a really little update

We are back in town from a little trip to see my folks, so I thought I'd give a quick potty update. I feel like my last post needs a little closure before I move on. As soon as I download pictures from the past few weeks there will be much more exciting news to report!

So, on the potty front I decided to offer Hayes a hand stamp after he successfully used the potty. I was fully ready to move on to m&ms if the stamps didn't work, but well, a turtle stamp is apparently a big deal around here. Even the big girls were rushing to go potty every time I turned around so that they could get a stamp. I can only imagine the commotion that candy would have caused!

That's all it took. He was back on the potty, doing well again. And onward we moved. I decided to do disposable pull-ups while were out of the house and cloth training pants while we're home. That totally took a lot of the stress out of it, though the pull-up stays dry 99% of the time.

And since then he's been doing great! Let me define "great" for a 21 month old as I see it. I'd say we are doing something in between true potty learning and elimination communication. Sometimes he goes entirely on his own to the potty, sometimes he gives cues and I prompt him, other times I just put him on the potty without any cues (if we are about to leave the house, take a nap, etc.). He goes most days without having any accidents. He has maybe one or two accidents a week. Poop is not quite as consistent as pee, but I can usually see that one coming and he willingly goes if I prompt him.

So there it is... closure on the potty issue. We're just going to continue as is for now and I expect that he'll just get more and more consistent with time. I'm really enjoying not changing and washing diapers.