Potty Training, Day 2

I geared up for the next 5 days by stocking up on treats and two packages of underwear with Thomas the Train and Mickey Mouse. Since James is a fan of both, I figured he would at least choose one.

Wrong. He wanted nothing to do with the underwear. I had placed both packages and the m&M's in his toilet, so when he came home, he would see all, and hopefully put two and two together. He quickly tossed the underwear aside, protesting heavily, and decided he just wanted to sit on his toilet while playing Angry Birds on the toilet.

I let him do that, nursed Catherine and made supper. James, once again, sat on the toilet for inordinant amounts of time tonight, fully clothed. A couple of times I quizzed him: "Is that YOUR toilet, James?" To which he replies, "Yes!" And each time he got up and played, after awhile, I asked him to sit on the toilet again. Each time, he did. Each time, he got an M&M.

So tonight was bath night, and afterward, I tried to throw on the underwear. Nope, didn't want to do that. He was very fidgety, and I could tell that he probably had to go to the bathroom, but didnt want to out a diaper on him. So I brought the toilet up to his room, Eric following close behind with the M&M's. We sat there while I read him book, after book... after book....... after book. And I quizzed him in between books. "What do we do in the toilet?" "I PEE!"

I think its pretty obvious that he gets it. But it was a half hour after bedtime, and I was convinced it wasn't going to happen. So I started suggesting 'night night.' So James got up and as I was about to grab a diaper, he began to pee.

I may be old, but still have cat-like reflexes and caught it almost immediately. I grabbed the actual bowl off the toilet and he contained to pee into it. And peed, and peed... and peed!

I celebrated harder than I did New Years Eve, circa 1999 when I ended up in bed before the clock even struck midnight. I jumped around, scooped him up, hugged and kissed him, and gave him high-fives. Then we walked to the bathroom together and dumped the bowl in the toilet, where we celebrated some more. Then I let him use his step stool to help me rinse it out. James might be a turd (haha) sometimes, but the kid is helpful as hell.

Then I let him carry the bowl back to the toilet in his room, and he celebrated some more. Each time, he would clap his hands together and say, "Yay! I pee!"

Then came the challenge of how to explain to him that I was about to put a diaper back on, even though he had just peed. So we said our prayers, and James turned off his light. We put him in his crib, and while putting his diaper on, explained that we are only going to wear a diaper at 'night night.' Because he peed in the toilet like a big boy.

To which he responded by clapping his hand and saying, "Yay! I pee!" That, you did, my sweet boy. That you did.