It's potty time!

This is my Bug. He's my beautiful little two year old. He's super smart and very kind, he's my flower child.

This is Bug's potty chart! A sticker for every time he pees on the potty. These are from today and yesterday.

The other day he was running around naked, like he always does, and he came up to me and said "mama, I go pee pee." I told him "go pee in the potty," as a feeble attempt at getting him to actually go. I figured he'd ask for a diaper anyway though, so I started to get up. To my surprise, he spins and toddles his naked little butt to the bathroom, flips on the lights and walks on in. I knew this usually meant one of two things: He was either getting into something he wasn't supposed to, or he was going to pee on the floor. I tip-toed over so he wouldn't hear me and peeked my head around, and he was standing on the stool holding his penis over the potty. Seconds later he starts peeing! He even aimed! I quietly waited for him to finish and walked back down the hallway before he saw me. Sure enough he comes out, grinning ear to ear, and yells "Mommy! I went pee pee!" He grabbed my hand and brought me to the bathroom to show me and said "Wait, I flush," and he flushed. I'm still in shock that he did this on his own, without me trying to push him into it like we're taught to as parents. There was no yelling, no punishment for accidents (I've thrown away poopy undies that weren't salvageable but I replaced them), no time-outs or spankings for not using the potty. There was no forcing him to sit on the potty every thirty minutes or ten minutes after drink. No making him sit there til he went. He's just always followed me into the bathroom so he sees and knows what to do but wasn't quite ready yet. 

And then he did it. On his own. Got up and walked right in and peed, and even lifted the seat.

I don't think it will always be easy, but now I know that the best potty training advice I ever got was this: Leave them be. Show them but don't force them. They'll get it in their own time.

It worked. I left him alone about it. I continued showing him, I let him wear his undies, I let him pick out undies, but I didn't try to make him go. We did it! We've gone three days with no pee accidents! We had two #2 accidents (in his bathing suit and when he thought he was done pooping in his diaper so I cleaned him and put him in undies) but there haven't been any pee accidents. He just wears a diaper to sleep in because he still brings a cuppy to bed and a diaper to poop in because he's scared to sit on the potty. I'm not pushing the poop thing. I'm just glad he's confident to pee in the potty.

I can't tell you how much praise I've given him. Non stop hugs and high fives, today we got him some toy airplanes and more stickers for his chart. We've been telling him over and over what a big boy he is and how proud we are of him. My sweet baby boy is growing up! He's gonna be a big brother, he wears big boy undies, he's learning to swim, he can tell me some of his colors, he knows where babies come from, he can tell you what noises certain animals make, ah, it's so bittersweet. I love watching him learn and grow but I still hold the memories of his infancy close to my heart.

I'm so proud of you my baby big boy!