Potty-learned.

I'm almost afraid to say it for fear of jinxing myself.  But at the same time I wanna shout it to the rooftops.

Brennan is DONE with diapers!

He's been taking naps and sleeping through the night in underwear and staying dry til he wakes up. We've been out and about around town and he hasn't had any accidents.  I'm a bit afraid to take him out by myself with the twins because of the pure logistical nightmare of trying to get him to the bathroom with the other 2 in tow, but it's a mountain I'll have to climb eventually.

Looking back, I have to say that the whole process was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.  But I think it's because I just kind of let it happen naturally, followed his cues, and just challenged him a bit here and there.  I have several friends who had success with a "boot camp" or more structured approach, but I knew that kind of thing wouldn't mesh with our life.  I didn't think Brennan would learn well that way and I definitely knew it wouldn't be good for my anxiety.  I can see it working for one of the twins someday (read: Kiernan), but I knew it wasn't the right route for Brennan.  And I think that's one of the most important keys to successful potty-training - like any other step in parenting, you have to know what will work best for your child.  And if what you thought would work isn't working, you have to be open to trying something different.

We kinda started the process at the ripe old age of 20 months.  I bought a potty and we sat it in the living room and it became his favorite chair.  He'd sit on it, fully dressed, and watch TV or read books.  I just wanted to get him comfortable with it.  After awhile, it was relocated to the bathroom and he'd sit on it while I went to bathroom during the day.  Then last December (around 26 months) he started going pee-pee on the potty every once in awhile.  We didn't push it as I wasn't sure he really grasped the concept yet.  In February he started to understand it more, but he would "forget" if he had a diaper or underpants on, so for a few months he just ran around without pants on.  All.The.Time.  But you know what?  It worked.  And we eased into wearing underpants more and more often.  If we were having a stressful day, we just put on a diaper and started again the next day.

Then in late April, we started putting underpants on more and more often and he just stopped having accidents.  But we were still sleeping in diapers.  Brennan was still happily sleeping in his crib and wouldn't make any noise when he woke up.  After every nap and every morning, I'd go in to check on him, find him awake, and he'd tell me that he peed.  This went on for awhile, and eventually I just had a feeling that if he could get out of bed on his own, he'd wake up dry.  So after much debate about whether or not we were ready, we took the plunge and took the front rail off of his crib. Like magic, he started waking up dry from naps, so I stopped putting a diaper on him for nap time.  Then he started waking up dry in the morning, so I stopped putting a diaper on him for night time.  And he hasn't had a single accident in his bed.

The other day someone asked if he was potty-training.  I initially said yes, but then it dawned on me that I can actually consider him potty trained.  Holy bananas my big boy is growing up.  It's definitely nice to be done with 3 in diapers!