{A Decade}

We are officially at the end of an era. For the last ten years we have been buying diapers. I don't think I even want to know how much money has been spent on that many diapers. I might have a breakdown if I knew the real number. But I am happy (and so is my checkbook) to say that I won't be buying them any longer. Wyman is pretty much potty trained. I say pretty much only because we have been doing it for barely a week but he is already accident free, going #2 in the toilet and this morning he woke up dry and promptly went potty. I would say that is "pretty much" potty trained.

Potty training my kids has been my least favorite things to do in this business of motherhood. Really it is nothing more than a battle of wills (at least it has been with my kids) and you are basically trying to convince a two year old who has just realized that he/she can make decisions for himself that going potty is a really cool thing. Some kids buy into it, others don't. Wyatt made me really step up my game this time around.

Months ago he was showing signs of getting ready to learn the finer art of going potty in a toilet. I ran out and bought underwear and skittles to use as bait. He thought it was a great idea until he had to try sitting on the toilet and then he knew I had some how tricked him into something he wanted no part of. He had accident after accident and I could see that he was just not ready yet. So each and every time I changed his diaper from then on I would tell him that he needed to tell me when he needed to go potty and I made a huge deal of the poopy diapers and how yucky they were. He got to the point that while changing diaper after diaper he could tell me where he was suppose to have gone potty but didn't. Well the other day he came up to me and said "Mom, I'm wet, you need to change me." Literally, word for word. Then later on in the say he came to me and told he me was poopy and that I needed to change his diaper. He even told me that it was disgusting. That is when I had an epiphany. If this little person was big enough to tell me that he was wet only moments after peeing in his diaper and the same with pooping then by golly he was big enough to be doing it in the toilet. That next morning he woke up to no more diapers. They were no where to be seen, he looked all over for them but to no avail. So he reluctantly donned a pair of Buzz Lightyear undies and we were off to the store get a big prize for when he went poop in the toilet. To be honest it was that easy. He had only one accident that day. The next day he earned his big prize and had again only one accident. He has been great ever since, including going to church and the store. We had a minor hiccup when we were at Ayden's baseball practice and all that was available was a honey hut. He was having nothing to do with that puppy, but who can blame him really.

I still have a pack of diapers leftover from a Costco size box that I will use for night times but other than that there is no more diapers to be purchased for this family. Hallelujah! Now onto the next milestone, getting Lauryn to tie her own shoes, which in our family is prerequisite for going to Kindergarten.