He's a Big Kid Now!

Riding his big boy bike!

Peter's parents were out of town this week at the beach on a much needed vacation, so Peter took the week off. We decided this would be an ideal time to really focus on potty training, since one of us would be home with him every day for a week.

Well, we got off to a rocky start the first few days going back and forth between underwear and diapers for naptime, church, fro-yo runs, doctor's appointments... But, Tuesday really seemed to be the turning point. He had one accident in the morning, then for the rest of the day every time he went to the bathroom was in a toilet. I think the first time was during his naptime. He was probably using it as an excuse to get out of bed, but hey, whatever works! Wednesday afternoon he didn't have any accidents until I got home... He was showing me how good he is at riding his new bike (more on that later) and when he got done said he needed to go potty. When he went in to try he wasn't able to go, but I still made him wash his hands. Sticking his hands in water was definitely not the best idea!

But, from Thursday to today he has not had one single accident! At first he really seemed to do better when he decided to go on his own; he wouldn't go when we prompted him. It was kind of cute... He would be playing with his toys then all of a sudden say, "oh" and head to the bathroom. Those were the times that were successful. But for the last two days he has finally started to be successful about going when we ask him to try sometimes. This is good so that we can have him go before we leave the house... so we can leave the house.

Pete bought three books for him as prizes for going potty and he got all three of them on Tuesday! After that we had to come up with other ideas for rewards... So Wednesday he got to come visit me at work as a treat! Then Thursday he got to go to his Nana and Grandpa's house (which was a treat, I guess, even though they weren't there). We have also been trying to just give him high fives and verbal rewards and let him know how proud we are of him.

He seems to be proud of it too. When we were at his Nana and Grandpa's house Peter's sister Cindy and two of her daughters came by. I told him to tell them what he had been doing all week, tell them about the new thing he'd been wearing all week. Well, instead of telling them, he decided to show them! He also likes to announce when he's doing something. I think part of this comes from him usually being by himself when he's going to the bathroom. When he actually goes to the bathroom he shouts something like, "Mommy, I'm doing something!" or "Mommy, I'm going potty!" He is so excited.

We haven't started night time training yet. He still wakes up wet most mornings, and I have just started getting to sleep more than 3 hours at a time. He gets upset sometimes that he has to put on a diaper after he's been wearing his underwear all day, but I told him that we need to really get the day time potty training down before we worry about the night. But we have maybe 3 weeks worth of diapers, so we might just try when we run out.

He also got a new bike! It has training wheels, but it is a BIKE, not a tricycle... When we got it in the store he didn't even want to ride it because it was so wobbly and kind of scared him. But Peter took him out to ride it on Tuesday and he rode it no problem! He fell off one time trying to take a turn a little too tightly, but had no problem getting right back on. Such a big boy!

Already riding away from me... :(