Potty Train [[[3 Day Method]]]

Well. We tried it. Colson is officially not ready. Day 2 of the "Three Day Method", I was losing it. I knew I had to give it a shot since I had 4 days off between jobs. I could stay home and dedicate my time to helping Colson go on the potty. However, he wasn't ready. And after 2 days of trying really hard, it was only turning into a negative experience for him.

The Method
The 3 Day Method. This technique is based on Julie Fellom's Diaper Free Toddler's program. I have read several blogs, articles, and spent a lot of time on Pinterest, and came up with what I thought would work best for us.

I didn't practice the "naked" 3 days. I just put Colson in big boy undies. I had a hard time with him being naked. We keep our house pretty cool so I didn't want him to be cold. I wanted him covered, we took lots of pictures to send Daddy and I posted some so I wanted him covered. :) I felt better knowing that there would be some kind of barrier between my floors and number 2.

The Supplies
I had ordered several potty books from Amazon and we had a reward for when Colson after there was a potty success. The books I bought we kept in the bathroom. They never left the bathroom. Colson and I read them when he was going potty.

I rewarded Colson with candy. Every time he really tried or told me he needed to...he got a Reese's!

Underwear. Several pairs. I had stocked up previously. We had over 20 pairs of underwear.

A Timer. I just used the timer on my phone. Rather than watching and waiting for "a sign" that Colson needed to go, I took him every 15 minutes to the potty. Eventually, every time he heard the timer, he started crying. So, I switched to 30 minutes, same reaction. So, I started watching for signs and asking him if he needed to go.

Fluids. I offered him lots and lots to drink. He drank a lot of watered down juice. He also drank out of fun cups along with his regular sippy cups. The fun cups encouraged him to drink more. [I think.] He also drank (A LOT) of water.

I bought grapes and offered him lots of grapes because he loves grapes!

Potty. We had a little potty and a seat that went on the big potty. He could choose whichever one he wanted. More times that not, he wanted the little potty.

Day 1.
On the morning of Day 1, we started after we ran and got Mama a coffee. We ate some breakfast and then headed upstairs. The first thing we did was check out all of Colson's big boy underwear! I let him decide which ones he wanted and was really impressed he went for the "Monday" ones!

 Next, we took a box and put all the diapers we had in the house in it. I told him we needed to take them to his new baby cousin, Ryann. She needed them because she was a baby and Colson was a big boy. He helped me do all of it. I was really excited and made it fun!

Aside from not leaving the house at all, we kept as much normalcy to our day as we could.

Some cartoons...

Lots of playtime...

Lots and lots of Legos...

watering flowers with Dad...

...potty breaks every 15 minutes in between.

He didn't seem phased about his underwear at all.  Sometimes, immediately after leaving the bathroom, we'd have an accident. The only thing I would tell him  is that it is not okay to 'tinkle in your underwear'. I would discuss importance of 'letting momma know, and going tinkle in the potty and not your underwear. I never scolded, but repeated the importance of going in big boy potty. I stayed calm and encouraging even when I was going insane in my head!  And...he got the candy reward! I never wanted the potty to be a negative experience. So, staying positive was key!

By the end of day one, we had accident after accident and I was WIPED.

Day 2.
On the morning of Day 2, I took him as soon as he woke up. And, again on day 2 we had accident after accident. After 2 days of not making it in the potty one time...we decided he wasn't ready. By the end of the second day, anytime I'd take him into the bathroom he would cry. Huge tears. He was NOT ready and I hated that this was such a negative experience for him.

Conclusion.
Maybe this isn't the right method for Colson. I've heard such great success, but it doesn't seem to work for him. We are still going to talk about it. We are still going to encourage him to use the potty. But, I'm not going to stress about making him go on the potty when he was so scared! He will pick it up eventually.

Any pointers??? I'm open for suggestion! I'm so thankful that Colson's sitter is so great and willing to help us out. This makes such a difference!