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Disclaimer:  This post is filled with potty talk.  Beware of lots of mommy talk about pee-pee and poopy.

Not to jinx anything, but it has been several days since the Monkey's has had a potty-training accident.  And yesterday, he even went to school with big boy pants and came home dry.

Potty training...it's finally happening!

I think I've finally figured out the trick--simply put him in underwear every day, all day.  When I potty trained the Cheese, I made the mistake of putting him in diaper-like training pants during the day.  Warning to all parents who have yet to tackle potty training: kids see no difference in these and diapers.  When they start peeing in their pants for real, they begin to discover how great the potty really is.  If they're wearing something that ultimately is still keeping them dry, they figure "Why bother?" 

With both of my boys it only took a few accidents for them "get it."  The Monkey is now going to the potty to pee without being told.  He has even stopped asking for candy after every time he goes.  For a while there, he was getting a lollipop after every successful time peeing in the potty.  Now I've told him that he can only have a lollipop when he goes poopy in the potty, something that we have yet to do.

Not to gross you out, but the Monkey is down to one poop a day.  He's a pretty regular guy.  But so far he will only poop when he has a diaper on (he's still wearing diapers to sleep in and I'm not always good about getting it off of him first thing in the morning.)  This makes me a little nervous. 

I've heard plenty of stories about kids refusing to poop in the potty for one reason or another.  I had one friend whose daughter would ask for a diaper to poop in.  Yeah, if they have enough warning to know that something's coming to ask for a diaper, there's a bigger issue at hand.  But as the mommy in the situation, what do you do?  Force them on the potty which might cause constipation and other potty issues later?  I think I'd hand over the diaper too.

That's part of the problem with potty training: there are no clear cut instructions on how to do it.  There are plenty of opinions from other mommies, grandmothers, and everyone else under the sun.  There are tricks that worked for one child, but don't for the next.  And our children don't make it very easy on us either.  There are kids that will do fine at home, but will refuse to potty in public.  Kids that won't wake up in the middle of the night to go.  Kids that refuse to sit on the potty no matter what the consequences.  It's no wonder why potty training is such a dreaded part of motherhood.

But right now, it seems to be working for us.  I have full confidence that he will completely out of diapers (minus nighttime) very soon.  Looks like he won't be carrying a diaper bag to college after all.