Staying Dry

Sometime this past Fall, I found myself desperate to find some way to help Tornado stay dry at night. He's been dry during the day since before he was 2, but during the night is another story.

Yes, I know... all kids do it in their own time. Some kids just aren't ready at 3 years old. Etc, etc.

The thing is, earlier last year he was doing it. And for several weeks... almost without incident. He was just... dry. And diaperless!

Then, I was washing bedsheets and jammies every morning. And the poor kid was soaked through all the time. Even by midnight when we'd try to take him before we went to bed. So the diaper went back on. For my sanity as much as for his comfort.

And then he was soaking those diapers (perhaps I should have gone name brand) and still soaking jammies and bedding. I can't tell you how glad I am that it was just toddler bed with crib sheet and favorite blanket I had to wash every day and not a full set of sheets and blankets like it would be now.


So there I was... desperate (with a newborn I might add). Something needed to change. We reduced night time drinking and put a stop on all but a bedtime sip after 6 or 6:30.

I considered (briefly) washing my mirror for you, but instead decided to keep it real.

My Beloved and I talked it though, listened to others, read online a bit and decided to try a no pressure reward system. It seemed better than the frustrated tone he may or may not have been getting in the mornings when Mommy didn't get enough sleep.


I made this cute chart (which hangs on the bathroom mirror), came up with the little rhyme and sat down with Tornado to talk about incentives. I explained the whole thing to him. Showed him the chart, read him the rhyme (a hundred times... he really likes it still) and asked him what he would like as his prize when he was dry 6 nights in a row.

Can I just say... I am so. glad. I. asked! I would have put things like toys or food or chocolate (that would have been what I wanted) or some other expensive money taking thing. So what did he want? For 6 days dry... a trip to the "Fishy Walmart". No, that's not different than regular Walmart, it just means we take a meander past the fish section.

Seriously!

12 days dry (which originally was to be 12 consecutive days, but now once he hits a "prize day", he keeps those and has to do another 6 in a row)... Going to the "Fishy store". That's Bass Pro Shop which is not far from our house. They have a huge aquarium (20 feet deep or so). The fish are huge too. They love to watch them. Again... no spending needed. Just a family activity.

18 days dry... the "train mall". This is the same mall where the "Fishy store" is, but they have a model train set up deeper in the mall that moves when you put $.50 in. There is even a button to push to make the train whistle!

24 days dry... he wants to play baseball as a family. Yep... a trip to the local park. Throw some balls (I don't even know if he cares about the bat), run some bases. I was informed back then that I couldn't play because I had to hold Little Man, but he had positions for the rest of the family. Recently he assigned me a position too. But I think I'm still holding Little Man.

30 days dry... I helped pick this one. We'll be having a party. Probably just us... but a party just the same. I may even make "party food"!


Now the tricky part is that every morning he wakes up wet, I take the stickers off. (You can see that some of the stickers just don't stay so well anymore.)

Ouch!

I know.

It's brutal... but I was so grateful that he didn't fall apart when I did it the first time. I expected him to. Nope... he just accepted it and talked about how he would be dry tomorrow.

After a couple weeks, I started to get very frustrated with the whole thing and almost scrapped it. And really, in my head, I did. I gave up. Oh well... he'll get it when he gets it. But I left the chart up. More for laziness sake than anything else. Where would I put it if I took it down anyway.

So there it sat for a couple weeks without a dry night. Then one morning he was dry again... and so excited. He came in to tell me (still in bed) that he was dry and gets to have a sticker. Ok... I was up. He got his sticker.

This went on for a while. With many days that he just didn't seem to care. Until recently he'd never made it more than 2 days in a row.


And then, this week, he went 4 days... and 5. It was almost too much to hope for, but last night, as I was settling the kids back into bed after a late night potty time (we've been taking them late at night since they moved into their "real" beds with unprotected mattresses to avoid the diapers leaking), I reminded Tornado to stay dry so we could go to the Fishy Walmart.

And he did!

We are 6 in a row!


Now, I know that kids are kids and accidents happen. This is why I revised the system. No longer does he have to make 30 days accident free to get his prizes or to go diaper free at night. If he has an accident in the next few days, he'll loose his stickers, but not the ones from that top row. Those stay forever (until we're using this chart for another kid anyway.)

And hopefully, by the time he's gotten to the bottom, and had 6 nights in a row at least 5 times... hopefully he'll be mostly through the accidents too.


Would you like to use my chart???

Here it is for you (click the pic). And I left off the incentives so that you and your boy can pick them out yourselves!


How do you do night time potty training?