It's about time!!

CAUTION: Toilet story follows...
(It's a happy toilet story but I just wanted you to be forewarned if you're not in the mood.)

We had a little break through at our house!! Jack has been peeing in the toilet for around 2 weeks and doing well. We've still had an accident here and there but essentially on an upward path. However, he had yet to do his #2 business in the toilet. I've been trying not to pressure him or make him feel bad because it's just one of those things that kids will do when they are ready. No amount of coaxing, bribing, and yelling ever made Maxine get it done any quicker. My whole theme this potty training go round was, "Encourage and back off." Every time he soiled his drawers, I'd say, "It's okay, you'll get it next time. Good practice though!" I'd wash the underoos and not say anymore about it.

But today he said he needed to pee and I sat him on the toilet. He made sounds that indicated that he might need to do a #2 as well. I said, "If you need to poo, you could do it now. But if you don't want to, it's no big deal." Merril called and needed some info for work so I left Jack on the john. After a minute or two, Jack starts squealing, "Mom, I did it! I went poo in the toilet!!" So I go running in there and we cheered and celebrated! Merril was still on the phone and congratulated Jack and told him what a big boy he was. Then Jack took off to find Maxine, his biggest toilet achievement fan! She's full of happy faces and great encouragement for him. She's great.

I've felt so much better potty training Jack than I did Maxine. I tried to keep the frustration down and the encouragement up and it seems to have made a huge difference. Too bad for Maxine, she was the guinea pig.