Ryan's Potty Party Day

The morning started out surprisingly well, considering one kid got to have the first potty party (which they had been waiting for forever...forever to an almost 3 year old), and the other had to leave.

Playing with the new road rug we got for the day before Sister had to go.

We got them dressed in their room, brought them out together to see all the decorations, and then Allie & Daddy left and Ryan and I started the day with a special breakfast and the first surprises of the day.

A special new cup for all of the great drinks that day!

He wasn't exactly thrilled about the doll - who he named "Little Einstein."

The day was filled with theme activities - reading potty books, watching potty movies, and (to match Ryan's theme) lots of playing with cars!

The morning is all about training the doll. They learn through teaching. Ryan wasn't the biggest fan. He kept saying things like, "But I can do it too." or "Mommy, I already know that." And he really hated that the doll was getting special treats for going in the potty (Note: since the doll can't eat, Ryan always got the treat anyways), when he was confident he could do the same if I would just take his diaper off. He was itching to be the big boy. And I learned during the morning that special snacks were a big motivator for him. As soon as a snack was finished he was like, "Let's go sit on the potty so I can get something else!"

When he woke up from naptime, there was a present waiting for him (his underwear), and he found out that it was HIS turn to be the big boy.

He was ecstatic. It wasn't long before he went on the potty (I was so surprised that he knew, stopped what he was doing, and then really went). And then he went again. And then again. And then I started to think that this was a breeze, and we might have no accidents at all. It was about then that an accident happened. He was sort of jumping around, and it sort of jumped right out of him (in his defense, part of the process is pumping them full of liquids. During the course of the day he drank 3 16oz. chocolate milks, an 8 oz apple juice, and 16 oz. of water - most of that in the afternoon. And no, I don't always let them drink that much of sugary drinks. It was part of the special day). We had a bit of a poopy incident too, but it was more of a loaded gas situation. He was as surprised as I was!

Playing with the car rug - his favorite activity of the day!

note: once he got underwear, he wouldn't wear pants because he didn't want to cover them up!

By the end of the day he had gone on the potty 8 times (and because of the volume of liquids, every one of them was significant), stopped something he was involved in every time, and really recognized the feeling of "having to go." I would call it a smashing success.

The ubiquitous "on the potty" picture that will horrify him someday...

Some of my favorite moments of the day:

The way he would dance in delight all the way to the kitchen for his "special treat" after going on

the potty.

(my apologies that you actually can't see the dance to the kitchen in this video - even though that was the whole point of taking the video! I discovered that our camcorder battery was dead when I went to take this video - mommy fail - and only had my laptop...which doesn't show me what it sees...so this is the best I've got...but he's still adorable, so I included it!)

The fact that he didn't like juice, or the carbonated water combo that I made. Chocolate milk (and the unexpected hot chocolate that I thankfully had supplies for) was all that he would drink of the "special" drinks.

For his potty chart, he got to move his race car (that he was driving!) around the track and put a cloud of dust. Each time he would say, "Goodbye, diapers! Eat my dust!"

Snuggling with him on the couch while watching potty movies.

Him teaching his toy cars to go potty.

Me saying, "I'm so proud of you! You are such a big boy!" and his response: "I know, mommy. I know."

At the end of the day, Daddy and Sis came back from their special adventure (he couldn't wait to see them...and show off his underwear). They brought a present, and we had some here. We had a party to celebrate that he was officially a big boy. No more diapers!

Watching for Daddy & Sis

Opening his "big boy" presents.

One thing that I got out of the day: Last week, at Bible study, we had to do this exercise where we spent a minute imagining ourselves in the presence of God. We were to imagine Him as a parent, eager to spend time just with us. Then we were to imagine Him saying to us the one thing we needed to hear the most. It was amazing that everyone said that one minute was the most powerful part of Bible study. They had never imagined God as being eager to spend time with them like that. And each person said the one thing they needed God to say was that He was proud of them. There was a moment during the day when I was beaming at Ryan, delighting in my time alone with him, telling him how proud I was of him, and that moment from Bible study came back to me. It was powerful to realize that as much as I was truly loving that moment with Ryan, God loves those moments with me. It made ME feel loved by and closer to God in a way I hadn't before. Completely unexpected during a day of potty training!

Mommy and her Big Boy!