Meanwhile back at home...

This is what we have been doing... Dragon potty training.  Ugh.  Might as well be training dragons.  We started on Monday August 12th and deemed 100% successful on September 22nd.  Good thing I read "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day"...  6 weeks is pretty close.  Actually, he got down the peeing in about 3 days or so.  The first day was full of apple juice and taking him to the potty every 20-30 minutes.  He didn't do too bad that first day.  The 2nd day was awful.  The 3rd day was significantly better.  He almost had the peeing down by the end of the week.  He would NOT poop on the potty, unless we happened to catch him working on it.  He did #2 a couple of times when we put him on there.  He got to pick out a toy the first time he pooped in the potty, hoping that would be motivation to do it again.  However, for the next 5 weeks, we changed poopy underwear.  It was so frustrating.  Weston got so accustomed to seeing me dump out and swish the underwear in the potty that he started doing that on his own.  There were times when he came to me completely naked, with a guilty look on his face, wanting me to help him clean up.  I said, "Oh no. Where are your underwear?"  "In the trash," he said.  One time he rinsed them out, getting water all over the bathroom, and then threw his underwear in the trash.  I was starting to think that he thought rinsing out his underwear was the standard procedure.  

Next we tried rinsing him off in the cold shower, kindly saying that he was dirty and had to be cleaned off.  He didn't like that at all, but it wasn't enough to keep him from going in his pants again.  Luckily we only had one outing where he went poop in his pants.  I had an errand with Owen, Weston, and Savannah to K-Mart.  I asked as soon as we got there if he needed to go potty.  We had been at the park just before that, so I figured he might need to go.  He said no, even after I asked a couple of times.  I didn't insist that he try to go.  Five to ten minutes later, he had pooped in his pants.  Ugh.  I hadn't brought the diaper bag in, so we headed back out to the car.  I switched Savannah to the stroller and had Owen push her around.  We wheeled Weston in the cart back to the bathroom.  We waited about 10 minutes for the big stall and then got Weston changed.  I talked to him sternly through clenched teeth, expressing my frustration, trying to hold myself together in the public restroom.  Chucked the dirty underwear in the trash on the way out.  Not fun.  

Two days later, he said he needed to go poop.  He went to the potty and did his business and hasn't had an accident since.  I guess he just needed to decide to do it.  He got to pick out another toy.  The first time he picked out a blue dragon from "How to Train Your Dragon" and he wanted another one.  He chose the green one - I think it's named Gronckle?  Weston talks about "my Cronkle".  He hasn't had any problems through the night, and he goes on his own when he wakes up in the morning.  Most of the day he doesn't need help either except for going #2.  Sometimes when we're outside, he takes the liberty of just going wherever he is... he pulled his pants down at the park the other day right in front of other people.  Sigh.... That's Alex's fault for letting him go in the backyard...  

Anyway, I am so happy we have moved past diapers and potty-training for him (hopefully he doesn't have any more accidents...)   

Four down.  One left to go... the end of diapers is in sight.  Potty-training is still one of the worst things ever.

So... there was one day early on in our potty training adventures when I walked in to Weston's room.  There was pee on the floor with his animals all lined up around it... apparently he pulled his pants down and peed on the floor, and then thought that his animals needed "water"...  

"Weston, why did you do that?!" 

"My animals were thirsty."  

Nice...

Thankful for wood floor!  Highly recommended for parents with young kids.