Ash Man - Potty Genius

We have an inside joke around here...

Friends and family like to say that the week I was sick was the week Asher became a man.

Matt says that Asher hadn't ever been told "no" before that week.

Which is a LIE.

Or, at least an exageration.

Anyway, he did a lot of growing up in a big hurry as a result of daddy being his primary caregiver.

By Wednesday evening he was telling me he was a big boy when he came to give me loves goodnight. This was a big first. Previously he'd only claimed to be a baby. My fault, as I call him baby, tell him he's my baby, etc.

I know that's not a good thing - but I couldn't help it!

Thursday afternoon (after the tooth pull) I was back in my right mind and saw a big opportunity - so I started working on Matt about potty training.

I asked if he'd start the process for me. Asher was obviously responding a lot better to him about being a big boy than he ever had for me - it seemed like a good idea to strike while the iron was hot. It only took a little bit of whining for Matt to agree.

They started on Friday.

I never knew potty training could be so easy.

I have only two past experiences to compare it to - Tessa and my little brother Joey.

Asher is a potty GENIUS.

No joke.

He potty trained like a champ. He was a potty prodigy.

Daddy worked with him all alone on Friday. Introduced the idea to him, reminded him to go, etc, It was all one on one on Friday.

Saturday Matt did about 75% of the potty watch. Sunday I was much more involved. Monday Matt went back to work and it was all me.

By that point, Ash was practically DONE training.

He had very few accidents (maybe 5 in the first 2 weeks combined?) and remembered to go all on his own most of the time.

It's been over a month now and he's had fewer than 10 accidents total - most of them on his way to the toilet. He wears a pullup at naptime, but it's dry 99% of the time when he wakes up. He wears a diaper to bed, but it's dry when he wakes up a good 95% of the time. It's amazing.

I think we'll switch to underwear at naptime and bedtime once we're out of pullups and diapers.

The first time he pooped in the potty he earned a tonka truck we'd bought and put aside for training. He still calls it his "poop truck" - which really tends to frighten visitors.

Since then, we give him a coin when he poops and he puts it in a piggy bank in his room.

The reward that really got him going, though, was just being told how proud we were of him. It was so cute - he'd go potty and say "you're so PWOUD of me!"

Potty training is (was), in my opinion, the worst job a parent had to do.

Not so with Asher.

My big-boy-potty-genius :)