what's in a year?

About a year ago, my dad was trying to encourage me as Abe was not potty training like I really wanted him to. He said things like, "You were really hard to train, too." And, "This is the last baby thing he'll do...don't let this time slip too quickly through your fingertips." It's incredible what a year will do: Abe is almost completely potty trained. To get over the last hurdle, I am trying a technique I think will work for him.

If he makes it through the night without peeing in his diaper, he gets one check mark. The second check mark is for making it through nap without peeing. The third check mark is for making it through the day with out an accident. If he gets three checks, he earns himself a star.

As you can see, we went almost all of last week without success. A couple of those nights, Abe woke up just devastated that he had peed in his diaper or that he had tried to go potty, but couldn't get back to sleep on his own. So as not to dwell on a bad experience, I avoided the calendar for a couple days.

We revisited it on Thursday evening. Right before he went to bed, I noted that he hadn't gotten any stars because he peed in a diaper or had an accident. I told him the only way I could give him any more stars is if he only pees on the potty, because that's what the potty is for.

I then tried encourage him to pee pee on the potty on his own during the night. This involves him waking up fully. He has a hard time not being comforted back to sleep, so while he tried to go back to sleep on his own a couple times last week, he ended up pretty frustrated. I just encouraged him to climb back in bed, snuggle into his Cars blankie and relax.

I am willing to accept that we may have another bad day or even a bad week at any point. But I am going to chalk up two days without an accident at night, naps or during the day as success! Now I just have to hold back the tears as I realize that Abe's baby years are drawing to a close.