This is how I do rewards!

Well, so far today we've had ONE accident very first thing in the morning and then Nixon's been potty training gold the rest of the day! Right down to pooping on the potty again! Honest to goddess I don't quite know how to handle this sudden potty professionalism, it almost makes me feel like he's growing up too fast. On the other hand....no diaper changes does seem like an awesome way of life. 
I'm so torn!!!!


Anyways...after naptime today, I decided to take a short venture out of the house for the first time since Thursday. Nixon and I got dressed, Nixon wore an Easy-Up at his request and we walked to the shoppette down the street because I needed more "nummies" for Nixon's reward jar and I might have been getting a touch of the cabin feveries again. Nixon picked up a bag of bite sized candy bars, I grabbed skittles (because I think even Nixon can get bored of M&Ms) and I let him get a 5 pack of matchbox cars. Why? Because I'm a sucker that's why!


The whole point of this blog??


Nixon was dry the whole walk!! He got his first bite sized candy bar for that fete and was super proud of himself because I was super proud of him!!! There's another made-up song that goes with this, but only Nixon needs to hear it! 


He's pooping now....gotta go get his candy bar reward! Is that weird?? A candy bar for dropping a log??? No?? Good!

I'm that mom...not to be confused with THAT mom!

Most moms know, I'm sure, potty training sucks! It's hard on you, the child, your carpets/floors, laundry, pets (trust me Arwen is traumatized for life after this week) and your social life takes a serious dive for a while in the beginning too. Oh, and a heads up for stay-at-home-moms....don't expect your husbands to be too gungho in the help department. Sure Mac wants to help, but if I decide to switch something up, like the rewards to try to encourage Nixon to sit on the potty more often in the beginning, Mac kind of backed off with a "this is your show, you run it" attitude. Pretty much the story of most things in our parenting way of life, to be fair to Mac. It's not new, but I was just hoping since Mac has a penis and Nixon has a penis and since I don't have a penis with the common denominator being a penis, that maybe Mac would help out a little more. Afterall, what the hell do I know about tucking it when you sit or how to aim it when you stand??!?!? I mean I'd love to be able to pee standing up without dribbling it down my leg and into my shoe, but I can't. 


So back in August...really, August already feels like forever ago!....I tried to potty train Nixon and for a few days it went awesome! But then Mac was home and due to this (common??) Alpha male bullshit battles and Mac forgetting Nixon is 2 not 12, Nixon stopped going on the potty and I decided to wait until Mac was working days again before trying to potty train Nixon again. It'd be less stressful for everyone if I could do it on MY terms (for the most part) with little to no input from Mac the first few days. 


Well....Mac went back to day shift Monday. On Sunday we actually started by letting Nixon try wearing his Easy-Ups and get a reward from his Potty Reward jar (filled with M&Ms). On Monday we hit it for the full day. He had a couple accidents but did better than expected. Tuesday was okay. Wednesday and Thursday Mac was off and home, but Nixon still sat on the potty but only to get M&Ms, because I had upped his "nummies" to a couple, instead of one, for sitting since he was starting to refuse to sit anymore. This confused Mac and led to him getting frustrated by my rule changing (to be fair I would've too if he'd done it, but at the same time I knew Nixon was on a roll and I didn't want him to lose the momentum he'd made during the week, even if it meant giving in and handing over extra M&Ms just to keep his little ass on the potty longer!)


Mac went back to work Friday, and it was Nixon and I again. Nixon did okay in the potty training. He wore his Pull-Ups and Easy-Ups and used the potty a couple times. No accidents on the floor but no real forward progress. So a good day but not stellar day. 


Then we had today. What can I say about today??? Ever had a day where you just smile because it was such an awesome day? Even if there were a couple times you almost puked? Or a day that really makes parenting worth it because you can see the pride and self-esteem just bursting out from every pore of your child??? And you know that you helped give him that pride by praising him for doing something awesome over-and-over-and-over again?? THAT was today!


First, the potty is in the living room (for now). So Nixon gets to watch his shows and sit on the potty. Well, today he was just running around naked and had wet 3 pairs of undies, REAL big boy undies, because he was too into the tv. So, I turned it off after giving him the usual 1,2,3 warning. When I hit 3 and he still hadn't    sat down, off went the tv. I have NEVER seen him take his underwear off so quickly or pee as fast as he did when the tv was turned off. He stood up, said "ta da mommy!", grabbed the removable bowl, took it to the bathroom, emptied it in the toilet, flushed the toilet, washed his hands, put the little bowl back in his potty and sat right back on it all while I sang the "Nixon pee peed in the potty" song I made up just for him! 


After that it was all uphill. Nixon sat on the potty unprompted the rest of the day. He peed at least a dozen times, pooped twice almost three times and only had one more accident before bedtime. I can not put into words how proud I was when I saw he let a really BIG poop go in the potty. (For moms who haven't gone through potty training, the pooping in the potty is scary thing for most kids and some don't go in the potty for a really long time) For this reward, no M&M would do! NO, he got a song, a kiss, a hug and a new car!!! Well a new toy car. 


And before anyone asks....NO I did not take a picture of Nixon's first poop in the potty! I am NOT Kate fucking whackjob Gosslin, thankyouverymuch!


Here's hoping tomorrow continues as well as today went. Monday we're off to get Nixon more undies because it turns out he's out grown some of his already, so we're buying some plain white ones so I can iron-on some dinosaurs, since he wants dino undies and we can't find some reasonably priced ones. 

Holy shit y'all....the switch it flipped on!!!!

For a while I've been slowly resigning myself to the fact that Nixon will (a) take his fisher price aquarium mobile to college with him and (b) never potty train. Seriously, he's been more resistant to potty training than I have been to changing my conspiracy theories about Mac's 50-hour typhoon shift. (**cough** shot in the mouth **cough**) Meanwhile, it seems almost every other child I know of who is around Nixon's age has either started training recently or is totally potty trained, making me feel (once again) like a failure as a mother...but honestly it's not that difficult to do. 

So last night, I asked Nixon if he'd like to use the potty like a big boy like daddy does and wear undies like daddy does. 
Nixon said "dinosaur undies?!"
My reply was "Only if you use the potty like a big boy all the time. If you potty all the time, we'll get you dino undies."
Nixon said "Okay mommy, I want dino undies."

Then he got ready for bed and went to sleep.

This morning, after breakfast, I tried reminding Nixon of that claim. It took a few minutes, and a trip to Time Out for throwing a toy at me, but he finally decided to try Pull-Ups. After about 30 minutes of being dry he asked to take them off (cue the celebration for being dry for 30 minutes!!). The first battle was getting him to sit on the potty. I'd turned off the tv so that he didn't get distracted and forget to focus on his body's cues. Well, I moved his potty chair into the living room and turned on the tv and sat him on the potty. He fought me and I had to find a reward that worked for him....stickers? no. new toy? no. big boy undies? no. ice cream?? yes!!! Big boys who pee pee on the potty ALL day get ice cream after dinner!! THIS got Nixon to sit his ass on the potty for 10 minutes until he peed for the first time!! And then he peed again a few minutes later, walking over to his chair backing his behind over to it and sitting down to pee!!! And he did it again 10 minutes after that!!! 
After every pee, big or little, I'd do a little cha cha dance singing "pee pee in the potty, Nixon pee peed in the potty" and give him stickers from a super secret location! 
Nixon napped in a diaper, then we went back to the potty training. He had one accident which he helped Mac clean up and he peed through the Pull Up Mac put him in after he woke up from his nap (I was out running errands). Once I got home, with noise makers for the post-pee celebrations, it was back to naked potty training and he was all good!

Dinner came, he ate next to nothing like he's been doing lately, but he still got his "big boy potty reward" ice cream.  Turns out, Nixon is a lot more like Mac than I give him credit for.....food motivates him too! 

enjoying the well deserved reward of his day

So intent on enjoying that ice cream!

product placement! lol  Nixon dropped a spoonful and was concerned....He's such a Ball!

The journey...its in the planning phase

Two days ago, Nixon came to me and said "momma I potty". I asked if he wanted to sit on the potty, he said "yes". So I put the training seat on the toilet, moved the step stool to in front of the bowl, took off Nixon's pj bottoms (a boxer brief type shorts) and finally the diaper came off. He sat on the potty, and as is becoming our way, I read his Nemo storybook while he sat there. Nothing came out and he finally said "I all done". So trying not to push the issue, I took him off the potty and let him wash his hands. He grabbed his pj bottoms and (with a little help) put them on minus the diaper. I was a little nervous, but since we were getting ready to go out in a bit and then he'd have to get dressed, I let him go. In roughly 10 minutes like that, we had no accident. So its a small step, but its a forward step none-the-less.

Next comes the award box, training wall poster and stickers.

Today, after talking to a friend last night, I took Nixon to go get some big boy undies. The selections were slim, but we made it with 2 packs of boxer briefs and 2 packs of super hero undies. The saddest part, as his mom, was when Nixon saw "Doora" (dora in Nixonese) and kept saying "momma I wan Doora". I had to explain big boy undies are different than big girl undies and since he was a boy he'd get to wear undies like Daddy wears. He seemed okay with it, but still kept whispering "i wan doora" but to his credit, he never threw a fit.
The lack of a fit was what got him a new "Chuck & friends" toy.

It's almost here!!

Potty training that is. I'm in preparation mode. And like other tasks in my life, I may be WAY over-prepping for it. Let's see, I have already the potty chair, but after REALLY looking at the space in my bathroom, I realized it won't work. So, because the chair we bought can be both a chair or a step stool, I went with the step stool and the seat will now go on top of my toilet seat. The seat itself now hangs from a hook on the side of my sink freeing up space in my postage stamp sized bathroom. I've also got a plan for a reward chart outside the bathroom using a large dry-erase board, plus magnets or stickers. To go with that will be a reward box, which we will be stocking up in the next week or so. In the mail are rubber pants, but these ones are super cute boyish looking ones, for when we HAVE to go out. Also on the list of things to-buy: more elastic waist pants and shorts and of course, little boy undies. Thankfully the BX (base exchange..our walmart or target for anyone not familiar with the military) carries toddler undies, so we'll take Nixon and let him "pick" his own. In reality, it'll be 3-4 packs of the choices they have at the time. Nixon's also taken a liking to Mac's watch, so he may get his own watch too, in the reward box.

We'll be taking on the potty training adventure the first week in March. Mac will be home, he's taking 2 weeks leave (vacation) and its as good a time as any. I plan on documenting it as much as possible through videos, photos and of course, my blog. This is, afterall, one of the biggest challenges parents face with children and since we're only doing this once, I plan on doing it right and remembering it all!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled laughter

I realize I've been kind of a downer and a little too serious lately, and I apologize for that. I've learned that getting these things out of my head has been helping me let things go and be happier.

Part of that happiness has led me to FINALLY setting a schedule of sorts for Nixon. Our days start between 8:30-9am, with a cup of coffee for me and milk for Nixon. We watch a couple cartoons, I check emails and then it's breakfast time. After breakfast we color for a bit, play outside depending on the weather, Nixon gets his kneebouncers.com time and snacks. Then its nap time, which lately has been 2-3hour long naps for him. Overall, his temperament has changed. He's not throwing temper tantrums as much, though we still have some of those now and then, he's 2 they happen. Nixon loves walking down to the shoppette. He gets to see trees, birds, airplanes, cars and he gets to practice his stair walking since there's a long staircase we have to walk up and down to get there. Walking with him allows me time to focus on him and seeing how he sees things. Our walk is filled with endless "look it that!" from him.

Yesterday morning during his wakeup diaper change, Nixon was saying "shhh...." and some babble. I finally dropped down right next to his face and asked what he was saying. He said "shhh mommy lub daddy", which translates to "mommy loves daddy" in Nixonese. I'm not sure why he felt this was whisper worthy, but it was cute as hell!

On a final and separate note: potty training is around the corner here in the Wilcox-Ball household. I'm aiming to begin the first of March which, as fate would have it, is when mac put in to take 2 weeks leave. So it'll be the 2 of us helping Nixon figure out the potty. Exciting and scary at the same time. Overwhelming is the main thing that comes to mind when I think of this task. It's the last thing I have that really keeps Nixon my baby. Once he's in underpants he's not my baby he's my little boy. It's sad that its come so fast but its been amazing to see him change from helpless newborn to independent little person.