Potty Progress!

So my slacker plan to outsource potty training via preschool is showing some results. Over the last week, Jack has asked to go to the potty several times at home. When I do the pick up at preschool, I get a mini-report card of the day's activities which include diaper changes and/or successful potty events. I wildly praise Jack when I read about him going to the potty at preschool.

The first time he did it at home, I raced him to the bathroom, pulled down the pull-ups and boom, he's making a hole in one (#1, that is). More wild praise, which he enjoys. Two nights ago, while outside with the neighbors, I caught Jack developing that far away look that usually heralds a bowel movement. "Jack, do you need to go poopies?" I yell. "No, I don't," he says a couple times. Then, "I need to go." I rushed him inside but had a false alarm. "I was just gassies," he says. Back outside we go. Then he says he has to go again. We rush inside but another false alarm. After his bath we try again but it's #1. Still, not bad.

Tonight, my friend Herschel came over to help me out. I picked up some Asian food (Yan Can Cook) and we all ate and watched Tivo'd espisodes of Star Wars: Clone Wars. For someone who claims he hates kids, Herschel has a fondness for Jack and Jack loves him. Maybe because it's clear, at three and half, that Jack is gonna like SciFi. We three get along famously. Jack shows off his potty skills again. Then I get a phone call from a Toyota dealership I'm courting regarding the availability of a 2009 Sienna. I decide to take the call. Sure enough, Jack announces another potty event. To my complete shock, Herschel says he'll help. As I'm on the phone, I hear a, "Whoa!" from the bathroom followed by a flush. Jack comes rushing into the kitchen announcing, "Daddy, I went poopies!" Wow. We're getting somewhere!

Outsourcing

When I returned back home from Iraq, I had grand designs on getting Jack potty trained during the month I would take off before going to work. That plan fell flat on its face, mostly due to Jack's monumental disinterest in the subject. Over time, we've tried to reintroduce the subject with little success.

When we toured the Preschool we were asked if Jack was already potty trained. Sadly, no, we replied trying to hide our shame. We were informed that that the Two/Three group was divided in two; those that were potty trained and those that weren't. The staffers and teachers of the latter group would help in getting them potty trained. We nodded our heads sagely but inwards I was thrilled: we were outsourcing potty training! Maybe being surround by other kids would help, I thought.

Today, Jack's third day, his teacher reported that she got him to go number 1 in the potty after he woke up from his nap!

Poops Ahoy

My attractive wife had the day off from work and she ventured to Target (aka, The Mothership) and bought Jack some Cars-themed big boy underwear. Jack loved them and after dinner wanted to try them on. We told him they were for wearing after he knew how to go to the potty. Jack announced he was ready to go potty now! He raced upstairs and tried to sit on the toilet before I could get the training seat on it. I told him he would have to first remove his diaper. He decided he'd had enough and ran back into his bedroom were I helped him out of the diaper and into his new underwear. He loved it and ran downstairs to show my attractive wife.

We kept trying to tell him the underwear was for when he knew how to use the potty. I finally got them off him and ushered him back into the bathroom where I drew up his bath. Early into it, he got that far-away look he normally sprouts when he's getting ready to be poopies. Uh oh.

"Buddy do you need to be poopies?" I asked. "No, I was just gassies," he answers. "Are you sure you don't need to be poopies?" He then answered in a whisper, "Be quiet," which he's said several times when I've called him on going poopies in his diaper. My attractive wife said from the hallway he had already been poopies this morning. Jack wiggled around in the soapy water and then seemed okay.

That's when I see it submerged in the water. "Buddy, you went poopies in the bath!" Jack continues to deny it. The commotion draws my attractive wife's attention from the other room. When she sees it, she screams, "Oh, he was poopies!" This causes a peristaltic chain-reaction in Jack who realizes what he's done and he starts crying. I carry him out and put a towel around him while my wife rushes downstairs. She returns with a giant stainless steel ladle and hands it to me.

I'll spare you the clean-up details but let's say I was thankful for the high amounts of fiber in Jack's diet and the power of bleach. We gotta get this kid potty trained.

Potty Training

While I was in Iraq, my co-workers asked me what I would be doing at home while burning up accumulated leave. I said I wanted to Potty Train Jack. After all, I would be home for a month, how hard could it be?

My plan didn't account whether or not Jack was actually ready to be potty trained. For obvious reasons, my attractive wife did not dive into this while I was away. Shortly after getting home, I showed him #1. He was fascinated and insisted on trying then and there but his bladder was empty. I felt a golden opportunity had been missed (no pun intended).

Several times later over the course of the week, I asked him, "Do you need to go potty?" the term, at this stage, being synonymous with #1. Every time, Jack would emphatically answer, "No, don't want to go potty!" Then, while at the park, he announced, "I have to go potty but in my diapers." At least he had cause and effect down.

Then my parents sent me this link which explains what signs to look for in a child when they are getting ready, or at least when they are more amenable, for potty training. Jack had a few traits but not all. For example, he's more interested in taking things out of the toy box than putting them in.

Today though he surprised me. While on the phone with my attractive wife, he grabbed my pant leg and said he had to go potty. I followed him to the kitchen where he grabbed a toy piano in the corner by the sliding glass door. "What are you doing with the piano?" I asked but saw that it was on top of a trainer toilette. He started to sit on it but I asked him if he wanted to take off his pants. He said okay and took them off along with the diaper. He sat down but nothing happened. He exclaimed, "All done!"

I noticed that his diaper was wet and can only assume that he started #1 but then announced that he needed to go. No matter, small progress made.