Be darned if the next morning the same thing didn't happen! I was even more surprised that it happened again the day after that! I might be slow some days but even I can take that hint. This boy clearly wanted to learn to use the potty. I was not prepared for this at all! I've always heard that boys are harder to potty train and they usually don't start as early as girls, so I figured I had another 6 months to a year at least before I had to worry about it. So yesterday while I was picking up groceries I grabbed a small potty and some Pull-Ups. Roman was quite excited about the Pull-Ups because they have his most recent obsession on them, Thomas the Tankengine! As soon as he saw them his eyes lit up and all I heard from the cart for the rest of the shopping trip was "choo-choo".
When I thought about potty training, long before Roman was even ready, I always thought I would use the method of keeping diapers off Roman for a few days and banging it out. It would be a crazy few days but we'd hopefully get it mastered. Luckily Trellyn has already gone through this whole process and she suggested getting a potty to reduce the distance between Roman and the toilet, so that is why I picked up a potty when I already had a potty seat at home. However, with Roman deciding so early that he wants to learn, I've decided to go with a different method for now.
To prevent scaring Roman off of potty training I've decided to take a more laid back approach. The first day we started this new adventure I tried taking him to the potty every half hour, but Roman was not into it. After the second trip he started to get mad and throw a fit when I asked if he had to go. Again, I may be slow but I can take a hint. He wanted to do this so we are going to move at his pace. I stretched it out to every hour and he seemed to be happy with that. Nothing happened while he was on the potty but I take a positive experience with the whole thing as a win!
Today was day two of potty training and we definitely made some progress! As soon as I took Roman out of his crib this morning he screamed "choo-choo" and made a beeline for the change table and ripped a pair of Pull-Ups out of the bag! Thank heavens, I didn't scar him for life yesterday! He was having no part of going straight onto the potty so I didn't push and let him continue on with his normal routine. After breakfast I changed him into his Pull-Ups and started the 30 minute timer on my phone. This time Roman was totally cool with the timing so I decided to continue it while we were at play group. Luckily they have a potty seat there so it wasn't a difficult transition. Actually, Roman seemed to prefer using the potty there. I think it did something for his ego to be one of the only kids in the room using the potty. Apparently a man's ego starts building early (kidding!).
At around 5:00pm I was beginning to wonder if all this works as for not since I hadn't managed to catch him at the right time. Well obviously his subconscious heard my subconscious because on that next potty trip at 5:36pm on February 20, 2015, Roman Giuliano peed on the potty for the first time!!! It was the tiniest of tinkles but I exploded into song and dance so fast you would have thought he'd just won the Noble Peace Prize! I don't think Roman even knew what he did, but when he saw how excited I was he went along with it. To help him understand why I was so excited I explain to him that he went pee and showed him that his penis was wet. This fact alone seemed to puzzle him, like he had no idea why it was wet. So we high fived and trotted out of the bathroom proud as peacocks. Of course I proceeded to text all the important people and plaster this fact all over Facebook. I'm sure he'll thank me for that in 10 years. If Facebook is still around then.
6:30pm was going to be the last potty trip for the night so John decided to take him. I don't think Roman's butt had barely touch the seat before I heard John erupt with praise over another tiny tinkle! Now I know Roman catches on to things fast, but I was convinced it had to be some kind of coincidence. John however swears he saw Roman actually try to push something out, so maybe he is getting the hang of it? It was definitely a great way to end day two of potty training!
For me one of the trickiest parts of this potty training business is keeping Roman busy and entertained while he's on the toilet so he will stay there. Enter, the iPhone. Roman loves trains so sometimes we'll watch a Thomas video from YouTube or we'll play his First Word game. He also likes watching videos of himself, or as I recently discovered, he likes to watch dog shows. Who knew? Now I'm not sure if it's recommended to distract a kid when trying to potty train them because they aren't really focusing on what they are doing. My theory is they can't do anything on the toilet if you can't get them to stay on the toilet!
On day three Roman and I were at home all day because I had a bunch of things to get done for a Steeped Tea tasting the next day. Plus it was Saturday so there was no play group. We stuck to the 30 minute routine and it actually got to the point that when Roman heard the alarm on my phone go off he stopped what he was doing, and headed to the bathroom. I started making a big deal over the alarm and we danced all the way to the bathroom. Why not make it fun!? Well it ended up being a good idea because Roman had a whopping 4 pees and 1 poop! A couple of the pees were really good streams and he actually got to see himself peeing which was a huge bonus. Now I think he understands a bit more what pee is. After he saw it the first time, he now grabs and inspects his penis trying to figure out how to get the pee out. Hilarious and cute at the same time. I have no explanation for the poop because I didn't even know he had done it until I took him of the toilet. I guess we were both really interested in those tractor videos. He thought it was pretty neat that there was a poop in the toilet, and I thought it was pretty neat that I didn't have to deal with a poopy diaper!
Day four was a bit of a flop because Roman and John were out of the house a lot that day, so there wasn't as much of an opportunity for Roman to go. He did however to sneak in one pee just before supper when I got home!
Hopefully Roman's potty training adventures will be helpful if you are trying to potty train, and if not, maybe they'll just give you a good laugh! I'll try to stay up to date with them one week at a time!
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