A green one, and a yellow one

Skittles, that is! We have a BIG BOY at our house now, and his favorite reward for going pee-pee in the potty is Skittles! He'll do his business, and then say "me have Skittles now?" I take him to the kitchen for his reward, and he politely requests, "a green one, and a yellow one, peese."

We started potty training last Monday. It was one LONG week, but so worth it. We started to get cabin fever by the end of the week, but I think I kinda liked having an excuse to just stay in, and not get dressed til late afternoon. I'd been reading the 3 Day Potty Training Method for about a month. One of my blogging friends had done it with her little boy, and it sounded like a great method. I knew as soon as our summer vacations were wrapped up, we were going to just do it! I'd shared the 3 Day info with one of my good friends, Kelsey, and it worked like a charm for her little girl. It was just the push of encouragement I needed, to know that it worked for them. So, Barrett and I headed to Walmart to stock up on a few necessary items (LOTS of underwear, candy and gift rewards, laundry detergent, high fiber foods, and beverages),  and then got right to work!

We started out Monday morning by getting all of the diapers in the house and throwing them away! Even the ones hidden in the diaper bag in the closet, and the ones in Mommy's purse. We put them all into a grocery bag, and Barrett threw them into the kitchen trash. He said "bye-bye diapers." *I of course went back and dug them out later that day, while he was napping. There weren't very many, but I didn't want them to go to waste. I will give them to a friend.

After that, we got out all the new "big boy underwear" that we'd bought, and looked at each one, getting really excited about the characters on them. His favorite pair, from the beginning, was Lightning McQueen. He's never seen the movie, but for some reason still LOVES Lightning McQueen. This worked well for me, because he DID NOT want to get Lightning McQueen wet. We talked about keeping our underwear dry, and making sure to tell Mommy if he needed to go potty. Then, I just started giving him all kinds of beverages, so we had plenty of opportunities to go.

For the first day, I did no photography work,  and was only on the internet a few times to check client emails. We played together all day, making sure that I never let him out of my sight. The key to the 3 Day Method is to catch them in the act of having an accident, so you can get them right to the potty. You don't just take them to the potty every 20 minutes, and force them to try and go. You TRAIN them to get that "I've got to go" sensation, and run to the potty. It clicked with Barrett in no time. He would holler out "me go potty," and we would run to the potty. For the first day, his underwear were getting a little wet on the way to the potty, because he was still learning the control part, but for the most part, it went smoothly. I made sure to celebrate BIG every time he went in the potty, and of course he would get a Skittle!

On day two, he woke up dry from his 3 hour nap, so he got to open a special surprise from Mommy and Daddy. He was soo excited! 

I got very tired of saying "be sure to tell Mommy if you have to go potty" during those three days, but it was worth it. By day three, he was waking up from naps and bedtime DRY. Since then, we've gone out of the house a few times...to the grocery store, and today for lunch with Gigi. He stayed dry, so we'll slowly keep trying new places. We have yet to go somewhere long enough that he'll need to use a strange bathroom. I'm nervous for that day! We are still working on the #2 in the potty, but that will come soon.

I am so proud of my little man! I think he was probably ready for this a long time ago, but Mommy just wasn't quite ready :) I'm VERY happy that we won't be buying diapers or pull-ups for quite some time! I told Barrett that Mommy and Daddy could go out to a nice dinner at least twice a month, with the money we'll save on diapers! 

 I won't show a picture of him on the potty...but this one is just too cute not to share!

He looks so proud of himself!!

If you're planning to potty train soon, I would highly recommend the 3 Day Method. I purchased the E-Book, and it came with free mentoring and one-on-one coaching. I didn't really need to use that, but it was nice to know it was there.