We Did It!

We did it! Ethan is now potty trained!

I can't thank you guys enough for all the wonderful, helpful comments that you left giving me advice. I ate it up!

Wanna know how we did it? Well, the day that I posted asking for help we took a little break. Both he and I needed it. Here's what we did from here on out:

Day 1: He was back in big boy panties (this is what Justin calls them) and I basically just left it completely in Ethan's hands. I would ask him every 30 min or so if he needed to go and he would of course say no so then I would remind him that if he needs to go potty to tell mommy. He got the hang of it pretty fast and after two accidents, he started to tell me before he would go. After that he only had a 1/2 an accident. This is where he started to go, held it, and told me he needed to go.
If he had an accident, I would still run him to the potty so he could realize what it was that he was suppose to do. We tried to never made Ethan feel bad for his accidents though. We just said "Yucky!" and put him right on the potty. But Ethan always had to help me clean up the mess afterwards though :)

Day 2: 1.5 accidents

Day 3 & 4 (yesterday): Accident Free! I decided to test the waters a little bit and take him over to friends houses, the park, etc. and he would still tell me when he needed to go! I am SO proud of our little buddy!

What I've learned:
-My child has a bladder of steel. This kid can hold it for like 3 or 4 hours! It's really funny to see him dancing all over the house when it's time to go.
-He is a pretty stubborn child. I can ask him if he needs to go potty when I see him doing the "dance" but he will always say no and then 2 seconds later say "Mommy! I go potty!" while he runs to the bathroom. This is normal I suppose :)
-Ethan is very independent. I guess I didn't really realize it until now. All he needed was for me to trust him and give him some independence and decision making ability in this whole potty training thing.
-When he passes gas, it smells so much worse with underwear on. I guess diapers filtered the smell before..
- Ethan didn't need to be bribed with treats. I just didnt offer and he never asked. He was too interested in getting back to doing whatever it was that he was doing before that he just didn't even worry about it. But at the end of the day I do tell him how proud I am of him for going potty and give him some chocolate milk. I'm pretty sure he thinks he is in heaven!
-He pees and poops SUPER fast. Once he sits down on the potty, he is done in like 5 seconds with everything. Again, I think he is just interested in getting back to playing with toys that he wants to make it as quick as he can!
-It really helps to spend to the extra money on character underwear. We bought Ethan some cool Buzz Lightyear, Cars, Finding Nemo & Wall-e underwear and he loves them! When he would have an accident, he would say "Oh, oh no... I peed out. Wall-e so sad." He didn't like making his cool underwear all wet.
- I think it's so funny to hear him playing with his toys and talking to them about going potty and how proud he is of them for going. I crack up everytime!

I still have him in diapers during nap and night times though. He wakes up dry from his naps but I know the one time I leave him in underwear, he'll pee, and he always wakes up with a soaked diaper in the morning so I've decided to leave the night time potty training for another time, another day. I'm ok only going through one diaper a day and it doesn't seem to mess Ethan up or confuse him at all.

One of my friends (thanks Caroline) gave me a link to one of her friends blog with some good potty training advice as well. You can check it out here. I really liked her ideas but of course just like everything, you take what you like out of it and adapt it to your own child and what works best for them.

I'm so proud of our little buddy! Way to go Ethan!

This is what he spent most of his day doing those first couple of days stuck inside the house. He really does think he is Buzz Lightyear and is therefore able to jump off of anything and everything :) He will come up to me and say "Mommy! Watch!" and then he will show me his "impressive wingspan." This is followed by him saying " Ok, go fly!" I repeat this to him and then he takes off for the couch, climbs to the highest point and says "To infinity, and BEYOND!" while jumping off the couch! I love this kid :)