Dear Dash: Potty Training

Dear Dash,

When you were around 22 months, you showed interest in going potty. We excitedly pulled our our mini potty for you to sit on and you successfully peed in it! You would go once a day on your potty for about a month. Then you stopped caring. We figured it was a little early for you to potty train anyway, so we let it go.

Then, the April after you turned two years old, we decided to try again. We took advantage of the fact that we would have to sit for hours to watch General Conference over the weekend. We did the 3 days naked method where you were just naked and sitting on your little potty most of the time. You did great! You earned lots of treats and really seemed to understand what was going on. We bought more prizes- like mini construction vehicles and sesame street characters for you to earn. You earned them all in two weeks. We invested in more training pants, step-stools so you could sit on the big potty, and candy prizes. You were doing so great until the prizes ran out. Then you stopped caring again. We battled it out until we hit almost the month mark from starting potty training, and I gave up. You just weren't ready. Looking back I wish we hadn't tried, but once you were back in diapers you felt better.

Then you went through a poop smearing stage and we had to duct tape your diapers shut. So we weren't going to let you have any opportunity to take those off by trying to potty train again. When you went to preschool, they tried a little bit with you but you just didn't seem to care.

I wanted to hold off potty training until you were 3 1/2, but Daddy wanted to try again after you turned 3. We had continually been inviting you to sit on the potty (especially when we knew when you were pooping). Whenever you pooped, you always wanted "pribacy" so you would go to the reading room or your bedroom and play by yourself for 10-15 minutes. It was like the one time Daddy and I could get things done so we honestly didn't try that hard to dissuade you from taking your breaks.

Anyway, you showed interest in wearing underwear about a week after your third birthday, so I jumped on the chance. And you did great! The nice thing about potty training again was that we already had everything. We stuck to just giving you small treats every time you went. The only extra thing we bought was more underwear (you chose PJ Max underwear and you've only seen the show once). It's been over a week now and the process has been so much easier in contrast. Yes, you've had a few accidents, but for the most part you are really good about going on the potty. We have you stand for the most part, and putting cheerios in the toilet for target practice was fun for a few days. Then you insisted you could aim without them so we haven't used them since. You also have taken more initiative in dressing yourself (pulling up/down your underwear and pants, putting your socks on, etc).

Surprisingly, you also seem to have night time potty trained. You've only had two wet diapers since starting potty training. We're still hanging onto our remaining diapers just in case, but we didn't expect that to happen so soon! You were so proud when we returned a box of pull-ups to Sam's Club because you were a "big kid" and didn't need them anymore.

I just want to say, thanks for making it easy this time round. It was probably my fault anyway for jumping the gun last April. But once you were ready, it was a breeze. I'm so happy with how responsible you've been to let us know when you need to go. You've also done great as we've run errands and visited places, like the zoo. I couldn't be prouder of you! 

Rhetorically,
Rebekah