We're Potty Training!

Jason's choice, not mine. I figured we'd wait till he was older, since I've heard boys aren't usually ready till they're 3. And he's not even 2 yet. But I attribute it to a few things:

1. I read an article in "Parenting" magazine about a lady who did what she called "Potty Training Boot Camp" where the kids ran around naked in the back yard all day. Long story short, one of the things I got from the article was that every time she'd take them to their little potty chair or to the actual potty or every time they went elsewhere, she'd say "Poop goes in the potty" or "Pee goes in the potty." (I tried the actual Boot Camp part of it once. It ended when Jason stabbed himself in down there with a stick and bled.) Anyway, I started saying that every time I could tell he was pooping.

2. When changing his diaper, I'd show him the poop. So he learned what poop was and also learned what/where the potty was.

3. I brought up his potty chair a month or so ago and put it in the bathroom. At first I just let him sit on it. But I never ever let him play with it. It's brightly colored plastic, so it looks like one of his toys, but I don't want him to ever play with it when there really IS something in there. *yuck*

4. I always keep the bathroom door closed because I don't want him playing with the toilet paper or the plunger or the toilet bowl scrubber. So when he does get to go in the bathroom, it's a real treat (at least for him). And I sometimes (not often though) let him watch when I go to the bathroom. (All moms do that, right?)

Then recently with all those things (but especially I think because of #1 &2), he started really  wanting to go to the potty room. So we now go through all the steps: turn on the light, pull down the pants, pull down the diaper, sit on his potty chair, I ask if he can poop, he tries, then we put everything back on, he flushes the real toilet (probably his favorite part), and we wash our hands (his other favorite part). One of these days, I expect something will actually come out when he tries. And I'm pretty impressed that he's doing this without me forcing him to. :)