Trained: P-to-the-T

Starbeans is 100% potty trained at the age of 2.5. We've been working on it since September, when we allowed him to run wild and free (i.e., naked) for a couple of months. I really think bare-bunning it was the key for us: it made him aware of elimination. When something is dribbling down your leg, it is a lot more obvious that just a warm, wet diaper. Additionally, with no pants on, he was free to run to the potty himself (vs. trying to wrestle his pants down in the midst of needing to go).

So...we went a couple of months with bare buns, mostly because he would revert into peeing and pooping in his pants the second his underwear was on. That, and being at the end of my pregnancy, I couldn't bear the thought of cleaning out any more diapers or underwear. I had HAD it. But once the weather started getting colder at the end of October, we bit the bullet and underwear it was. It only took a few days before he was in the swing of things, and aside from accidents every now and then [they seem to come in phases], we are home-free!

He has been in underwear for naps the last 3 months, and more impressively, underwear during the night for the last several weeks. I had kept him in a Night Diaper up until that point even though he was waking up dry for months, mostly because I was afraid of the What IF??

Our method:

• Bare buns.
• Constantly (like, every 15 minutes) asking, "Do you have to go potty?" or "Do you have to go poopy?"
• Watching the signs.
• Keeping the potty-chair in the living room, not the bathroom: this is where we are most of the day.
• Bringing the potty-chair with us everywhere: and I mean everywhere. If we're going to be inside for a short time, I'll leave it in the van. Otherwise, that baby is coming in with us.
• Bringing an extra pair of pants, underwear, & socks with us everywhere.
• And...actually...wearing socks and his Robeez shoes actually decreases the clean-up if/when he pees in his pants: anything that dribbles down his legs usually gets sponged up.