Mission Complete
Greetings to everyone.
When does the training end? That's the million dollar question. When can parents let their guards down?
Xavier is doing fantastic with the potty. He uses his little potty exclusively now when at home. He disappears down the hall, then reappears a short time later, his business complete. He sometimes closes his door.
I haven't seen a diaper in two weeks! Not even a pull-up. We've had only three accidents, two early morning and one after a nap. All of them peeing accidents.
The first happened in the morning. Xavier woke up and informed me his pants were wet. As we changed him, we explained to him what happened; he seemed to understand.
The next accident I consider a parental fail. He got up from his nap and wanted to go immediately outside to "move dirt" (that's Xavier-speak for playing in the dirt with his dozer and backhoe toys). Dad suggested "Xavier, you should sit on the potty first." "No, Daddy, no tickle"
We weren't outside more than two minutes. Back in the house to clean up and get a dry set of clothes.
The third time was similar to the first. Xavier had a hard night. In fact we all were up or awake most of the night. In the morning, we let Xavier sleep long. About 8:30 he called out "Daddy." Yep, he was wet.
I got him to his room (he was sleeping with us in the master bed) and sat him on his potty while I pulled off his wet clothes. As he sat on the potty, he finished draining this bladder. Exciting! He had caught himself wetting his pants and bed, then managed to stop and call Daddy in to help. He had a lot more pee to let out. In fact, it was (in Xavier's words) "a big pee."
We learned from this accident not to let Xavier go more than 12 hours between pee breaks.
I should mention at this point that Xavier has not been wearing his "sleeping pants" (aka a pull-up) at night or for naps. After the third day of training, he refused them. "I don't want sleep pants" when being polite, or "No sleep pants!" when copping an attitude. He is the Commando Boy.
We have a portable potty seat for traveling. In fact, we have something like a diaper bag, only this is for mobile potty. It contains a seat insert, change of clothes and wipes. Xavier is a pro at using the insert.
Now, whenever we enter a store, the first thing we look for are the locations of the public restrooms.
At home, Xavier goes to the potty on his own, often without announcing it. He cleans his potty by carrying it across the hall and dumping it in the toilet. He often pulls out his stepping stool and washes his hands. He has even surprised us by using wipes to clean up his little behind. After he finishes his "number two," he (with some effort and agility) gets the box of wipes from his changing table. He even tosses the used wipe into the diaper pail.
(Why not keep the wipes at his level and near his potty all the time? you might ask. Well, Xavier would then use those wipes all the time. He would pull one from the box and do who-knows-what with it. Then, he would go back and get another. So, the wipes stay on his changing table for now)
Both Rebecca and I have relaxed a bit. We don't press Xavier about needing to go as much. When he tells us he doesn't need to use the potty, we believe him—he has earned our trust by showing he knows his body and can handle it. He's very good about telling us he needs to use the potty when we are away from home.
At this point, I would declare Xavier potty trained with two weeks experience. But when can our guards be let down entirely? When does the training truly end? Perhaps when we no longer ask Xavier "Does your butt tickle?"