two weeks ago, aidan started wearing "big boy" character briefs. we have been lazy in the potty training department. we don't want to push and we know that aidan knows the steps to "the process." he just doesn't care to put all those steps together.
so, we were surprised when his teacher encouraged us to put him in underwear, saying she'd be happy to help him out and clean him up.
the first two days were, in a word, gross. pee-wet thin cotton is one thing. thin cotton coated with poop is quite another. paul has been the lucky recipient of the poopy pants.
after those two treacherous days, the rest of the week was great. he stays dry for most of the day and we (as in the parents) have trained ourselves to take him to the potty every 1 - 1 1/2 hours.
as a grown-up, you don't have to think about these things; you just... go. but toddlers haven't learned to listen to that little alarm that goes off in their brains when their bladder/gut is full. it's more fun to keep playing with your lightning mcqueen cars and thomas trains than to stop, drop trou and sit on the potty. think about it-- for the majority of their lives, they've become accustomed to steeping in their goo until the parentals changed their diapers. it's another transition that is going to take some time. and patience. and more underpants-- otherwise, i'm going to be doing laundry every day.
paul has come up with two ways to get aidan excited about going potty. so far, so good.
target practice: it's exactly what you think. aim and shoot at the targets floating in the toilet. so far, we've had cheerios (a traditional favorite); mini marshmallows and, in a pinch, little rolled up balls of toilet paper. aidan loves target practice and proudly announces he hit the targets every time.
bombs away. this is relatively new and is a work in progress. no bombs yet, but we've been able to get aidan to sit at least for a minute.
yet one more milestone to work towards.
