hat trick, plus one

Maybe I should have called this one "grand slam". Pick your own sports metaphor. We have had four, yes FOUR, poops in the potty from Oliver today. All at home, but that's okay. It's only a matter of time before he shares the wealth at school.

Last night didn't go very well. He clearly needed to poop, and was doing everything he could think of to get me to put a diaper on him, even going so far as to announce at 6:55pm, while still at the dinner table, that he did not feel well and wanted to go to bed. He knows bedtime means diaper and I saw right through his ploy. We tried and tried with the potty but he wasn't going to cooperate. Since he had been dry five of the last six mornings, I decided it was time to take a chance on putting him in underwear overnight. I put a spare mattress pad, usually stored in Eleanor's room, within easy reach, just in case.

At 3:15am he woke up wet, with a very wet bed. We took care of everything quickly and efficiently, with surprisingly little drama. I put him in a diaper and clean pjs, and he went back to sleep. He was dry in the morning, and immediately went to the potty. Still no poop though. After breakfast he started asking to go to the potty frequently and saying he didn't feel well. The second time he asked I reminded him of what happened on Sunday, when he asked to go every 5 minutes, then pooped in his pants about a minute after getting up from the potty. He agreed to stay on the potty just a little longer. Finally our timing was right and he pooped in the potty! His first words? "I am feeling much better now, Mum." No kidding, kiddo!

It seems the experience made an impreesion because he told us he needed to pee and poop on the way home from school tonight. And as soon as we got home, that's exactly what he did. Then he did it two more times before going to bed, for a total of four poops in the potty today. Each time he has said he doesn't feel well so we talked a little about that. He will often say, "My body is telling me I need to pee" (all thanks to the Elmo's Pottytime DVD) so I asked him if he's starting to understand how it feels when he needs to go potty. It's clear we have our breakthrough.

Though he's staying dry during naps at school, I'm still putting a diaper on at night for a little while longer. I am sure we are not entirely out of the woods but this was a very good day, potty wise.