"I'm A Big Boy"

WARNING: Proud Mommy rant about to happen!

For a while now, we have been "playing" with the potty. Harlen has been very interested in the potty since he saw a little girl at daycare go through the potty training process. We have been very encouraging and have been letting him investigate and get comfortable with the idea of using the potty. I know that some children find using the potty as very scary and we have been trying to get him comfortable with the idea for a while. He has done pretty good and actually loves to strip down and sit on the potty. We have spent countless hours just sitting, reading, playing and talking while he just sits and does not produce anything....... until now. We have been working on pushing since I have run out of ideas to get him to use the potty. Last week he pushed so hard that he passed gas and produced a little something, if you know what I mean, in the potty. We were proud, even if it was a little "shart" and he got two M&M's for producing "something." Well he did the same thing a couple nights later and got rewarded again. I have been waiting and waiting for him to get excited about actually using the potty instead of using it as a seat while he reads and plays. Two nights ago, on 2-5-13 (yes, an actual date is needed for this monumental occasion), he went pee pee in the potty. I was on the phone with the hubs when all of a sudden, Harlen stood up and pointed to the potty and said "poopy." No son, that is pee pee and this is when the freak out began. I quickly hung up the phone from my envious husband, who was so upset to miss the occasion, and started singing, dancing, running around and giving encouraging words with the boy who I swear was an infant yesterday. He got a couple M&M's and kept saying "I'm a BIG BOY." To see the joy on his face when he realized that what he did was so good. This was big news and called for a mass text to family and friends to spread the word. Now, I am not counting my chickens before they hatch. I do not think that he is fully ready for the massive undertaking of becoming fully potty trained but we will keep practicing until it is time to start the undertaking of actually potty training. I will use this time to keep him on the right track and keep encouraging him to use the potty for what it is intended to be used for.

The pictures that you are about to see are only something a mommy would appreciate so if you do not like seeing pictures of pee pee in the potty, stop reading now.