Potty Training Manual (or What worked fer Us)

I'm so proud of my little boy! And I hope that I'm not speaking too soon here, but Drew has made leaps and bounds in the potty training department. We've spear headed the whole issue here in the last month, meaning mommy just got tough and trained herself, and we've had a lot of progress. Today, while I was on the phone (yes, there is significance in that) he ran to the bathroom all by himself, got right up on the toilet and went pee! Yeah! Just in case your curious, this is what we've been doing. The first couple of days I let him go sans diaper or pull-up, just undies. As you might imagine, we had a lot of wet undies and pants, and he had to take them off and deal with them himself. If there was a puddle, he had to clean it up. I was getting a little wiser too, so I started setting the timer every half hour and taking himto the bathroom when it went off. In the bathroom, he was allowed to get off the potty after he went pee or poo (this seemed to be pivotal step.) Once he did go, not only was he really pleased with himself, but so was I, and I made sure he knew it! That was another important thing, I made sure I was positive and encouraging about every issue here. When he wet his pants, I was calm and just explained that he could avoid this if he'd go in the toilet. When he wanted to get off the potty (not having gone yet,) I'd just say, "You CAN get off, after you go pee." instead of "you CAN'T get off until you go pee." We also have a rewards system. He gets a sticker on his sticker chart every time he goes, and once it is full, he gets a big present. To encourage pooping, he gets a little football helmet everytime he goes on the potty. So far this method has really been working for us. Thank the Lord, because I was about to lose my mind.

He's not perfect yet, but he's getting it!