deux.

number two.
numero deux.
nombre ... we get it.
remember the time a few weeks ago when i asked for advice on number two on the potty? [for marcus fyi, i'm good thanks]. thank you SO.MUCH. to the people who took time to email me or ask around for tips and tricks.

last night marcus went to bed and i knew he had been working on something. he asked me for a diaper, and i politely told him no, we have a perfectly good potty and he should rock that out. he wasn't upset, which was the first sign i thought this could happen. he sat there, nothing happened, so he went to bed.

then an hour later this tiny voice is yelping from his bed 'i want to poop in the potty!' so he groggily wanders across the hall to his bathroom and plops down and goes! just like that. nbd. i obviously was so proud i started to tear up [loser mom alert] and promptly told him how happy i was that he had done it. he knew it as well. he was half asleep but still beaming ear to ear with his accomplishment. he couldn't believe how easy it was. clearly he didn't go back bed without first getting a weenew sticker on his hand.

half an hour later, the kid does it again.

he just blows my mind. so here are a few tips of my own that i've accumulated and used in the past couple of weeks:

1. don't push it. encourage it definitely, but in a positive way. if you upset the toddler in the process you are totally shooting yourself in your parental foot.
2. keep great books at the potty. like dr. suess and a toddler bible perhaps.
3. give the toddler squeezies after dinner and make clear mention of how awesome the potty is. squeezie = gets things moving and the comfort of knowing he'll have to go at home.
4. if they want your iphone to occupy their mind/fingers on the potty, give.it.up:

5. don't go nuts with rewards. do you really want to give the kid a chocolate bar every time their digestive system gets to work? we did a sticker last night. i'm sure that will last a few days and then it's old hat, awesome and zero expectations.
6. sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and stop giving in to diapers. not in a mean way. in a tough[er] love way.
7. if you have any shame, potty training is not your game.

thank you so much for helping us do this! i am super proud of marcus' latest accomplishment  - even if it was less than glamorous to clean up. [yipes].

-kare
xo