Potty Training

I just looked back at Caleb's journal to check my dates, so here's the scoop on Caleb's potty training. A year ago, when Caleb was almost 2-and-a-half-years-old, we started potty training. It started out strong. We used a potty chart with stickers and the reward for each success was five minutes with a special toy, reserved only for these occasions. (I liked this reward better than candy.) After about a month, he was down to about one accident a day.

But then we went on a long weekend trip, put him in Pull-ups for the weekend, and had a total relapse. I don't think that we could have avoided the relapse without the trip, but the trip definitely facilitated it. Caleb was getting bored with the effort required of him to consistently go in the potty, and I think that he would have relapsed trip or no trip. Regardless, from this point on, it was a slow process. It took us another four months to completely recover the ground we'd lost. But by the end of January, 2 months before his 3rd birthday and 5 months after the start of potty training, he was wearing underwear all the time (except for sleeping), and most days and even weeks were accident-free. We considered Caleb to be potty-trained at this point, though it would be several more months before he would consistently poop in the potty. The main reason for this delay was simply that he only poops once or twice a week, so he had fewer opportunities to practice, as well as to get into a routine.

At this point, almost a full year after taking-on potty training, Caleb often doesn't even tell us that he has to go. He just goes upstairs, pulls his pants down, goes, flushes, pulls his pants up, and comes down. The only reason I know that he has gone is that he asks me to button his pants when he comes back down. I never remind him to go unless we're going to be out for a while and it will be inconvenient to find a bathroom. Unless he has had a lot to drink, he can usually hold it for up to four hours during the day.

This past week, we took what we think is the final step in the potty-training process. Caleb is now napping and sleeping at night in his underwear instead of a Pull-up. Prior to the switch, he had been waking up with a dry Pull-up about half the time. I think sometimes he was wet because he knew he was wearing a Pull-up, so he chose to urinate before getting out of bed. I decided that the only thing that will stop this is actually wetting his bed a time or two, since he does not like the sensation of wet pants/bedding. It's been four days since we stopped using Pull-ups, and he is still waking up dry about half the time. Either that will improve, or I'll get tired of washing bedding and put him back in Pull-ups at night :)

The only thing that is still frustrating us is the accidents he has when we're in a hectic environment. He goes weeks and weeks without an accident, but when he does have one, it is guaranteed to be when there is a lot going on, and usually when we're out (like in the middle of a friend's living room). If any of you have an older child and you can give me an idea of when these activity-induced accidents might end, I'm all ears :)