Potty Training boot camp is in session

I know I say "I Read Every Baby Book- So You Don't Have To," but I haven't read them all.  It's an ongoing process.  Today I read one that was new to me.  It was about potty training your child in less than a day.  I took some tips away from it but basically it is common sense, just like most parenting books, the problem is, most of the time we don't do what we know we should do.

It's a common thread, I've noticed, among my mom friends.  Most of us know how we should parent, it's just too tiring to follow through sometimes.

That's how I've been approaching the potty training up to this point.  I want to get Harold potty trained, but I've been giving it only about half the effort necessary.  I know this.

So, with my three older boys at Grandma and Grandpa camp for three and a half days, I am putting on my drill sergeant's hat, I mean my determined mom hat, and getting serious about the potty.   I want the diapers out of my house.

So, the process goes like this...

Harold wakes up- 4:19 a.m.  I make him go back to bed and fight the good fight until 5:00, when I get him out of bed.  Then, I rub my eyes, take off his pjs and tell him it's time to go potty.

He fights a little, but does the deed.  He spend the rest of the day in "undies" and we make lots of tracks on the carpet and, luckily mostly wooden floors, back and forth to the bathroom.  Every 15 minutes or so.  Unfortunately, he only pees a little each time and usually pees more on the floor a few minutes after a trip to the potty. 

We had no fewer than 5 puddles of various sizes before nap time, but lots of small successes as well.

After nap and a VERY grouchy waking, Harold makes a good trip to the potty and seems quite proud of himself.  With every success, there is a LOT of praising.  I'm so proud, he should be proud, Grandma will be so proud, Aunt Annie will be so proud, his brothers will be so proud, etc...

I had to fold the two loads of laundry I'd done, so I put disposable training pants on him, over his undies.  Luckily, he did not pee in them.

I'm waiting for the number two to drop.  We'll see what happens.  Every time I ask him if he needs to go potty he says, "NO."  When I say, "It's time to go potty," sometimes he goes willingly and sometimes he does not.  It's hard to know whether to force it or not.  I'm not giving up, yet.  It's less than an hour to bedtime.  We'll start again in the morning.