Potty training Lincoln

Quick background on Lincoln: he is extremely cute and cuddly and helpful. He craves order and routine and is very resistant to change. He is 3 years and 22 months old.

About 8 months ago I started thinking that maybe Lincoln would be ready to learn to use the toilet, so I pulled out our little potty chair and put it in the bathroom. That's it. After a couple of weeks I started pointing it out to him. After another wait I invited him to sit on it (he wouldn't).

Two months later I pulled out the underwear in his size, and over many objections, placed it in his drawer. Big deal, right? He eventually got used to it being there, but when I invited him to try it on, even over his clothes, he replied that it belonged in his drawer.

Well, we soon decided we were going to move to Oregon for the summer, so I completely dropped any notion I had of potty training, deciding instead to re-visit the idea when we got back to MN.

About mid-way through our summer, Lincoln came to me and announced that he wanted to wear underwear. Sweet! We bought some, but then he wouldn't wear it...in a few days he put it on over his diaper...then he got a jelly bean every time he tried sitting on his potty chair (fully clothed). Gradual changes work best for this guy!

Eventually he moved to wearing underwear all by itself, and the kids made charts for him and we bought stickers and Dollar Store prizes...but he absolutely REFUSED to sit on his potty seat undressed.

He'd wear his underwear happily and without issue until he needed to go to the bathroom. Then he would come into the house, dancing like crazy and exclaim, "I NEED A DIAPER!!!!!!!!!" Oh, how he would scream when I tried to put him on the toilet! I switched to the tub. I ran water, read books to him, filled the tub with warm water, reminded him about the prizes he picked out. But he kept screaming, "I NEED A DIAPER!!!!!!!"

When he would wear underwear he never had a single accident...inside. Instead he would go onto the back deck and, leaving his pants up, proceed to go #1. "I like to have my pants on, Momma." Eventually I was able to convince him to at least pull his pants down. :)

After a couple #2 accidents I said heck with this and put him back in diapers. Some days he would ask to wear underwear, but I told him that he couldn't until he would use the toilet without screaming. He would contemplate that and then go off to play. He wasn't ready for such a commitment. :)

A few weeks later we returned home to MN, arriving late on a Saturday night. The following Tuesday Lincoln decided to be potty trained. It started by him getting himself dressed one morning (something he had never done before) and a little later passing me in the kitchen. "I'm going to use the downstairs potty", he said. And he hasn't had a single accident since. He takes care of everything on his own.

(We have had to have some talks about bathroom etiquette, like not shoving completely full rolls of TP down the toilet--still not sure how he managed that one--or throwing dirty wipes around the bathroom, "but there's no trash can, Mom!", but I think we're good now...)

Also since arriving home Lincoln has started talking up a storm, making his bed, and calling himself a "big boy." As in, "big boys can read books on their beds with a flashlight." And, "big boys get dressed all by themselves." Or, "big boys get to stay up later than babies." Or, as the following picture shows, "big boys eat beans and carrots to grow big and strong."

His time, his way, happy day!