James' Potty Party

Wednesday was the day. I had been putting it off long enough and Tyla probably wants her book back so she can start training Clara. When James woke up, the house was decorated like a campout. Josh and I made a tent out of sheets and blankets in the living room. Wildlife coloring pages were taped up on the office door, in our "meadow" right next to the fish pond. I checked out every book and video from the library and had the VCR ready to go along with the books laid out on the fireplace mantle. Then there was the present. "Tommy" James' new friend was wrapped up and waiting for him in the bathroom. We were going to spend the morning camping and unbeknownst to James, helping Tommy be a big boy and go on the potty. We had so much fun taking Tommy to the potty and giving him candy and stickers when he went. He also got stickers and candy for practicing when he had an accident. The real incentive here is that Tommy is a doll and can't really eat the treats so guess who gets excited about taking Tommy to the potty? Yep, James--in fact, it didn't take James long to suggest that Tommy needed to go potty about every 15 minutes.

The morning started with James, Tommy and Mom finding a camping map and then going on a hunt for cool camping things, like a fishing pole, binoculars, a cooler with camping food, play camera, a magnifying glass, cool bugs, a compass--you get the idea...all the things you need for a good campout.

The coolest part of the campout was the "lookout" high in the mountains with lots of leaves and fun things to do--like blow bubbles, color, play guessing games--keep James occupied and distracted long enough to sit on the potty. You get the idea.

The real purpose of the cool "camping lookout" was the potty of course--lots of time to sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and wait...for something to come out.

And when it did...or when it didn't..basically any time we spent on the "lookout" we got to pick a cool sticker to put on the chart.

After nap time, Tommy and mommy had a present for James. Can you guess what it was? James was plenty happy to just go "commando". Luckily, he warmed up to the new "big boy" underwear.

What's a potty celebration without cupcakes and balloons? At the end of the day, we had a family party celebrating James becoming a "Big Boy". He was still undecided and said he was perfectly happy wearing diapers. But by Friday, he had come around and was really excited about picking out his "big boy" underwear. He will even tell me when he has to go...and he's not just crying wolf. He has way too much to do each day to waste time with unnecessary trips to the potty...even though it usually gets him a chance to:

1. flush

2. play in the water(of the sink--not the toilet!)

3. a sticker

4. a treat--we're on sugar overload this week!

Then came to presents. Like most kids his age, James totally loves ripping the paper. It's almost as good as the gift! But wait...unless the gift is DINOSAURS!

Wow! All that hard work and practice time on the potty earned James a present. He was so excited for his dinosaur gift. He loves dinosaurs right now. His Grandpa Baker gave him a BIG book of dinosaur facts including all of the different kinds of dinosaurs from around the planet for Christmas and James loves it! He spends a lot of time during the day looking at the pictures and then acting them out with his dinosaurs. Oh...and remember the origonal "Land Before Time"? I have it on VHS--probably from Morgan and we have watched it over the past week no less that 30 times! Oh Little Foot, don't be sad, you'll see your mommy again some day.

All in all, a very rewarding and fun week---even with all the extra laundry.