I doubt many readers of this blog want to know this many details about this part of Eston's life, but I want to document it for our family memories. I hope you'll enjoy the story too!
Eston has officially learned to use the restroom and only wears diapers now for overnight sleeping and some naps. He learned this at his school a couple of months prior to his third birthday, but interestingly, he wouldn't transfer the skill home or anywhere else at that time. He repeatedly said he'd use the potty at home when he turned three. He even created a plan that he'd wear a diaper to his birthday party, and after his friends left, he'd take off his diaper and start using the restroom. We were ok with this plan, but as we suspected, when the time came, he got very nervous and resisted. Eston was staying in the same pull-up all day at school, but once he came home, he'd just start going in the pull-up. The series of events that led to success were:
1. Bribing him with cookies to simply try sitting on the toilet (see attached video). He was saying that he didn't like our toilets, so I thought if he could simply sit there, he might just start going (didn't happen, but warmed him up to the idea). Note: I don't plan to use edible reinforcement for many things in his life, but I was getting a little desperate to encourage him onto a toilet, and I needed something that would keep him there for a minute.
2. Creating a chart on which he could make checkmarks each time he uses the restroom (see attached photo). Originally, 5 check marks earned him a treat of some sort, but as it turns out, simply getting to put checkmarks on the chart is the part that motivates him.
3. On December 9, we had a relatively free day around the house and denied him any diapers. Throughout the day, he made three puddles on the floor. I wouldn't call them accidents because he knew he needed to go but just refused to use the toilet. I asked him to help me clean up the puddles because I thought that would help him realize that using the restroom is much cleaner and faster. This backfired though when he found it really fun to squirt 409 on the floor.
For his fourth potty moment of that day, he asked us not to follow him "so he could have privacy", and he went alone to the restroom. I tip-toed to the outside of the bathroom to listen, and sure enough, he was going in the toilet. Hooray! Due to our denial of diapers, I thought he might have a resentful attitude about the experience, but he ran out very proud and thrilled to get to make his first check mark on his chart.
It took some time to transfer this ability to other houses. On December 10, the next day, we had a party at our neighbor's house, and due to not wanting to use their restroom, Eston had a slow leak going on that was just creating small spots in his shorts. We kept running back home to change clothes, and not until the fourth or fifth trip home did he use our restroom to stop this problem. Last week, he went at his great aunt Clare's house, and on Christmas Day, he went at my parents' for the first time (sneaking off alone to discreetly do it). He still hasn't gone in a public restroom, but I think this will happen soon.
The quirky thing he's doing now is that he wears his "chupis" [pronounced choo-peez, the Swahili word for underwear that he learned from his cousins] to school, but as soon as he gets home, he takes them off and puts his clothes back on. I am so relieved that he uses the restroom that I don't mind a little commando boy at all.
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