Big Boy Bootcamp

Eli is showing off his big boy underwear. Oddly enough, he has been dragging around his favorite 'night-night' with him since we began potty-training. Something he never used to do. There were a few tears... but not over using the potty. Just because Ethan likes to tease.

And we put up our Christmas decorations on Friday. Ethan was a big help this year!

And Tyce just sat around and watched all this happen!

Thanksgiving weekend was the perfect time to potty train Eli... or should I say take him through bootcamp. I didn't potty train Ethan until he was 3, so I wasn't going to start trying with Eli for a long time. But then my friend told me about a 3-day program and I figured Eli could do it. I almost tried the week before I had Tyce but decided to wait until Thanksgiving so Tom would be home to help.

Here's how it went:
Day 1-

Throw all the diapers away and put on big boy underwear. Eli couldn't care less that his diapers were gone. Give him lots of juice and remind him all day long to tell you if he needs to go potty. It started off with an accident, but then he caught on and went 4 or 5 times in a row! Keep him near you at all times and don't leave the house... another accident when Tom and I were talking and Eli wandered away and... pooped. The worst kind of accident to clean up. Yuck. Remain calm and praise, praise, praise. Eli had an accident during naptime so he didn't end up sleeping. But overall, he made it to the toilet probably 75% of the time. He also had an accident that night- this was the part I was nervous about- he wakes up very wet every morning.

Day 2-

Really starting to wonder if we should do this. Even though Eli is catching on, there is still naptime and bedtime that I'm not sure if he can stay dry or call out for us to help. But... Eli went all day without an accident! He did fantastic and even took a 3 hour nap and woke up dry! Wow! Such progress! He almost made it the whole night but peed the bed around 6am, but Tom ran him to the bathroom and he finished there.

Day 3-

Woke Eli up around 9:30am and he was still dry. Almost feels like he has been doing this for a long time. He tells us as he is running to the bathroom and could do most of it by himself. I'm sure there will be some accidents (especially cause he is hesitant to go #2) but he has it down. We might even get brave and go to church today even though the program is to stay home for 3 days. Good job Eli! Such a big boy!