Totally jinxing this...

Melkamu is potty training this week. (Stop reading now if you don't want more details.) He went half-nak.ed for the first two days, then we started using underpants. They have Elmo on them and are a BIG incentive for him. If he has an accident in them, he can't have new ones until he's successfully used the potty the next time he needs to go. Since he loves them, he really wants to get them. He gets stickers every time he successfully uses the potty. There were several accidents on the first few days, and we're still working on pooping in the potty--which is odd, because that's what he was doing first.

Wow, I don't even want to write this because I KNOW I am jinxing it. But here goes:

Patrick potty-trained for days at about 27 months and nights at around age 3. I think Kamu's going to have him beat. He's had two completely dry days in a row now, including naps AND nights. Two dry nights in a row. At 25 months old.

We haven't been restricting fluids at all; if anything, I've been encouraging him to drink more than usual so that he'd get more practice using the potty. He often has a drink of water before he goes to bed at night. Each morning he's woken up with a dry diaper; we've taken it off of him and he's immediately gone in and used the potty. I ask him frequently if he needs to go potty during the day and will take him if it's been a while since he's last gone.

He will also tell us if he needs to go. We went out for dinner last night and twice while we were there, he said he needed to go potty. I took him into the restroom and he went both times. The boys and I went to lunch with friends today after synagogue and he did the same thing while we were there. Sometimes he'll tell us and not need to go, but I'd much rather have him err on that side!

Mind you, I'm not convinced that he's really got it enough to let him leave the house in underpants--we're using pull-ups for excursions, just to be on the safe side. Even though I am extremely impressed with him, I'm not insane.

It remains to be seen what happens when he starts daycare again on Monday. He'll start using pull-ups at school instead of diapers. There are potties in his classroom and the teachers do take the kids, but I don't know if he'll tell them the way he tells us or if they'll ask him often enough. They normally change the kids every 90 minutes; I'm going to ask them to ask him if he neds to go every hour, and definitely take him about 15-20 minutes after he eats or drinks something (that seems to be his "critical need" time). Jason thinks they'll be very much on board with it since diaper duty is one they don't particularly like. I really hope so.

Whether school works or not, I think we'll have him in underpants at home and continue working with him.

A big incentive for Melkamu is that he wants to do everything that Patrick does. He genuinely does not seem to realize that he's 3 years younger than Patrick. I think he's figured out that this is another thing that Patrick does that he can do also.

Two dry days and nights in a row. Wow. Go Kamu!

*Edited to add that I did jinx it. Not 30 minutes after I posted last night, and fresh out of the bath, Melkamu had an accident. Oh well, I can deal with one in two days. And while he wasn't dry last night, he was barely wet. Have you seen A League of Their Own? The scene with Tom Hanks in the locker room before the first game? That was Kamu this morning. Thankfully on the potty.