Anything is Still Progress...

*Warning: For anyone who is not a parent, or who has never potty-trained, the post below may be too graphic for your preferences. If so, refrain until you are raising children. :)

For his 2nd birthday, we gave Isaiah a potty seat, potty training underwear, and a DVD about going potty with high hopes that he would use them sometime before his 3rd birthday. I had hoped to begin at about the halfway mark in April, but it was obvious that he still was not ready. Then, I began to push my expectations back, and just hope that he would begin before his 3rd birthday.

Around April, as some attempt, I did get the potty seat out, and start putting Isaiah on it before his bath. Just to test it out, you know, and to let him get used to it. And to hope that the sound of the running bath would trick him into going potty in the right spot. But, nope. He always, always went after he got into the bathtub. To which I would lightheartedly suggest to him that he should go in the potty, and he would laugh because that is such a silly idea.

Then, a few weeks later, he went! Not on purpose, of course, but I rewarded him as much as I could - M&M's, applause, the whole 9 yards. I hoped that at least now he would begin to put 2 and 2 together.

A few weeks ago, an odd thing happened. Isaiah and Sydney were both tucked snugly into bed, and Isaiah got up to tell me he was wet. Hmmm, I thought. How odd. This is the child who, even as a baby, has lumped around a sagging wet, leaking diaper, and never let it bother him that he was wet. So, I checked him, and sure enough - he was wet. So, as a reward, I changed him immediately.

Two nights ago, we did the bathtime routine as usual, and I could tell that he was trying to go. Well, I let him have a drink of water to help speed up the process, and he did manage to get a little bit out. Well, hooray! Again, I gave him the M&Ms, told him I was so proud of him, and added a new twist...the bribe. "Well, Isaiah, someday when you can go potty in the potty all the time, we'll have to buy you some Lightning McQueen underwear."

Well, evidently Isaiah's been thinking about that a lot. And it probably crosses his mind every time he plays with Lightning McQueen, which is everyday. And sometimes we stop by that aisle at Wal-Mart just to notice the Lightning McQueen underwear and dream of the day that he will be able to go most of the time in the potty.

Today, Isaiah said he wanted to try to go potty. Well, I could smell that he had already gone once, so...I didn't exactly hurry him off to the bathroom. But, I did want to encourage his behavior, so I did take him after a few minutes. After cleaning him up, I did let him sit on the potty, and he did again try very hard to go. I helped again with the drink of water. And because he did finally go a little bit, he got his M&Ms reward, and we also talked more about the future underwear days.

So...to make a long story very short, we are making progress. Some progress. At least we are moving in the right direction.