Thursday, February 28, 2013

Phillips Family Potty Party

The potty training saga continues.
My last update was about letting go and letting Dutch show me signs he is ready.  Go with the flow, relax.
um.........no.  I changed my mind.
Dutch got a a point that he was using the toilet at school but not at home.  That is when mama decided we are going hard core.  This boy knows exactly what he is doing. He is about to do this at home.  On the toilet.     No more babying my baby.
I decided to have a potty party.  Why not start with bribery to ease him into this new world of toilets, flushing, and big boy panties.
I went to Safeway and got a bunch of balloons, some m&m's, gummy worms, and the grand finale of POOP PRIZES.  If he pooped in the toilet, he would receive the bouncy balls and the animals that grew in warm water.  totally gross, I know.
So I went home, decorated for the party.  I told Dutch about this amazing potty party all the way home from school.  He seemed pretty excited.  We got home and he ran into the bathroom to see his glorious toilet haven.  HE WAS CRAZY EXCITED.  Unfortunately, he was not excited when he found out there were rules to get the prizes.  It took us about two days to teach him that if he peed in the toilet, he got candy.  If he  pooped, he got the poop prizes.  After our 48 hours of confusion, he totally got it.  He completely learned how to pee on the toilet, he didn't mind going in there to sit down and try.  When he did pee, Chad and I acted like he just won the lottery.  We jumped and cheered, we did a family high five.  I wish I could say it was fun, but it was pretty much a ton of work.  Okay, maybe it was fun a few times.  Eventually Dutch started to learn to use the toilet when he needed to pee.  He got a point that it felt weird to go in his pants/diapers.  I would say this took about two weeks.  He is still not a fan of having to go to the toilet and we have to make him pee about every hour or two.  It usually goes like this-
"Dutch, let's go potty."
"NO!"  (total whine)
us-"go potty or else we will turn off your movie"  or "go use the potty or no more toys."  or "use the potty then we will have a Popsicle."  I am totally aware that this may sound horrible and I hope I am not setting Dutch up to have a Popsicle, m&m and gummy worm problem when he grows up.  I can only encourage my son to get therapy when he is older.  As parents, we do the best we can and that is all we really can do.  Anything that we mess up..........therapy.  The kids will be fine.
Dutch is still terrified to poop on the toilet and I am not rushing that at all.  We put him in pull ups at nap and bedtime and that is usually when he relaxes enough to go.  He also loves to go in his underwear or even just straight onto the floor.  He hides behind couches, under the dining room table and in closets when he knows it is gonna happen.  I can see how scared he is so I am definitely going to just keep supporting him through this fear.  He did poop his pants last week and then I put him on the toilet to teach him that is where we poop.  Part of a poop chunk fell off his butt into the toilet and he was soooooooooo proud of himself.  You could just see the joy and shock on his face when he thought he did it and was still okay.  I totally gave him the poop prizes so that pressure was taken away.
Potty training is one of those things that does just happen, I realize that now,  but so far I am proud of the Phillips family method.  I will keep you updated, of coarse.  Rock on- mom's.

3 comments:

  1. So proud of the Phillips family. Chad still needs a hot wheel poop prize but it is all worth it.

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