Mr. Robbins and I have talked to Javin about all the w's of going to the toilet. We have been for about a year (starting at age 2 1/2, just in case he was an overachiever).
*who goes pee pee on the potty (all his girlfriends, mommy, daddy & 'big boys')
*what to do and what goes where
*when your body tells you that you have to go...GO
*where pee pee comes from and where poop come from
*why we have to go
We got special potty books, that we only read while sitting on the potty.
He wasn't impressed by the," 'Big Boys' go pee pee on the potty", so we tried Stickers (healthy version of pee pee treat)...to no avail. So I broke down and tried real pee pee treats. Still zilch. Nothing. Nada.
So in July we tried some cool new undies! We went to Walmart and got the totally awesome Disney and Superhero undies. He was super excited to wear them, so we tried Undie Afternoons.
Undie Afternoons: Where 'we' just wear underwear for a few hours in the afternoon while we watch a movie and drink a lot. The potty is close and very accessible.
The first day he peed through the first pair of undies in a matter of minutes. He cried and cried when he couldn't wear them anymore. The second pair, were a little less painful, but still almost inconsolable. By the third pair, I was done for the day and so was he (he requested the diaper). I was also worried that I had single-handedly given my son an aversion to undies and ruined any chance of future potty training.
After that I just took the 'easy' road and didn't pushed. I only complained each time we were out somewhere and had to use one of those ultra mini-sized diaper changing station. I'd try to make it as uncomfortable as possible for him, it wasn't difficult, his legs already hung off the edge. Those things weren't made for tall 3 year-olds. I've been done with changing poopy diapers for a long time now. Doing nothing for months had brought about...nothing. I was also sick of hearing, "He'll let you know when he's ready" or "He won't graduated high school in diapers". I know the nice ladies in the JoAnn's restroom meant well, but I mostly wanted to choke them (I know, a little morbid).
So...a month after Javin's third birthday (October) I became motivated again. Under Afternoons on steroids and sans undies! I think, for my son, the tighty-whities felt too much like a diaper...so I'm putting them on hold until we get the peeing down pat.
On October 23rd I gave Javin his usual diluted apple juice and we sat down for the long haul. He was going to go pee on the potty. I told him once he goes potty we could go to DI and get a new race car, that might not sound like much to you, but it worked!! He peed and it was great (see below).
More peeing and #2 to come...
