Booty Camp

Man your stations.  Stand your ground.  Let the battle commence.  

It's me against Aiden and I'm determined that I'm going to win this one.  I've been dreading this for a long time, but that diaper's just gotta go.  I'm also running out of excuses to put it off and Brian is growing impatient.  I told him I'd do it once Riley could walk.  I didn't want her crawling around on the bathroom floor...that's a good excuse, right?  We'll she's been walking for almost 2 months now and I haven't found a new reason not to potty train.  Dern.  So this week I decided I would bite the bullet on this one and enlist Aiden in good old fashioned Booty Camp.  He better be glad it's getting warm outside.  All this boys' getting is a t-shirt for the next week!  If he's not wearing a diaper he won't pee on the floor.  I am 100% confident that he is smart enough not to.  Pooping on the other hand is a different story.  For a while now he's been hiding to poop and I figured this would not change this week.  I'm just hoping he doesn't hide and I end up finding it somewhere around the house.  I've been watching him like a hawk and asking him at least every 30 minutes if he needs to go.  Unfortunately, the fact that this is not my first time with potty training holds no precedence.  I don't remember what the rules are.  I'm beginning to think that threats are not the way to go about this.  That's too bad because I'm so much better at playing 'bad cop'.  He needs to be more positively motivated.  

So yesterday we took a little trip to the store.  I let him pick out his very own underwear.  I told him that he could wear them after he pooped on the potty.  He was very excited about this and so was Ella.  It's only been 2 days and we are both really ready for him to have some pants on.  The first day all she said was "Aiden's booty is touching the floor!  Aiden's booty is on the couch!  Aiden's trying to sit on me!"  I also had an unexpected visitor on Day 1.  I had the front door opened since it was so nice outside and while I was making dinner the doorbell rang.  Aiden of course went barreling down the hall before I had a chance to catch him.  All I saw was the whites of the mans eyes who was waiting at our door.  He was just trying to sell magazines.  I bet he's never gotten a greeting like that before!  I tried to explain that I was potty training, but I don't think he was buying into it.  He just said "Okkk" and tried to keep eye to eye contact with Aiden...who stood beside me the whole time of course.  I apologized for it being so awkward.  Oh, well.

So back to the underwear.  I was disappointed with the selection.  No bikini cut?  No hipsters?  No thongs??  He didn't even have the option of boxers!  Whitey Tighties, that's it.  I offered him the practical dinosaur pack of 7.  He wanted the 3 pack of Cars that cost the same price.  Grrr...  Alright, we'll get both.  If it's Cars he wants then it's Cars he'll get.  I'm planning on several accidents anyway so we're going to need more than 3 pairs of underwear.  He was so excited to open them and what's the first thing he does?  Put them on his head, of course! 

"Ho, Ho, Ho, what do you want?"  Wow, he's still thinking about Christmas?  Ella was getting into it too.  She's like my little cheerleader.  She's constantly asking Aiden to go potty so she can help him with his sticker.  Oh yes, I have a sticker chart...  With Ella it was mini marshmallows, but I'm taking the sticker route with Aiden.  I found this great little potty chart here.   

He gets a sticker each time he goes and at the end he gets to choose a prize out of the 'treasure box'.  I took them to Target last week and let them choose 5 things from the dollar section (or in Ella's case some of the half off Valentine's stuff).  Ella has a chart too.  She gets a sticker for every night she doesn't get in our bed.  We've been doing this for 3 weeks now and it's working like a charm.  So anyway, they put their Target stuff in a box...the 'treasure box'.  Ella has already gotten one of her prizes and Aiden is well on his way.  Just 2 days into this and he's already almost there!  He's gonna break me!  As helpful as Ella is though, I think she has an ulterior motive to wanting to help him so bad.  It's more like keeping tabs.  Each time he gets a sticker she counts down to how many he has left.  She then reminds him that he cannot get her ladybug or her sticker book.  That's her stuff.  It doesn't seem to matter that I reassure her that he won't.  She still doesn't trust him.  I kind of don't blame her though.  Aiden can be quite devious at times.

So I'm hoping that we can wrap this thing up quickly.  I forgot how much I hate potty training.  I'm ready for my little fairy to come down and grant me a wish now...*ZAP* Aiden's potty trained!  Can I open my eyes now?  Did it work? 

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