50%

Did you know that the average age for boys to be potty trained is 38 months? The average age for girls is 36 months. That's right, it takes longer for boys to train than girls. No one seems to have an actual reason for this, though there are several hypotheses out there.

I had read that if you pick the right day, it only takes one day to potty train your child. The secret is in picking the right day. This method...over the few others I had read along with some other statistics about starting too early (and taking just as long....) ....sounded best to me. But with Eli starting preschool in the fall and being the youngest in the group, we decided to ramp up our efforts as to maybe, just maybe, have him at least "day trained" by the time school started.

This week, Eli picked out his potty and some stickers, and we got the charts ready and made sure our M&Ms were well stocked. Once the potty arrived, I let Eli play with it....and did he ever. I almost got nervous watching him toss the inner potty around, stick his head in it, etc, etc... What would happen when he actually started using it? The next day, he started sitting on it, but not using it.

And this morning, finally...after much running back and forth to the bathroom with false alarms, Eli went pee pee on the potty! I know, TMI for many of you out there. We celebrated with Mommy near tears, applause, cheers, high fives, stickers, a potty dance and potty song, and of course M&Ms. Over the course of the day, he was 50% successful (...I didn't even begin to think about nap or bedtime...) And each time, he went quickly to the bathroom as needed and went all by himself. I guess he figured out what it feels like and how to hold it. Now we just have to work on consistency.

We are extremely proud of this little dude!

Here's hoping tomorrow's percentage is equal to or better than today's. I have to say, I'm pleased with the results thus far. Keep your fingers crossed that a pattern of success has begun. Maybe we'll be out of diapers sooner than I thought!