He's a big kid now

Can I just say how excited I am that Benson is finally potty trained!  Well, I am super excited!  Mostly because I now only have to buy diapers for one!  We have been buying diapers for two for almost a year now and it gets a little expensive.

But anyways, I have been putting off potty training Benson for a long time.  Mostly because he is such an emotional little boy and SUPER stubborn.  So I knew that this had to be a gradual thing and he had to be ready, otherwise it was going to be a horrible experience for both of us.

Back in July I started having Benson sit on the potty before he got into the tub.  He hated it at first and was completely terrified that he was going to fall in.  Of course I made Reese show him how it was done and once he saw big sister sit on the potty, he decided that he could do it as well... as long as I had a vice grip on him.

Gradually he got braver and I didn't have to hold on to him anymore.  Then we started timing how long he could sit there.  At first he didn't want to sit there long but we would have him watch the clock and he got really good at sitting on the potty.

I was so excited because we were definitely making progress.  We went from a child who was terrified of the toilet to a little boy who would sit on there for a couple of minutes.

About a month and a half ago Benson went potty for the first time in the toilet right before going to  bed!  We were all ecstatic!  After that Ben would always take Benson potty before he went to bed and he would usually go.

Two weeks ago I decided to try having Benson go when he got up in the morning and he went!  I was shocked and excited at how great my little boy was doing.  For the rest of the week I casually asked him if he needed to go potty and if he said yes we would run into the bathroom and put him on the toilet and try to get him to go.  Sometimes he was successful and sometimes he wasn't.  It wasn't a big deal.

So after a week of Benson going potty on the toilet every once in a while, I decided that I would potty train Benson while Ben was out of town for the week.  I was ready and I was crossing my fingers that Benson was ready.

Day one:  That morning I printed off a potty chart and hung it up in the bathroom.  I took Benson in to go potty as soon as he woke up and he went!  Success!!  He was so excited about the chart and stickers and excited to put on his new Despicable Me underwear!  He did such an awesome job on Monday!  He had one tiny accident and even managed to keep his diaper dry during his nap.  His accident was so tiny.  He started to pee and realized it and came and told me.  So we went into the bathroom sat him down on the toilet and he finished going in the potty!  It was a great first day and I was feeling so great about the wonderful job Benson was doing.  He was doing it and was excited about becoming a big boy!

Day two:  Tuesday was a different story.  Benson was doing great with peeing in the toilet.  But going number two... well we weren't quite as successful.  The week before when I would casually take Benson to the toilet I caught him trying to do number two in his diaper.  I had to really convince him to go and finish his business on the toilet.  He finally did but he wasn't happy about it, but he did it and we made a really big deal about it!

So anyways back to Tuesday.  Benson was doing a great job peeing in the toilet, but around lunch time he kept coming to me every five minutes saying that he needed to go.  I needed to clean Tanner up from lunch and get him down for a nap so I told Benson to sit on the toilet and finish going potty and not to get off until I came back.  As I was putting Tanner down for his nap I heard the toilet flush and the thought crossed my mind that it would be horrible if Benson had pooped and he was running around with poop on his bum.

I finished putting Tanner down for his nap and saw that Benson was on Reese's bed with no underwear on.  I told him to come back into the bathroom so we could put his underwear on.  He jumped off of Reese's bed and ran back into the bathroom saying that he needed to go potty again.  I put him on the toilet again and then he started saying that there was poop on the toilet seat.  I looked and sure enough there it was.  All of a sudden I hear Reese screaming that there is poop on her fingers!!!  What in the world!?!  So I ran into her room and there was poop all over her bed!  Yes that sweet little boy of mine had gone number two while I was putting Tanner down for a nap, flushed the toilet, and then got down and went and played on Reese's bed without bothering to wipe his little bum!  We definitely had a mess to clean up!  Thankfully we could throw everything in the washer and it was clean within an hour or so.

After getting everything cleaned up I put Benson down for a nap and enjoyed about an hour and a half of quiet time for myself.  I love that time!  When I went and got Benson up from his nap I knew as soon as I walked into his room that he had pooped in his diaper.  It was a mess!  As the day went on he did great peeing.  Then at dinner time he kept coming to me every 5 minutes telling me he had to go potty.  I would go and sit him down on the potty and he would try to go but nothing came out and he was getting frustrated.

After dinner Tanner and Benson got in the tub and played for a little bit.  I got them both out and dressed for bed and was in the middle of helping Reese brush her teeth when Benson ran in saying he needed to go potty.  He had pulled down his pants and was starting to pull down his underwear when he decided to flip them off his foot and then I saw it... poop everywhere!  It was awful and he started bawling.  I sat him on the potty and tried to calm him down while trying to clean up.  It was awful.  By the time I got them into bed I was exhausted.

Day three:  Wednesday was great!  He didn't have any accidents and we even ventured out of the house for an hour and no accidents!  I knew then that he had done it!!!  I was ecstatic!  He didn't have any accidents on Wednesday and I felt great going to bed that night.

Benson has done such a great job!  We are still working on number two but thankfully there haven't been any repeats of his second day of potty training.   I know that going number two on the toilet is tough for kids and I just need to give it time and he will get it.

We are so proud of Benson and let him go and pick out a new toy at the store.  He was pretty excited about becoming a big boy!  If I ask him if he wants to put his diaper back on now he refuses which I great!  I am so glad that potty training this stubborn little boy was so much easier that what I had thought!