return of potty training

In the dinner post I mentioned that Ben is trying to potty train.

as if talking about potty training isn't TMI enough...

He asked to pee in the potty daily and would take his diaper off to do so before we moved from Bamburi. I didn't start working with him then for 2 reasons. 1) I didn't think he was actually ready yet. He was 18 months old and was still going a tiny bit every 10-15 minutes. 2) I was fairly certain he would regress after the move. Still, I let him go in the potty when he asked.

After we moved, he did lose interest. Recently, he started wanting to potty train again. He told me he didn't want to wear a diaper, he wanted to stay naked, or he wanted to wear undies. We have mostly cement floors. Penny does laundry daily, so wet clothes would get washed right away with the diapers. I'm not that concerned about having to clean up pee. I let him do as he wanted because it was easier. He was happy. And hey, he's kind of training himself.

With Nate, I read blogs, parenting websites, helpful potty training hints and tips, etc. It's one of those (aren't they all?) parenting topics which, no matter how you do it, you're doing it wrong. Expert advice is conflicting, just look at all of these methods. This one says, "Give treats for motivation!" That one says, "Treats will ruin your child!" This one says, "If your kid is resistant to training, they may not be ready yet. Give it a rest and try again in a month or two." That one says, "Work through the resistance." This one says, "The average child takes 10 months to toilet train." That one says, "You can potty train your child in 1 day if you do it right." It's all so helpful. (But I did find this history rather interesting.) I saw "the best method" for potty training on Pinterest. It looked like so much work. Basically living in the bathroom for 3 days with the kid, with all kinds of supplies, rewards, stuff... Not for me.

Anyway, back to my "let Ben do what he wants" method. For 1 week, he was about half in diapers and half not. He was peeing less frequently, though. He could go for an hour without needing to. Last week,  he really only wore diapers away from home and in bed. Friday and Saturday, we still put diapers on him to leave the house, but he stayed dry every time! Yesterday, he didn't wear a diaper at all. I put a pair of good water-proof training pants on him when we were out, just in case. And he stayed dry! I am so impressed. He is doing great with #1.

However, he has yet to poop on the potty. At least he doesn't freak out about sitting on the potty anymore, but he will not poop there. We've pretty much got #1 down. On to #2.