Life with Ollie/Potty Training

We love this boy. Words really can't express how much. He is all boy. He loves to run, wrestle, jump off things, and play anything boy related. He is so loving. Usually he's jumping on you so he can give you a hug. I can't count how many hugs and kisses he gives out to us all in a day. 

Wearing Daddy's hat, he's really into hats right now. It's super cute. 

Riding bikes with Daddy

*We had his first major two year old tantrum in target. You know the in public, screaming, and won't listen. The more you talk, the more they throw their fit. So we got to drag him out screaming. Lots of fun. 

*He'll ask, "Say again?" When he wants you to repeat what you said. 

*He'll say, "Yes me do!" When you tell him he doesn't need to do something.

*My kids love Wreck-it Ralph. We were watching one day and it got over and the credits started to play some upbeat music. Ollie didn't even miss a beat, he looked and me and said, "Mom, dance?"

We both jumped up and started dancing right away. He LOVES to dance to music. LOVES it. We always dance together, it's cute. 

*One day Gabe was saying how boys are like stinky garbage and girls are like pretty unicorns. Ollie came back with girls are dirty cars with dirty hair and boys are pretty cars. We was so proud of himself. Cute boy. 

*He actually doesn't love to be put on the spot. He's very shy and doesn't love to be the center of attention. 

*When he plays he always wants to be the daddy in the game. 

*He'll ask for a bite of your food then lecture you not to eat it all, cause he wants some more. 

*This little man is the funniest little back seat driver. He tells you when you need to stop and get gas, or when you need to slow down, or when you need to drive faster. He'll tell you the light's color and what to do. 

*We are curious to see what hand will be his dominant hand. When we was younger he used his left a lot, then lately his right a lot. Now he switches back and forth in everything he does. 

*He knows that 2:00 is snack time, so he always tells me it's 2 so he can have a snack. Or he asks me to see what time it is. 

*Gabe: Ollie did you toot?

Ollie: No, no toot. Just my bum.

*At lunch time he goes, "Mom more milk please?"

"No buddy."

"Why?"

"We need to save some for other things."

"Other things? What things?"

"Cooking and cereal."

"No, Daddy can go to store and get two milks."

*He cracks us up. He is getting to that age where they just say the funniest things. 

*Ollie: Mom, me Daddy and Gabe stay home. You go ba bye. 

Me: Go where?

Ollie: To get groceries. 

*He asks why about everything

*He gave me a lecture about asking to play with his ball. It's amazing how your lectures come back to you through your kids. 

*We were eating corn for dinner one night and he kept asking if he could have more popcorn. We would correct him, but he would tell us no it's popcorn.

We try really hard to make sure he isn't overlooked being a middle child, so hopefully he'll never feel like his parents did overlook him. So when we talked about trying out potty training with him after our trip, neither of us loved the idea. We decided we'd try and make it as special/and all about him that we could. We HATE potty training. We've had some serious struggles with Gabe, so we still feel like we just got over all her issues. Plus Ollie is very determined and stubborn, and we knew if he decided he didn't want to, we would seriously have to BATTLE him. We tried to wait for signs that we was ready, dry for periods of time, interest in going, dry at night, etc. He showed lots of them. We just didn't want another repeat of Gabe's experience, we wanted to make sure his body was ready cause hers wasn't. So we have been prepping him for months. We got rid of milk at night, then limited drinks in the day, then got rid of sippy cups, etc. We let him choose out his own big boy underwear. We talked and talked and talked about using it. We then did a count down for how many diapers he had left to wear. We decided to spend Conference weekend doing it, cause we'd be home with nowhere to go. 

Prepping the room. We got the candy, the chart, the potty seat, new panties, and library books. 

I loved seeing him all content to hang out on the potty. It was cute to see him take on the "big boy" roll. 

Daddy actually started off the first day by himself while Gabe and I ran errands. I don't think I could have done it without Daddy to help. He is Ollie's role model, which is wonderful to me. He wanted to be just like Daddy and wanted Daddy's help a lot. So nice to have a wonderful Daddy that was willing to help me teach him. 

Thumbs up from Superman

Superman showing us his muscles

So here are my potty training notes for us in the future when we go through this with Milo. I wish I had done this with Gabe so I could remember and compare how things were going with him. This part is detailed, so if you don't care to see potty details, don't read it. I think it was a little easier for us to be patient this time around, cause we knew it'd take some time. We still know it will, even three weeks later there are things to tweak or work on. It seems like there is always something new to get used to. After he's trained at home you work on public potties, then pooping in public potties, then standing up to pee, then going without the potty seat at home, then going by themselves. ETC ETC ETC. It's never ending fun. 

DAY 1-The first day we set a timer and went to try every 20 minutes while he guzzled water. We would read books and keep him entertained while we did it so it was a fun thing. We didn't read with Gabe, just talked with her, so she hated it fast. We had a bunch of accidents this day, which was to be expected. We also had a bunch of successes which was great. We had him pee right before bed and he slept dry though the night. 

DAY 2- We set the times to every 30 minutes to 45 minutes. This was the first poop experience day. We have cheap little toys he gets when he poops in the potty. He gets candy and a sticker for his chart too. He started pooping, and stopped himself and told us he had to go, and finished going in the potty. WAHOO! This boy was rocking it. He did not love the thought of poop in his new panties. Slept through night dry again. We had stuff prepped just in case we had to change sheets and him in the middle of the night, but we haven't needed it yet. 

DAY 3- No timer this day. Wanted to give him the opportunity to be able to recognize for himself and tell us. He would always start peeing, then stop and tell us, and finish in the potty. He had a poop diarrhea fiasco for a few days that freaked him out about pooping, but we worked through it. We couldn't get him to go potty before bed and we kinda panicked, but he was dry though the night again. He was super good at this. 

DAY 4 through 10- He started out day 4 not wanting to even use the potty. We had to make it fun again. This day he'd tell me he had to go a lot, we'd sit and nothing would happen. Then he'd get off and start peeing in his panties, and stop and tell me. It was tricky. The rest of the days we'd have lots of success and some accidents. One morning he refused to get up and pee until his light was green and we thought he'd pee in his bed, but he didn't. After he started getting the hang of it more, we brought out our big toy. We always bring out a bigger toy later that he can earn from completely dry panties.  He has to fill out a chart and it takes a few days to do. He did good at this. He does good with charts. If he did pee in his panties, it was the size of a dime, and he'd tell us. I really was impressed by him. He's done amazing with pooping and dry bedtime. Gabe was good at bedtime too. She wasn't good at pooping or public potties. Our doc had us give Gabe a little laxative to get her used to it, cause she would hold it for days. Ollie has been good at both of those. SOOOO refreshing. We had one day of serious set backs with everything, and it was HARD, and we were frustrated beyond belief. He still will have accidents, but they don't happen often. We expect this, he won't have it perfected for a while. We still have to ask him if he needs to go and remind him he needs to, but it's been decent. He'll get playing and not want to go, and we'll have to remind him to stop what he's doing and try. It's nice he likes to be like Gabe and copy her, cause we'll send her into go before we leave and he'll want to try as well. 

We had many people tell us not to introduce standing until he's older. It is confusing in the beginning, and having him sit to pee helps him keep things from being confusing. We had others tell us it depends on the kid. We actually had him start standing on a stool and holding on the top of the seat and leaning and peeing.  We just started this a few days ago. He actually has done even better going to pee, cause he loves peeing standing up. It's cute cause he likes to be a big boy like his Daddy. Gabe saw Ollie peeing like this and told me she wishes she could be a boy so she could stand to pee. Man, don't we all. :) He did get confused at first, but he has it down now.

I think so many times we expect things to be crazy with Ollie, cause he is determined when he makes up his mind about something. He has over and over again proven us wrong, and has done so wonderful with things. Potty training being one of them. He has come so far in such a short time. IT HAS NOT BEEN A PIECE OF CAKE. He is not one of those kids that it just clicked, we worked hard with him, and still are. BUT-He has done amazing, and surprised us once again. We love you bud! Good job. He is now starting to have complete accident free days. Phew, there is an end in sight.We aren't saying he'll never pee the bed, or refuse to go in a public potty, but he's definitely done better than sister so far. It's a nice change.