Liam And His Amazing Potty Powers

In January of this year I had Liam go "diaper free" for an entire day to see what would happen. Liam basically leaked urine all day long and so potty training him was out of the question. So I waited 2 months and in March I again had Liam go "diaper free" for an entire day. That time he would urinate about after 10 minutes of drinking or eating and leaked urine still but not as much as before. So I again put the diapers on and waited. Here we are going into June and I noticed that every morning and after naps Liam was still bone dry. So last Monday we went "diaper free" to see again where Liam was bladder/bowel control wise. He was amazing! He didn't have one accident and he pooped/peed in the potty every single time! WOW! However the next day he got the stomach flu and so we laid off of the potty training thing until this Monday when he was better. He has been officially potty training for two days with us going into the third day today. Monday he had two accidents but yesterday he had no accidents, making it to the potty each time!! My sister-in-law Alexa, whom I greatly admire, who is also the mother of 5 children so she knows what she's talking about, gave me great advice years ago. She told me to wait until Liam was actually ready to potty train. If I waited until he was ready then potty training would be way easier. She was totally right!!

However, I have to say this, I worry that were just experiencing some weird twist of fate or some unusual beginners luck and that soon the bottom will fall out and then our potty training experience will go from amazing to horrible. So if this happens please understand if I start ranting instead of raving here on my blog about the horrors of parenthood and potty training! Whew! For today and right now potty training is going super smooth and Liam is doing totally amazing!!

In this post I also wanted to highly recommend an amazing potty training video. Its called, "Potty Power." In my opinion this video has made a world of difference in Liam's attitude towards potty training and has given Bill and I a new phrase. We refer to potty training as, "Liam your getting your potty powers" or "WOW Liam your using your potty powers" Insert "potty powers" where you would normally say, potty, toilet training, etc. He responds better to "potty powers" verses "potty trained." If you haven't checked this video out I would recommend that you do! Check out your local library, they probably have it there as ours did. So if your wondering where we are and what we are doing, we are prisoners in our own home and trying to teach Liam his "potty powers!"
I forgot to add that as I am helping Liam get his potty powers he is helping his panda bear become potty trained! He will say, "Panda Bear needs to go potty" when he really means, "I need to go potty." So cute!

The Dreaded Power Stuggle!

Liam will be 3 the beginning of June and I have been feeling quite happy with myself since we haven't seen the usual "Terrible Two's" behavior. However, this past week Liam and I had our first real power struggle and I must admit that I am out of my depth here. I have no idea what I should do so I am asking all you smart women out there if you have any suggestions for me that have worked for you, or if you could suggest reading material for me to check out. I want to learn more so that I know how to behave so that I will know how to better handle these struggles since we are having them quite regularly now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! (I liked this picture because it reminds me that he really is only a little boy who is individuating and trying to figure out his place in this big world and not being "naughty" I am trying to keep it all in perspective as he is screaming at me and I feel myself getting angrier by the second because I don't know where the purple bid is..aghh, I think you can all relate!!")