Monday, February 11, 2013

Poopy Training

Yep, you read that right.  We are talking about poop.  What has this blog come to?  :)  Trevor rocked potty training back in early September but that's all it was.  Pee pee in the potty.

Trevor has always been a nighttime pooper, even when he was a baby.  He didn't go a lot during the day.  Strange but everyone is different!  So after he learned to pee pee in the potty he wore pull-ups at night (or as we called them, 'special cars underwear') and he would often do his poopy business in them at night.  Of course he didn't like it because he'd always come get us to change him right away.  Well we didn't do a lot with this behavior for whatever reason - baby coming, trying to soak up fun time and sleep time, then baby here and had other focus, whatever it may be.  But, the time was here.  Call it Mother's intuition.

Lately he had been holding it in.  Dancing around, crying, squeezing those butt cheeks so hard because he was afraid the poopies would hurt.  We felt so bad.  We read books like 'Everyone poops' so that he knew it was a normal activity for boys and girls, he watched us go, we made a new poopy chart, we bribed with candy to sit on the potty and wait for the poopies to come - which he obliged to until the timer went off.  Finally he was so constipated and his tummy was so distended that Sara brought him to the doctor to see if he had a blockage or something.  Well when Sara told her about Trevor's situation - holding it all day then dancing around and saying he wanted to go to bed (so that he could get his 'special cars underwear on'), she said we needed to go backwards.  Meaning don't talk about it.  Just let him wear his cars underwears all the time and when he had to poop just to go in them.  Do that for a few weeks then say to go in the cars underwears but he had to do so while in the bathroom.  Do that for a few weeks and then say he had to be sitting on the potty while going poop in his cars underwears.  Do that for a few weeks then cut a hole in his cars underwears and remind him tat he had to go poop on the toilet while wearing his cars underwears but the poopies would go in the toilet where they belong.  Once comfortable with that switch to real big boy underwears full-time!  Oh and load him up with a daily dose of Miralax to help clear it out!

Sounded good in theory.  We we were on-board and excited.  Mommy remembers Nana Jeanne asking Trevor what the doctor said about his poopies and Trevor said 'go in my cars underwears.' So that weekend Trevor did just that.  It was just a little at first but at least he was going!  Sara and Brian sent him to school (Petsmart daycare) on Monday in his cars underwears and from what we hear the teacher saw him digging around in his backpack.  He pulled out a pair of his special cars underwear and headed for the bathroom.  Well she intercepted him and said 'no Trevor you have to go on the potty' and he just burst out crying :(  Brian got a call saying that he could wear the pull-ups but would have to go back to the 2 year old classroom because the 3 year old room didn't have the facilities to clean up pull-ups or he could wear underwear and stay in his classroom.  The teacher did take him to the other room to clean up this one but then we put Trevor in underwear the rest of the time.  Can you imagine how confused Trevor was?  He's like wait the doctor said for me to go in my cars underwears.  Ugh.

Moving on to Tuesday.  Sara brought him to preschool in his cars underwear and told the teacher.  She got a concerned look on her face and said we don't really allow those here, the kids need to use the potty (same reason as Petsmart - no where or no one to clean it up).  The teacher said it would be fine this time and Sara said he probably wouldn't go anyway but to call if he did and she’d be there in less than 10 minutes.  Luckily he didn’t go but we seriously needed to rethink our strategy.  The doctor’s way of doing it wasn’t going to work in the real world. 
It was time.  We went back to what worked for the first potty training. We talked about the fact it was time to be done with his special cars underwear.  We picked a date.  We talked about the party  we were going to have.  We made another new poopy chart.  We  were ready!

So we woke up on Friday morning and Trevor was so excited!  We had put up decorations, he got cake for breakfast. 

Santa had written him a note telling him how proud he was of him for starting to go poopy on the potty and that he left some special presents for each time he went.  (Trevor still talks about Christmas and Santa and what presents he wants next year).  He went with Daddy to throw away all his cars underwears and he said he was ready. 
 All day off and on he sat on the potty and waited for the poops to come.  Nothing.  After dinner he was doing his dance but wouldn’t sit on the potty so we tried our financial advisor’s trick that he did with his son.  Daddy took him up to the bathroom and they had a standoff at the potty.  Trevor wasn’t allowed to get up until he went.  Three long hours later he did go a little.  His trick?  Shutting the door and going in peace.  Success!  We celebrated even the little amount!  He did go a little in his underwear at night that night but whatever.  The next day there were a few more standoffs at the potty but he did go each time.  Same thing on Sunday.  The standoffs got shorter and shorter and Trevor was prouder and prouder.  Being able to put stickers on his chart and the presents didn’t hurt either.  Oh, and the fact that if he got this poopy training thing down we said we could go to Mickey’s house again!  By Sunday night he was a pooping pro!  He still wanted us to go with him (or at least outside the door) and then to wipe his butt but whatever!  No more night pooping – woo hoo!!!!  Way to go Trevor!! 

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