrong (also clue#2 was that he farted a lot of times when I was reading him stories before naptime). After 1 hour and 20 minutes of chatter but no sleep, I went into his room and said,

"Do you have to poop?"
Owen: "YEAH"
Mommy: "Oh, do you want to try pooping on the potty?"
Owen: reluctantly, "Yeah"

I know a golden opportunity when it presents itself. I wanted to take a video of him but you'll read why I couldn't. Lucky for me Harper was fast asleep giving this pooping adventure my full attention.

So I put him on the potty and he says
"Mommy come back"
which I took to mean, GO AWAY!!
So I did. He wanted his privacy and hey, even though the irony there is thick, I respected that. So my home office is on the landing right outside the bathroom and I just clicked around on Facebook nervously hoping he didn't poop on the floor or something. I kept checking back and he was just sitting there reading his books. On the third peek I saw him leaning over the wicker magazine basket in the corner making a grunting sound.

"OH SHIT" was really what I wanted to say, but instead I gather my most calming *mommy* voice and said,

"Owen, if you have to poop, go ahead and do it in the potty, would you like me to move your potty to this corner of the bathroom?"

Owen, "YEAH"

Mommy, "okay"

I'm thinking, "that was a close one." I check back in a few minutes and sure enough it was stinky in there and I could see he had finished his business. At this point he was having so much fun on the potty reading his books that he wanted to continue doing that... SO.... I let him enjoy this moment (15 minutes of it) as I figured rushing it could give him a bad experience.
After he was done I made a BIG deal about it, exclaiming how proud I was and using my *outdoor voice* indoors. Telling him how badly I wanted to tell Daddy. I read him two stories, gave him a lollipop and put him down for a real late nap. He was content to sleep.

In the two weeks since then, he's done amazing. We are still taking it slow keeping the diapers on but he's pooped 10 for 11 tries in the potty. Last week we went to Las Vegas to visit my grandmother and brought the potty and he did all his pooping in it on that trip and last night we went to my sister's (Tia Kate) for dinner and he even pooped over there (oh yes, we brought his potty). I am looking for a portable potty. Anyone with ideas?

Honestly I keep meaning to read this book "Toilet Training in Less than a Day" but haven't had time. I think tomorrow we might go for the "no pants" training option and try to have him learn about when he has to pee to use the potty too. He is *sorta* holding it between diaper changes and then peeing in the potty as we now put him on the potty to pee about 4-5 times a day. He does like to put Mickey on the potty too. We have some Thomas the Train big boy pants and some pull-up style diapers but everyone tells me because we do cloth diapers it won't take long to train him fully.

A potty trained boy can go to preschool in the fall. That is our goal. Montessori preschool a few half days a week.

Harper is 3 months now and poor girl doesn't even have a dedicated blog post yet... it's coming but she is such a good baby, I hardly have a thing to talk about. Enjoy the photos of the kids.
Here's a video that only a grandmother can love.... but stick it out you might laugh out loud. I did.