When Hudson was around 19-20 months, we started potty-training. We used Toy Story stickers and a cool sticker book. Every time he went potty, he got to pick out a sticker to put in his book. He LOVED this idea and did AMAZING! And then, he got sick with tummy problems (horrible diarrhea) for about a month. Because it was SO messy, we ended up putting diapers/ pull-ups back on him. BIGGEST. MISTAKE. EVER. Christmas came. New baby came. Finally, we got around to trying undies again...and being the stubborn little boy that he is...he refused. It's not that he couldn't do it (because we knew he could...when HE wanted to!!), he just didn't care. So...for several months, we tried many different things.
We tried to go back to the Toy Story stickers but that wasn't doing it for him so we gave him a little bigger of an incentive: Chuck E. Cheese tokens!! We even took him to CEC in the beginning to show him how fun it was. This actually worked...for awhile. He would go...and then, not go...and then, go again. He wasn't consistent.
We tried putting cherrios in the potty and letting him use his "pee pee gun" to shoot the "bad guys". He LOVED this game and would go often so he could go shoot them. But it got old. And he stopped going.
We read lots of books about going potty. He LOVES reading books!!! But as soon as he saw it was about using the potty...he was uninterested and just wanted to go play.
We tried moving his little potty out in the family room, giving him lots of juice and salty snacks and letting him run around naked all day. It worked. It really did. But he'd wake up the next day and INSIST on wearing a diaper, and when we would insist on underwear or being naked, he'd just pee on the floor or in his undies...on purpose. He didn't care.
We offered to get him a new toy or movie...We'd tried EVERYTHING.
But then, we went to my mom's house, and she had a wrapped gift sitting on the fireplace hearth. Of course, his curiosity got to him, and he begged to open it. My mom told him a cute little story about a little elf coming to visit her and brought it to her house. The elf said it was for a very special little boy who wore underwear, and if he didn't wear underwear, it would magically disappear as soon as he opened it. She asked if he was wearing underwear, and he got really sad and said no. She told him that as soon as he started wearing underwear, he should come back to open it.
And...to my complete and utter amazement, it WORKED. We went home, and he started going. And going. And going. Literally. He wore underwear straight for a couple of days, and then, asked to please wear underwear during his naptime. So we let him...and he stayed dry. After a couple of nights of him being dry, we even braved the night by putting him in undies...and he woke up DRY. He was SO proud of himself and finally got to open his present.
It was done. He was finally potty-trained. I don't even remember the last accident he's had, and we rarely have to remind/ ask him to go. Who knew all we needed was a magical little elf?
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