Oh poo!: another potty training story

Disclaimer: if you, like my husband, dry heave at the mere mention of bodily functions/excrement, this may be a good time for you to stop reading. But if you're a mom, like me, and have to deal with the stuff on a daily basis and can totally handle it, then I have a story for you! :)

So Elijah is potty training. You all know that. And the past 3 days have been awesome! He's not had any accidents... in the day or the night. Yep, wakes up dry in the mornings!! Woo hoo! Which is a huge deal for him.

But the show-stopper for him is going poo in his big boy undies. Until 2 days ago no amount of talking about keeping Mater dry and clean can convince him that he wants to go poo in the potty. So day after day (we've been at this a little over a week) he does better and better about going pee. But day after day he takes a giant dump in his undies. It's so gross I can hardly keep myself from spanking him because I KNOW he's just being rebellious! I mean, when your kid looks at you with "that look", you ask if he has to use the potty, he says no, then proceeds to hide in the bedroom and fill his pants, you know it totally could have been avoided and you're just dealing with stubbornness!

So anyway, the big breakthrough came quite unintentionally the night before last. We were at my parents' house and Elijah was playing beach ball with my dad in the living room. Suddenly he started to dance his "jig"... which I know means he has to go. So I stripped off his bottoms and placed him on the little seat. A few seconds later he was red-faced, leaning forward, and grunting!! Sounds disgusting but I was elated!!! This was the big moment we'd all be waiting for. #2 on the potty.

What followed the potty triumph could have been seen by an outsider as pure lunacy. I laughed, jumped, danced, clapped, gave high-fives (to everyone), squealed with happiness, and twirled Elijah around in circles until we were both dizzy. Then he was given the grand prize - a crane for his Thomas train set. We had bought it for this reason, showed it to him, and told him he could have it as soon as he did the big business on the potty. Plus he got candy and an orange popsicle too! I'm telling you, I went over the top. But I had to. I've waited nearly 3 years for this!

Here he is with his crane and popsicle. Shortly after a slight case of brain freeze.

And then - then! Today has been our best day yet! He woke up dry, immediately went pee and got a prize which my mom got him for a time when he was dry all day and all night - a pair of Lightning McQueen sunglasses. He looks hot in them. :)

But the big news is this... while making breakfast he came to me and asked if I could take his pants off. I did. Then the next thing I knew he came back in and announced that he went poop in the potty! Sure enough, he did. We danced and clapped again because now I know he's made the connection. And a while after breakfast he came and said "Mommy, can you take these pants off of me and I will pee on the potty?" And that's just what he did. Only he pooped again too! I'm just so excited about this you guys! I know it sounds gross, but I was so over diapers. And I really really wanted him to be trained before the new little guy comes (and we start all over again!).

So there you go. That's my story.