I Got the Potty Training Blues........

The title says it all!

I am exhausted after today. I went to 3 places this afternoon while Jude was napping, trying to find and anatomically correct doll that could drink and pee, hoping that it might help. Well after 3 hours of searching, I finally found a "boy" doll with no boy parts, mind you, but I was tired of dragging Summyr from store to store in the heat, so I bought it. I also had to get some party supplies for the "Potty Party". I decided to go with the Dr. Phil approach. He suggests getting the doll, showing the child the doll drinking and peeing on the potty, and then having a celebration for the doll for peeing in the potty and not in his underwear. Well it all sounds great, but I had no idea how much work and energy went into having such a shin-dig.

When I showed Jude the doll, he was kinda leery at first, but after a few minutes, he and "Baby Jude" became fast friends. Jude fed him his first drink of water from his bottle, which by the way came out of the doll a lot faster than I was expecting it to!!!! So we "rushed" the doll to the potty and a little water came out. Jude was excited that he had peed in the potty, so I suggested that we throw "Baby Jude" a party for using the potty. He was like, "Huh?", but once I pulled out the streamers and the balloons and party horn-blower things, he got even more pumped. I put up the streamers in the little nook where we eat and added some balloons....nothing fancy....and then we pulled out the horns and started to blow and shout, "Hooray! Baby Jude pee peed in the potty! Hooray!!!". We danced around the room singing a song about using the potty and Jude was convinced to go to his room and get a pair of underwear for himself.

Okay, here is where the exhaustion started to set in. After rushing the doll back and forth to the potty 4-5 times, Jude finally decided that he could now determine when the doll needed to go potty. Now, keep in mind that all the while this party/potty training session is going on, I am trying to cook dinner and watch Summyr. And dont forget, every time that baby goes potty, we have to celebrate by dancing, blowing horns, and singing!!!! Did I forget to mention that the party horns sent the dogs into hiatus....they were running around barking and howling throughout the house!!! Can you picture this in your minds???

So now Jude says that his baby needs to "poop". Ha! I am prepared for this. I bought a bag of Tootsie-Rolls while at Target.....we have really been struggling with this area of the training. So, as stealthy as I am, I told Jude to put the baby on the potty so he could poop, and while his head was turned, I slipped a tootsie-roll into the potty. Let me tell you, Jude was impressed by this doll! Not only could he pee in the potty, but he could even poop in it also!!! Of course, now we have to celebrate again....and of course, now baby has to go poop AND pee every time he sits on the potty!!

Well by 6:30, I had had enough potty training for the afternoon, and so had Jude. He was still in the original underwear, no accidents, until I sat down to write this!!! He said he doll needed to go to bed, so we put him in fresh underwear and put him in Jude's bed. The advice says that once the child loses interest in the "game" with the doll, its best to back off and try again later. Trust me, I am happy that the doll was tired....cuz I am too.