A Big Step for Collin-Kind

Yep, big frontier coming. We've decided to cross into the great unknown. I was going to sort of keep it a secret from the world until we emerged from this cocoon a big success or a big failure. That way, I could either say, "hooray! look what we did!" or, just not tell anyone what we tried. But, I'm too darn excited to keep it quiet anymore.

Between having powdered donuts, Mr. Collin does nothing but chat about how much he wants to have "power!" which translates loosely to wanting to go potty IN the potty. So, I read up on the ways, the means the strategies and none of them sound like fun and they all seem like endless drudgery and like eons spent on your knees sitting in front of a potty chair begging a kid to just "TRY! Please, for the love of God, just GO!"

I figured we needed to settle on a method, so I picked this one that is supposed to take three days. It's pretty intense. It takes A LOT of parental involvement...like crazy-on-your-kid-like-a-hawk-every-second-involvement so we're waiting until Daddy's home this weekend to start it, despite Collin sort of begging to use the potty. Seriously, it sounds like it might be three torture days; but I am going at it as if it works, it's better than months of dragging this thing out. After really reading up on it, it seems like it meshes with Collin's personality too, so we'll see how it goes.

So, we got prepped for it today. We bought all the big kid pants we'd need and all the rewards we'd need, and an extra potty for the downstairs bathroom. I'm in love with this potty. It's got a cool splash guard in the front that won't scrape Collin's Mr. Mini-Collin when he stands up and sits down and he won't pee all over the floor or across the room and we don't have to constantly remind him to "hold it down" right now.

Bryon and I have been carefully planning the distribution of awards in conjunction with the whole plan laid out in the book we read, combining it all with Collin's personality and with his newest obsessions via the appropriate rewards. Ack, I hope this works!
Despite how nervous and excited we are, I'm totally freaked out. I opened up his big boy pants today to get them ready for the wash and I couldn't help but start to cry. This is a big step! Even if it doesn't work and he ends up right back in diapers again by the end of the 3-day, just trying it meant he was a big kid! AAAAAAA! What happened to the little baby who's onesies could fit in my palm? Who is this little boy who owns underpants? And, if it DOES work and we are out of diapers (WAHOO!!!), it's one more step away from babyhood. I'm so proud of my baby but he's just not one anymore.
Anyway, Collin got a HUGE haul of loot for his potty rewards and a stack of big boy pants that would make your head spin. If he could see this stack now, he'd think Santa came again...and not just because it's wrapped in Christmas paper. I am so excited for this! I wish Bryon didn't have to go away again this week and we could just start it already. I'll keep you posted on how it works. Wish us luck...we start on Saturday morning, and with luck will have trained kiddo by Tuesday.