Ollie of the Potty

Pling! Pling! Pling! Our ladybug timer rings. Ollie drops his play handsaw and drill and runs to the restroom on his tiptoes. He pauses and looks at the screen to make sure I pause "Mouse." I run behind him and help him take his pants off. He climbs on his toilet seat ladder and straddles the toilet backwards. I set the timer again and put on "Daniel". I bring out my phone for my allotted screen time when I hear the beautiful sound. The sound of Ollie finally urinating in the appropriate location. 

For months, Ollie has been bothered by wet/dirty diapers. It had become a routine for me to check on him  during his nap time to find he had thrown his dirty diaper away and was running around his room pantless. For months, I asked Ollie if he wanted to use the potty. We would read stories, watch videos, sing songs. I even changed the lyrics for the theme song of a PBS show, "Molly of Denali" to "Ollie of the Potty."  For months, Ollie would say "No." He was fine with sitting on the potty with pants on, but didn't understand the point of immodesty, thank you very much. 

But then...

I had been encouraging (bribing) him to use the potty by promising him ice cream. On an evening late in December, I was I was changing Ollie's diaper,  and asked. Ollie jumped up, said "OKAY" and ran to the bathroom. Aaron brought back ice  cream and Ollie stayed up later than his bedtime and we all celebrated.

That weekend we casually asked him to try, but that Monday would start potty bootcamp. We went to Walmart and Ollie picked out his poster board, stickers, and underwear. I made a potty chart with a legend telling how many stickers Ollie would earn per activity. 

All week, we set a timer for twenty minutes. We used watching "Daniel Tiger" as an incentive for sitting on the toilet. He would get to put a sticker on his poster board if he tried to use the potty, more if he actually used it. After so many stickers, Ollie would get a reward. He always chose "Mickey Mouse Club House" for the reward. He filled up his first poster board with stickers from just sitting on the toilet, not actually using it.  He would hold his pee in as long as he could and then (usually two minutes after taking him off the toilet) he would go in his pants. His curtains got poop on them, my couch was peed on, and my kitchen floor got both. 

I kept questioning if we were doing it too soon, or if I was doing something wrong. I was determined. We already committed to this method. We went through one chart, and had to make another. We added getting a sticker if he kept his underwear clean when it was time to use the restroom.  He earned the underwear after completing the first chart. He didn't like it, because he could feel it more when he had an accident. 

Last night, Ollie used the potty! I had a couple people tell me that they gave a piece of candy every time their child peed in the potty. I chose an elaborate interpretive dance that included what resembled the waving arm inflatable tube man yelling war chants. 

War chants were sung a lot today, as Ollie used the restroom at church and at home a couple of times. We aren' there yet. He still needs to learn how to be able to tell when it's time to go on his own, and of course target practice. I'm so encouraged, though, because I really think something clicked with him.