Tomorrow is slated to be Connor’s Special Potty Day!! Woo-Hoo!

That’s right, around here, it’s celebrated — not dreaded. Everyone’s excited, including his brothers. We’ve got all the “supplies” bought. We’re planning to begin first thing in the morning, so if I’m scarce tomorrow, you’ll know why.

You know, a blogging momma of a toddler can only go so long without discussing potty training. With Andy and Brady, I used the same method I’m going to try on Connor. Before I trained Andy, I found this eBook on eBay and thought it was worth a shot. I’m soooo glad I tried it. He was trained in six hours, with very little follow up the next few days. (Mostly just asking if he needed to go, but he usually told me when he did.)

Here’s the idea. You get lots and lots of dry or salty snacks, a huge variety of drinks and cups, and have one concentrated day in the bathroom. (The author of the eBook does the training in her kitchen with a potty seat, but we’ve always used a special topper on the real toilet.) Then, you actually teach them step-by-step instructions for how to go (i.e. announce their intentions, remove their clothing, sit, etc.). The idea is to give them whatever snacks they want so they’ll drink more and then have to go more. It teaches them how to respond to that sensation properly. As the time goes on, you can move away from the toilet as the child gets the hang of it. I honestly think Brady had it down in less than 4 hours!

We also do a few extras that she doesn’t mention in her book. In the days leading up the the SPD, I get a bunch of kids library books about potty training and read to them. It gets them thinking about it and excited. They also pick our special new underwear that they’re told they have to keep dry. They don’t get to wear them at all until the big day. We also do a cookie incentive for successfully going number two. We also send in the older siblings to help cheer after any successful activity.

It’s been funny to see the older kids get excited for Connor. I never realized it would be a day they remembered so fondly, but it’s a rite of passage in our house. To them, potty training is a special day when they get Mommy all to themselves and get lots of fun snacks and drinks they usually don’t get. And I think it’s worth the majority of one whole day instead of dragging it out forever.

Connor is a bit younger than his brothers were for their Special Potty Days, but I think he’s ready. We’ll see tomorrow!  

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 6th, 2007 at 5:37 pm and is filed under Connor, Domestic Engineering. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.