We Made It!

Ok, I can't claim that we are fully "potty-trained" (though Charlie loves to do so to just about anyone who will listen), but we have made it over a pretty significant hump...Charlie wore underwear to school yesterday morning and was still wearing all of the same items of clothing when I picked him up yesterday afternoon.

Sounds like unequivocable success, right? Well...with Charlie there always seems to be a bit of a catch, and this time, like so many others, it's his iron will.  In fact, I'm starting to wonder if the will and the bladder don't develop at the same time and if perhaps I didn't miss a single day of pre-natal vitamins that week, because Charlie's bladder appears to be just as strong as his will...he didn't use the bathroom ALL DAY yesterday, other than when they put his pull-up on for nap. 

Yes, my 2 1/2 year old son went from 8:30 to 4:00 and only used the bathroom one time! 

Obviously, I was more than a bit concerned about buckling that stretched-to-the-max bladder into the carseat, but Charlie assured me he didn't have to potty.  Nevertheless, while he was stick-hunting en route to the car, he began to grab certain body parts, so despite violent kicking and screaming, I hauled him back into school and perched him on the potty.

As soon as he stopped fighting, he started going...and going...and going.  Wow -- the child definitely has a healthy sized bladder.  Thanks to our efforts, we completed our first "accident free" day and Charlie got to open his present of boxer briefs that look just like Daddy's (he's currently wearing training pants, which are really nothing more than thick, baggy underwear).

Charlie is still hesitant to do anything more than "pee-pee" in the potty, but we had a successful effort last night, leading Jason and I to believe that we were near the goal.  Unfortunately, this morning we've had a minor setback in the form of a stomach bug.  In fact, I briefly entertained the notion of scrapping the whole effort -- with Charlie throwing up I just couldn't fathom dealing with other messes as well or with forcing a miserable little man to sit on the potty, but with Jason's encouragement I decided to press on.

As of almost 1:00 we've only had one accident, kept our lunch down and are peacefully napping...we just might survive this after all!

Clearly we didn't get to this point without our fair share of tears, bribery, M&Ms, laundry and laughter, but to be honest the whole weekend is kind of a blur of beeps of the potty watch, reading stories on the powder room floor, and extreme relief when Jason arrived home to take over.  Surprisingly, the hours of one-on-one time with Charlie more than made up for the stress of the weekend...who knows, in a few more days it might even be a fond memory (assuming, of course, that we work through a couple more issues...).

So excited about the big day!

Underwear? As a present?

You want me to wear them?!

Scout wears them!

Teaching Scout to use the potty

Washing our hands

Down to Business

Multi-tasking