I come to you as the proud momma of a lean mean successful pooping in the potty toddler machine! He did it y’all!🎉🎉 Duce has finally made pooping in the potty a norm in the Whitaker house! It has been a wonderful 2 months of NO POOPY🚫💩 PULL UPS! 🎉🎉 We have went from putting a 33lb toddler on a changing table to clean up poop messes to waiting for those glorious words excitedly bellow out of Duce’s deep and proud mouth from the bathroom, “Daddy/Mommy! I pooped💩!” So what did it? How did our smart, innovative and determined toddler FINALLY become FULLY day potty trained? *drum roll please…*🥁🥁🥁
That’s right! The Poop Garage! We were fortunate parents to have a toddler who’s birthday was a week AFTER Christmas-New Year’s Eve! What did that mean for us…LOTS of new favorite toys in the home. So with the encouragement and declaration from our pediatrician to get him out of pull ups ASAP because he was smart and capable…we went into BEAST MODE💪🏾❗Every time Duce 💩pooped on himself instead of going to the potty, we confiscated one of his new beloved vehicles (monster trucks, fire truck, Mickey Roadster). Once he would bashfully come to us with his big almond puppy dog eyes and say those daunting words, “I pooped…” we with disappointment in our tone, told him that it was nasty and that poop goes in the potty. “You are a big boy. Big boys poop in the potty.” We then would clean him up and tell him the most traumatizing words that no truck and car loving toddler ever wants to hear…”Go get your monster truck.” At first he refused and we had to go with him to get it. Then we walked it to another room in the house and sat it in the Poop💩 Garage (out of his reach and behind a closed door). We reminded him that because he was not being a big boy and pooped💩 on himself he couldn’t play with his monster truck. He was very sad and disappointed. Most importantly though, we reminded him that he could earn it back by going poop💩 in the potty!
Talk about long suffering for this little guy! It took 3 times-the last time with Daddy confiscating 3 of his beloved cars and trucks before he finally got it! Things were getting serious! All of his new vehicles 🚒🚘🚗🚜 were gone and of course the other Christmas and birthday toys were just inferior in his eyes! We reminded him often throughout the day that he could earn his toys back by going poop💩 in the potty. We showed him where his toys were safely stored and encouraged him to go potty by asking often after meals and throughout the day if he had to go poop💩 when he would go potty. If you ask Duce it was a long week for him, but for us it went fast! After the third time of confiscating his toys, HE DID IT! HE POOPED 💩 IN THE 🚽❗❗And boy did we celebrate! We sang/rapped, danced, high-five, verbal praised, washed our hands and Duce especially, RAN🏃🏽♂️to the room to pick ONE toy to break out of the Poop Garage! 🎉🎉 Talk about the hardest decision of a three year old’s life! 🤣 I’m pretty sure it took him about 45 seconds the first time he collected his property.🤣 After that, we were smooth sailing! It took only a few more days for him to earn all his 🚒🚘🚗🚜 back. And when he did, there was no turning back!🙌🏾 We were so proud of him, but most importantly, Duce was proud of himself! “I DID IT! I DID IT! I POOPED 💩 IN THE POTTY🚽!!” He wanted to tell EVERYONE too! Daddy when he was at work, all the grands and his Auntie! He was proud and so were we! It really was the best week of potty training for the Whitaker House! Now Duce poops💩 ALL THE TIME in the potty! The boy thinks that he has to poop💩 EVERY TIME he goes to the potty!🤦🏾♀️ But it’s all good! I’m just glad he’s grasped on to a little more independence and released us from the pull up fund!💸🙌🏾🤣
So what’s next in the ever evolving potty training journey? Wearing underwear with no accidents at night and during outings (we are still keeping pull ups on him, even though he tells us he has to potty-unless he’s having WAAAAYYY TOO MUCH FUN with friends).😊 However, when those run out, that’s it! Full time underwear baby! 😬😰🙏🏾
There you have it! No extra incentives this time around, just using what he has that we know he loves to motivate him to be the smart, independent and strong 💪🏾boy he is to go poop💩 in the potty-not in the pantry, office or mommy and daddy’s room. Every now and then when he has a big one he requests fruit snacks and of course we gladly hand them over!😊 I’m so proud of our big boy Duce! This has been a long and thoroughly paved journey, but worth the ride! We had some setbacks and digressions, head pounding, lots of crying, frustrated and annoyed moments, but they were all worth it! Some get it all (peeing and pooping) mastered in a week, others like us 6 months! However long, stay encouraged, stay in the race WITH your toddler and stay prayed up! 🙏🏾🙏🏾God gives us all the strength and patience we need to be the rock star cheerleaders our children need to succeed in life, whether it’s potty training, sports or college! Tap into it and lead with your heart! You got this momma!
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~Soli deo Gloria💜
Copyright © 2020 by Da’Quisha Whitaker
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the writer.
Her-Shey Mommy Chronicles 