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March 9, 2005

Success! (so far)

So, the long-awaited entry on Potty Training Boot Camp that I am sure all five of you have been anxiously holding your breath for.

This was all prompted by two things: 1) The Montessori school called up and let us know that they have an immediate opening for AM preschool, but that Zeke needs to be potty trained. 2) I am sick of changing Zeke's diapers.

I explained to the director of the Montessori school, by the way, that Zeke is not really potty trained, although he certainly understands the concept, and that I believe he is right on the cusp of learning. She and I discussed it for awhile and decided to let him give it a try anyway, on the grounds that he will probably learn quickly once he sees the other kids, and also that he will probably be able to at least hold it for a few hours in the morning while he's at preschool. And if not, well, we'd try preschool again in a few months.

Anyway, Keith and I conferred, and decided that we wanted to take more drastic measures than we had previously. We brainstormed for awhile, throwing out ideas that we'd read in books, heard from friends, seen on the Internet, or whatever, and finally decided on "Underpants Day", aka Potty Training Boot Camp. For a week, we told Zeke that the following Monday was going to be "Underpants Day" when he got to wear big-boy underpants ALL DAY LONG and wasn't that exciting? We really played it up. Underpants Day was more exciting than Christmas. We talked about it every time we changed his diaper. "On Underpants Day we won't need to change your diaper because you will have underpants on! And you will pee in the potty!"

Zeke seemed amenable to all this. Then we went to Target and let him pick out two packages of Underoos. He chose Bob the Builder and Finding Nemo. (Shrek got dissed!) We also bought a potty seat, to be placed in our kitchen. Our bathroom is upstairs, so for Zeke to get there, he has to climb over the baby gate, go up the stairs, and then climb over the other baby gate. It's a lot of hassle and it takes him really far away from whatever he was playing with. Zeke was very intrigued by the potty seat. He wanted to open it right away but we told him, "Not until Underpants Day!"

Monday morning arrived. "Zeke! Underpants Day is here! It's Underpants Day!" (This definitely falls into the category of Stuff You Never Thought You Would Hear Yourself Saying Back When You Were An Angsty College Student.)

He peed in the potty right after getting up, and then we put him into a pair of Bob the Builder underpants. "Zeke," I explained solemnly, "Bob does not like to get wet or poopy. Let's see if we can keep Bob clean and dry all day long. CAN ZEKE DO IT?"

Zeke grokked immediately: "YES ZEKE CAN!"

So Underpants Day commenced. Without getting into the gory details, I'll just say that he had a clean and dry day pretty much the entire day. I took him to the potty every hour or two, and he stayed accident-free until his Daddy got home. A few minutes after Keith arrived, Zeke did have a small accident, but apart from that, nada. Then we put him to bed in underpants, which was a little scary for us, but it turned out okay, because he woke up on Tuesday morning still clean and dry.

Tuesday there were zero accidents all day long. And he woke up this morning in a dry bed too. So I am really freaking optimistic at this point. We can definitely at least say to the preschool that he's started potty training, if not all the way there yet. I am psyched.

And that's the story of Potty Training Boot Camp.

Posted by Jan at March 9, 2005 10:46 AM

Comments

Posted by: carolyn at March 9, 2005 11:56 AM

Posted by: Bibiana Powell at March 10, 2005 1:06 AM

Posted by: bob at September 17, 2007 8:09 PM

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