The Perils of Potty Training

"Mommy, I have poopy on my foot."

I met this announcement with a blank stare, hoping I seriously misheard the Monkey.

"I have poopy on my foot - see..."

Oh, Lord! He does have poopy on his foot. On the bottom of his foot, no less. Which means it is also probably smeared across my living room carpet. Great....

I cleaned off his foot, his little chair, and the one spot on the carpet I could find.

Blech! On the other hand....

Hallelujah, the Monkey is potty training!

Not that he is late by any means. In fact, he is the earliest of all our boys.

 Cookie Boy was notable for refusing to potty train until age 4. He would look at us with his big brown eyes whenever we broached the subject of "big boy underwear", and say in his solemn, Cookie Boy-way, "I will do it when I am four". So the day he turned four (and believe me, we thought seriously about moving his birthday forward that year), we told him. "Happy birthday!", and handed him a package of underwear. He has always been practical, so he just shrugged his shoulders, put the underwear on, and went to use toilet!

The Monkey has been telling us every time he pees in his diaper for months now. So, physically, he is ready. Reluctant, but ready. We bought a potty about six months ago. It has been a nice addition to the living room, but not much else.

I was waiting until summer, when life settled down a bit (ha ha haaaa haaaa).

I forgot a few things about potty training, like how much energy it actually takes. I mean, I am thrilled he has gone pee-pee in the potty ten times today, but that means that ten times today I have had to stop what I am doing (eating a meal, folding laundry, writing, doing dishes, etc...) to go look at the pee-pee and wash hands.

A minor inconvenience, to be sure, but one that had slipped my mind.

In order to motivate the Monkey, which really did not want to start this whole process, we offered two things:
1) a marshmallow every time he goes #1
2) a sticker for every #2, which can be redeemed for a prize every three stickers.

This system is working quite well. We had been offering these things for a couple of months, but the Monkey was not biting. He kept choosing the diaper over treats and toys. Removing the diapers from the premises kind of leaves him little option!

The Monkey is trading his three stickers in for cars from Pixar's Cars.

We started with one....

then two....

then three...

and here we are now....

Progress!

Next stop - big boy underpants!