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Candid Coffee Talk: I hate potty training

August 22, 2014 | Leave a Comment

Candid coffee talk | TheMombot.com
potty training my little boy | TheMombot.com

*Heavy sigh*

Here we go again. The evil potty training monster rears its ugly head.

We are deep in the throes of potty training with our second child. He is only 2 years, 2 months, but I wanted to give it a go. We potty trained Mia first at 18 months, then took a break because it didn’t stick, and started back up on her 2nd birthday. She was SO difficult to potty train. She wet her panties for months before she finally learned to empty her bladder fully and get to the bathroom on time. It goes with her personality though; everything is long and dramatic with that one!

With Graham’s arrival, I was already anxious to get Lincoln out of diapers. Especially when you change a breastfed baby’s poopy diaper (which is only slightly disgusting) and then go change a two year old’s poopy diaper (which is ridiculously disgusting). I mean, he’s basically a little man at this point. That kid needs to do his business on the toilet where I don’t have to touch it. Am I right??

So when we ran out of diapers on Sunday, I half-heartedly decided to start potty training on Monday morning. I knew it was coming, so I had already bought him some “Jake and the Neverland Pirates” undies and we had a potty seat, but that was pretty much all the preparation I had done. I hadn’t thought through any kind of tactics; I didn’t stock the house with salty foods and juice, I didn’t have sticker charts printed out and ready to go – in fact, I hadn’t thought about a reward system at all.

I guess the more kids you have, the less thought and preparation you put into things…

So that morning, I threw some undies on him and told him this was happening. About an hour in, I finally found and printed out a sticker chart. Much to my delight, I found a free pirate one which made him pretty excited (you can find the free pirate sticker chart here).

He is such a different child than my first; she didn’t really care about the stickers at all, especially after putting a couple on the chart. But this kid is all about it. If he doesn’t want to go to the bathroom, you remind him about earning a sticker and he runs to the toilet with a “wahooooo!” (literally, he shouts “wahoooo!” and “wooooo!” for everything that excites him).

potty training my little boy | TheMombot.com

My reward system slowly developed as I went… One sticker for trying, two stickers for peeing, three stickers for pooping. Once his chart is full, he gets 3 gold doubloons (can you tell we watch a lot of “Jake and the Neverland Pirates”?) – which are actually just pennies. Once he gets 12 gold doubloons, he receives $5 to go toy shopping. I basically made up this logic in about 1.2 minutes while waiting for him to pee, so it’s pretty solid and well thought out…

When we first began, he was peeing literally every ten minutes through his undies and on the floor. We went through six pairs of underwear in 1 hour. I almost cried twice before 11:00 a.m. Why did I decide to do this on a day when my husband was at work and I had a baby attached to my breast every few hours? Because I’m crazy, that’s why.

Imagine me trying to lift Lincoln onto the toilet with one arm, while holding Graham (who is breastfeeding) with the other, while simultaneously yelling at Mia not to step in the pee puddle on the floor. All this while I was unshowered and sweaty. This was my Monday morning.

Around 11:30 a.m. when I sat him on the toilet, he peed on his own for the first time. I think he finally figured out how to make his body go. Breakthrough!

potty training my little boy | TheMombot.com

Ever since then, it’s a race against time. If I can get him to the potty and make him go before he pees in his pants, then we are good. Otherwise, I hear “mommy, I peed!” and have to go running to clean up a puddle. But as the week has progressed, he is going longer without accidents and stopping himself when he goes in his undies until we get him to the toilet. I call it a minor success. He managed to fill 4 sticker charts and earn all his gold doubloons for a toy, so I guess this weekend we’ll be going out to cash in his reward.

potty training my little boy | TheMombot.com

We still have a long way to go. I recall with my first that it took forever before she was able to recognize the feeling of needing to go and being able to tell me. So we’ll be running to the bathroom every 30 minutes in this house for the next few days, weeks, months…. who knows?

Oh, and so far I’ve only had to clean up one small man poop in his undies. Unfortunately it was while I was making homemade chocolate pudding (I couldn’t make this up).

Don’t you just LOVE potty training?

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  3. Candid Coffee Talk: Marriage. It’s hard.
  4. Letters to my littles [March]

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HI! I'M AMY.

I'M A BLOGGER, GRAPHIC DESIGNER, MOM, COFFEE ADDICT, DIYER, CHRONIC MULTITASKER AND STRESSCASE, A COOK AND A LOVER OF A GOOD GLASS OF WINE.
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I get it. It's a little weird. But the girls I've I get it. It's a little weird.
But the girls I've seen do it best, look adorable.

I think it looks best with an oversized tee or sweatshirt, tennies or slides, and a small crossbody bag.

You can't argue with comfort.

For the record, these are women's sleep shorts that I've had a couple of years from Old Navy. If you buy actual men's boxers, you might consider sewing up the pee pocket 😜

Don't spend a lot on this trend; these shorts are made from the thinnest of fabric and shouldn't cost much. Don't be fooled by a retailer that wants you to spend just because it's trendy.

But if you see some cute boxers and want to give it a go - then do! Bonus - if/when the trend ends, you'll have pajamas on the ready 👏

It's solid weekend wear, but I'm not going out to dinner in it...

#boxershortsforgirls #boxershort #ootd #womensfashion #styleinspiration
Another project down in my son's room! I knew I w Another project down in my son's room!

I knew I wanted some sort of built-in feature in this bedroom, but it was hard to figure out what, because we turned it into an active space where he could run and play and needed a lot of room.

So I settled on a built-in bookcase with the slatted design feature, which I'm in love with!

The best part about it is that if he ever decides to upgrade his bed, the space will also accommodate a full or queen size bed going in the opposite direction. It adds so much interest to this room and hopefully will be here for a long time!

One of the things I love most about DIY projects is figuring out how to make something - it's like a giant puzzle. I saw photos of these slotted wall room dividers on Pinterest and just figured it out as I went. All in all, I had very few hiccups and it only took me a few hours to put together. I think I only cursed once?!? And so I call that an extreme DIY win...

Now that the sports wall, the climbing wall, and the built-in feature are complete, the last thing to do in here is some additional painting. I'm thinking of using a contrasting blue color for the closet doors and back side of the built-in, and perhaps trimming out the window with it as well. Then I need to switch out the light for a fan and this.room.is done 🙌

Details: I used two IKEA billy bookshelves, screwed together and secured to the wall. Then wrapped them in white oak plywood. I ripped down 2x4s into 1.5x1.5" square dowels (heavily sanded!) and used pocket holes on the back side of each to secure to the bookshelf and the 1x4 in the ceiling. It's very sturdy!

Go back in my reels to see the other projects from this room! 

#diy #boysroom #roomrenovation #roomrefresh #kidsrooms #climbingwall #soccerbedroom #builtins #bedroomredo #girlswhobuild
This climbing wall took half a day and cost under This climbing wall took half a day and cost under $100!

We are lucky enough to have 13' ceilings in our bedrooms, so a climbing wall seemed to make sense in my son's room as we worked on the remodel.

He is a super active kid with #ADHD, so his room redo has involved lots of activity spaces! Go back in my reels to see past projects and follow to see me finish this up!

#diy #roomrenovation #roomrefresh #kidsrooms #climbingwall #soccerbedroom
Another to-do checked off my list for spring break Another to-do checked off my list for spring break room makeover!

I added very subtle striping to the wall to mimic a soccer field and keep things classy. ⚽

Stick around to see the next project - a climbing wall!

(And go back in my reels to see the sports wall)

#roommakeover #soccer #kidsroom

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