Diaper Free

Zeke has had on and off again interest in being potty trained. Unfortunately, those times never coincided with a time that was convenient for me. I was working full-time. Lily was starting school. The list goes on and on.

Scott kept teasing me, because I would say “On Monday, I’ll start potty training Zeke.” Mondays would come and go. I would always have something come up as a reason why it couldn’t be “that Monday.” But I decided when we came back from Phoenix, it would be that Monday.

I was prepared!

I have learned that my kids respond well to full out bribery. That is how we potty trained Lily. The trick was to zone in on what that particular child desperately wanted.

Zeke was bribed with Star Wars. We aren’t talking a little Star Wars. We’re talking about EVERYTHING Star Wars!

He thought he was in heaven. I gave him new Star Wars underwear. He could watch Star Wars all day, as long as he peed in the potty every time the timer went off. We started with the timer set for 20 minute intervals, and went from there. Every time he went potty, he got a candy and the show was turned back on.

That night, it was obvious Zeke needed to poop in the potty, but he was scared. I tried everything I could think of to encourage him. Scott walked in the bathroom, bribed Zeke with a Blue Light Saber (he already had a red one and really wanted a blue one). That’s all it took!

I still had him wear diapers whenever we drove somewhere, or whenever he slept. But on the second night, Zeke informed me he was a big boy and insisted on wearing underwear. I relented and prayed that he would wake up dry. (I really had no desire to change a bed in the middle of the night.)

After four days, Zeke was telling me when he needed to go potty.

We still have occasional accidents. But we’re diaper free!