M&M's, Gummy Bears and Suckers, Oh My!

The Goods: Success Chart, Sweet Treats, and The Chosen Big Boy Underwear

This is the what the jar looked like on day one...and joyfully it's almost empty which means we are at what I would say is the end of "potty training." Hallelujah!! I can't begin to tell you how much I DREADED potty training Luke. It's a bit of an understatement to say he is strong willed (all of which he gets from me, any laid backness is total Ross), so I just knew this would be a battle of the ages. Originally, long ago, I told myself I would not have two in diapers. But once I got pregnant, and then it was the heat of the summer, and I was oh so tired and oh so hot, I passed. I enjoyed my last few months of getting to take naps and having my only child around. Plus, I had heard they could regress after a sibling was born, so I put it off.
Then I put it off until after the holidays and buzz of all that died down. Well, I've learned the "buzz" doesn't die down, because we've been going full force since Jan. 1. So, Luke turned 3, and I had enough dirty 3 year old pull-ups. It was time. We picked the week with no activities and no visitors or going out of town and I made my plan of attack. I won't lie and said I didn't read two books, countless web posts and talked to many a friends on their methods, but I just combined a little bit of everything into my madness and took the plunge. And what do you know, we survived! It took us about 3 days of constant motivation, timers going off, candy galore, and reading books (and singing songs with his new CD player), and lots of Diet Dr. Peppers for me, but I can say Luke is potty trained!! It's wonderful and I'm so proud of him. He really only showed resistance a couple of times, it was more reminding him to go, but now he will go on his own, and most of the time he tells me he's going "by myself!". He still gets a "prize" for each time he goes, and a sucker for going #2, so I don't really know when that ends, but I'm fine with a few m&m's a day to avoid changing pull-ups (or buying them)! He's only had one accident while "out" of the house at church, but I attribute that to being there 3 hours and getting preoccupied with having fun. He has even stayed dry a few times during naps and bedtime, but I'm still not ready to try night-time training yet. It does give me hope I can get him there before long.
Some funny sayings I've heard from him are:
"Poo-poo, get in that potty right now!"; "I can't go, the shark ate my poo-poo."; "I'll push the button to go tee-tee."; "It's a space ship" - no explaining, you can imagine.
It's just another reminder of how big he is getting, but he really did a great job, and for him (and me), I'm glad we waited. Somehow I think this was our window of opportunity and we hopped in at just the right time! Yay Luke!!

Strutting his stuff in his favorite underoo's: WALL-E,
but he also loves those Spiderman undies too!