Give me a PEE!

What is this a picture of?

Ok it's not that obvious so I'll just tell you. This is a picture of my preschooler (squinting because "It's bright Mommy") holding a bag of diapers. Not just any diapers, no sir. They are his leftover ones. The ones that his school sent home today because he doesn't need them anymore because...you guessed it...at the tender age of forty three and a half, he's

potty trained!

Ahem. Sorry I got a little excited there. But Ashton is potty trained! I am going to call it official because he came home from school today with no accidents. While that doesn't mean there won't ever be any, I truly feel like he gets it. I have no hesitation about going out with him in underwear - he knows, there's just no other way to say it. He's still in pull-ups for naps and an overnight diaper, but that's allowed in my opinion.

So, this new "potty trained" status cost us a small fortune in Matchbox cars and several days spent mostly at home, but we were stuck there anyway due to school vacation week and we knew it was time. I mean, he is three and a freaking half. Like OLD. But given the chance, he would always choose to go in his diaper, so at the start of last week, we told him we were out of diapers and put him in underwear. It went better than we could have expected. He had two accidents right off the bat but then it clicked and honestly, I'm pinching myself, but we really haven't looked back! He turned into a potty machine.

[12/15/15: To you creeps looking at the picture of my kid in his underwear from wherever you are in the world, I'm taking it out of this post.]

Standing up and peeing on the potty has turned into a favorite pastime. He will run in, pull down his pants and then 100% of the time he will say, "Ok let's wait!", addressing the few seconds before he starts to go. Poop was a little harder to tackle but I'll spare you those details.

Overall, I was really dreading this process. Everyone loves to say that the hardest thing you do between giving birth and potty training is potty training. Also, after watching some of my friends drag portable potties with them everywhere they went, well it all just seemed so cumbersome. Then there are the endless posts about it on the online moms' forums, the problems people have, the sticker charts, what books are best, etc etc. I was exhausted thinking about it. I didn't have time to read any books and I wasn't sure what reward structure would work, so I put it off. In all honesty too I was waiting for Ashton to be emotionally ready. In my heart I knew that for a long time, he wasn't, and I didn't want to force him.

So here we are! After a week of lots of encouragement, some successful outings (peeing in public restrooms, holding it in the car until we got home, etc.) we then faced the biggest test with back to school. Yesterday, Monday, I dropped him off and we told his teacher about his new underwear, very exciting, blah blah. I picked him up at noon and was like, "Oh man, these are NOT the clothes I sent you in..." Turns out, in three hours, he had two pee accidents but also five successful trips to the bathroom. What is this kid drinking?? But today, no accidents, and I was told there weren't even any close calls. Like he was an old pro! Hence, they sent him home with his diapers. It was a big deal (for me). 

When we were in the car I told him over and over how proud I was of him and how happy it made me that he was telling his teachers he had to go. He said, "Sanks!" ("Thanks!") and then "I want ice cream for lunch. And fruit snacks and a new car and then I want a chocolate coin and some milk!" Basically every potty prize he has ever gotten. On a regular day, uh, I don't think so buddy. Today? Sold :)