Potty Training update, part 2

Well, by now you may be tired of the potty training topic. Unless, that is, you're in this stage yourself or are about to "go there". But it's a free world, so if you're not interested come back in a few days!

I wanted to share some of the cool things I've been gleaning from all my reading. Seems wrong to keep it to myself.... :)

I've often heard of parent's using stickers or candy to reward their child when he was successful going to the potty. But we weren't quite there. One of the signs of readiness for toilet training is that your child stays dry for a couple of hours at a time, or wakes up dry after naps. Ian had never EVER had that kind of duration of dryness. UGH!! He always seemed to be constantly wet. So first, I wanted to teach him to stay dry!!

When I read Potty Training in a Day, I was intrigued with their reward system. Instead of rewarding just for using the potty, they set a timer to check the child's diaper for dryness. When the diaper was dry, the child got some kind of reward. So I told Ian that we were going to try to stay dry and I began doing the diaper check every half hour. I gave Ian two M&M mini's whenever he was dry. Pretty soon he started telling me himself when when he was dry or wet. Hallelujah!! And miracle of miracles he would go a couple of hours without wetting now it's almost SCARY how long he can stay dry for. Yeah!!

So the verdict seems to be that this practice seems to have raised Ian's awareness of the bladder control mechanism. He's not too anxious to use the potty, but he is able to stay dry for long periods of time and that's half the battle in my mind.