The last time I brought up potty training I was despairing of Michael ever being potty trained. He would go on the toilet, sometimes, but he didn't seem to care if he also went in his pull-up. He was not motivated by anything. M&Ms, watching a show, stickers, wearing big-boy underwear... "No fank you." I was all set to give up and just have three kids in diapers for. ever.
But then! John Paul was born, and Alex had a week of paternity leave. He worked hard with Michael to give him the consistency that I hadn't been able to give, and Michael was doing pretty well except for the whole #2 thing. We were at a total loss. How do you tell a kid how to poop on command? Seriously.
Our last ditch effort was a combination of stickers and a big reward. Michael got a sticker on his chart every time he peed in the toilet, and he was promised a big reward when he finally went poop. Alex and my dad (in town for JP's baptism) took Michael to Walmart to pick out his very own reward. His cousins are big into the Avengers, so I was expecting his to come home with Captain America or maybe Thor. And I was pretty much fine with that. Obviously he needed to be in charge of letting us know what would motivate him, since all of our ideas were total failures (even the Thomas stickers... I thought for sure those would be such a hit).
Well. The guys came home shortly, and Michael proudly produced his reward: the Hulk. Big, green, ugly, angry. Not a toy I would have picked out for him. I gave Alex an "Are you serious?" look, and Alex explained that they didn't have any Captain America figures and Michael really wanted this Hulk. Oh well. We put the box up on the windowsill in the bathroom, and Michael could have his new toy as soon as he pooped in the toilet.
But it worked! Within 24 hours of bring "Hoch" home Michael did poop in the toilet, and he hasn't had a poop-related accident since (knock on wood... oh please don't let me jinx this)! We continued to use the sticker chart for several weeks to help work on a good attitude about going potty when told to do so, and it was helpful for a while. Michael has had several minor accidents (mostly getting distracted playing and just not quite making it to the bathroom in time) and two or three bigger ones (where he apparently didn't realize he was even peeing until he was completely done).
Alex suggested trying underwear at night about a month or so after JP was born, and I told him he was welcome to try it if he wanted, but as I was going to be nursing the baby all night he would be the one changing sheets when Michael inevitably wet the bed the first night in underwear. Needless to say we waited, but for the last several weeks he has been waking up during the night to go potty (usually pretty traumatic--he is so tired and doesn't want to be awake), and so a few nights ago we finally took the plunge. He is doing great.
So. Thus endeth the potty training epic (unless M totally regresses because I finally got around to blogging about his success). It is still my least favorite thing about parenting, but I feel slightly less despairing about Liam's turn coming up in another two years or so. Besides, now that Michael is potty trained it is going to be his job to potty train his brothers. I'm done.
