if there is one thing that we have worked diligently on this year, it is potty training.
all in all, i would say that it has gone pretty smoothly. i mean, there was the time that jackson pooped on my office floor right as a client was pulling in the driveway. or the time that we were moving furniture and discovered a little surprise inside the ottoman. and i can’t tell you how many times puddles of pee have been covered with books.
but we stayed on top of it, and we drilled the idea of using the potty into jackson’s mind. so much so, that he started inadvertently singing about it in his songs. i bet you’ve never heard this verse before.
we quickly learned that a little incentive can go a long way. in other words, treats. if jackson went to the potty, he received some candy. and while we tried several different types of treats, the favorite was easily jelly beans. as you may have figured, seeing jackson receive jelly beans for using the potty made emerson want to join in on the action. that little dude can muster up a trip to the bathroom if there is candy involved. and since they earned jelly beans for going to pee, emerson cleverly renamed them “go-pees”. and it stuck. even now, both of the boys still call jelly beans “go-pees”.
jackson’s biggest tactic is playing the poop card. he likes to save it until just the right time, which is usually when we are trying to get him in bed. in an effort to stay up even later, he waits until he is completely tucked in and says, “hey dust, i think i need to go poo-poo.” every single night. without fail.
so we head to the bathroom, he picks out a magazine, and i wait patiently. when he finishes, i usually hear something like this, “i pooped a big time”, followed by, “let’s take a picture and show kell.” and yes, at any given time, you could probably pick up my phone and find some photos of my child’s poop. now before you jump to any conclusions, i will say that we do this so that kelly can share in his celebration on the nights that she is working. he gets so excited and wants to call her and show her his big accomplishment.
sure, some of these tactics may be a little strange, but they have worked, and we can proudly say that jackson is now fully potty trained. and with emerson just around the corner, hopefully we can use what we have learned. one word: “go-pees”.