Monday, June 30, 2008

While we are waiting...

We are hoping to have the Design team figured out by Monday of next week, but while we wait I thought we would take a break....... a potty break!

A while back I blogged about my dear Jack who refused everything to do with the potty. Lots of you faithful blog readers gave me great tips and advice and I am happy to report that Jack is now fully potty trained!!

How did we do this? Funny you should ask. As I said before, I had tried everything to "incentivize" that child: treats, sticker charts, toys, bribes. Lindsay (his hero) had even promised to take him on a lunch date if he used the potty. None of this worked.

But what did work was simple. I got a treat jar. I told all the kids (I have four you know) that whenever they used the bathroom they could get a treat from the jar. At first Jack was unphased. It wasn't too hard for him to watch Ethan and Kate get a treat. But when his sister Abby (sibling closest to his age, and his biggest rival for attention) was getting candy and he wasn't it became too much for him. He was on the potty by early afternoon. The candy ran out and we haven't needed to replace it. He is now repulsed by the idea of wearing a diaper!

HALLELUJIAH!

12 comments:

holly* said...

congratulations on the potty training triumph!

i'm about to take a stroll stroll down that road with my toddler. i'm scared. i wonder if i can use the "treat jar" technique. of course, atm my son is an only child and mommy and daddy would be the only ones getting the treats. i dont know that he would get it...

Julie said...

hollystar,

For my other three kids, I simply gave them lots of juice, popsicles, etc. until I was sure their little bladder was full. Then I sat them on the potty, put a tub of warm water with little bath toys to play with at their feet and voile, they would pee. It would only take a few times with the toys for them to get the idea and I would reward with a sticker chart.

Natasja Cats - Verbeek said...

O I so share your joy!! My little Noa is completely potty trained since just a week or two!

wahoooo :D

Amy Wing said...

Only a mother anxiously awaiting potty training (or remembering anxiously awaiting...) can understand the gravity of this delicious news!

My 19-month-old is showing a LOT of signs of readiness, including telling me (at times) that she has to go pee-pee. So what's my issue? This little one is quite spirited, and I've learned that getting attached to the idea of her doing anything on MY schedule is futile, so I'm actually SCARED to try to have her do a full-training-weekend thing that's been recommended to me by so many! She loves the reward of a sticker on her hand, though, and she loves to flush the potty. She wants to flush even when she hasn't put anything IN the potty! :D

Congrats to you and Jack!

Beverley Todd said...

Sooooo glad I won't be going there again! LOL.
DS4 (yup! I have 4 too!!) is 4 1/2 now, so all that is safely behind me.
Looking forward to seeing who makes the team ... Good luck to you all!

Nicole Lund said...

I'm in the middle of zero sucsess with our just-turned-three-year old. He's the youngest of five and I had no problems at all the first four. I'm excited for you, and I'm going to get a treat jar ready tonight!

Julie said...

nicole,

Good luck! I hope it works for you too.

Julie said...
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Monica Jo said...

OH Julie, Congrats to you and Jack. I also have 4 children, all boys. My youngest was by far the hardest to train too. We ended up having to take away his FAVORITE things in the world....Granny and Grandpa. It only took a couple days and he was going potty. Until then we tried everything we could think of. But to be honest, as hard as it was for him to not see his Grands for a couple days I think it was harder on them heehee.

Lulu said...
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Lulu said...

My 3.5 yr old is still not fully trained... sigh.

Sure he'll use the potty, but he has no problem peeing on the floor and dancing in the puddle.. sigh. I should try a treat jar!!

Tina said...

Yay for you and Jack!! I have been immensely lucky in this department as all four of my boys pretty much did it themselves by before they were 2 1/2. Yes. I do know how lucky that is. The youngest just figured since the others could all go standing up, so could he...lucky for me he is tall and can reach! Unfortuantely, we still have to work on aim. So far in this house I am the only one with a perfect shot :)