Josh enjoying his Harley

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMEAnGmu52Y

My Uncle Andy and Aunt Tanya decided it was time to clean out their garage around July 4th... And well, Josh is right about the age to use many of the things they were ready to hand-off. He had to wait about 3 weeks for us to get the new battery and replacement seat because well, mom didn't strap it down well enough on the trip back from MN... and the seat is laying on I-94 somewhere.

But that didn't stop him from trying to ride it. Glad we have it all up and running.

And Josh is still wearing big boy pants. We average 1 accident a day. The # 2 is the biggest hurdle ahead I think. The # 1 accidents have likely been mom/dad's fault for forgetting that he needs to go more often. So a few people have asked what we are doing and although I would love to say that we have done some tricky things, we have actually just slowly exposed him to it... and when he had interest... we tried to encourage it.

• Put the potty out when he was 1... he used it off and on over the last year. At most we had a 1 week stretch at 18 mos where he went every night.
• Big boy pants... bought them of course in characters he loved (Thomas the train and Elmo). Had him wear them over diapers.
• When he did start to show interest... we let him choose which potty... the on the floor potty, the big potty insert, or the big potty.
• On the big potty we sat him backwards and he leaned forward with his hands on the seat. Wonderful for boys who don't quite know how to aim. Finding it very helpful now in public because the big potty is so scary at some places... Thanks Mandy for this advice!!
• When we run errands or go somewhere... first stop is the bathroom. Because they always want to see what the bathroom looks like. So we went to church, grocery store, and another store one day. We made him go before leaving, right away at church, first thing at the grocery store, and then the next store, and as soon as we got home. I couldn't believe he actually went at all of them since the whole endeavor took only 3 hours... but he did. Again - Thanks Mandy for this advice!
• Potty chart (made the cars one and he loves stickers) we totally caved on the reward... he made it only to the first bend in the road and we already gave him the Mack truck... but we were so excited he had been dry in diapers all week! Still using the same chart... and stickers are going all over the road! Did you know you can get really cheap stickers at the dollar store?? Thanks G'ma/G'pa Kirkwood for finding that out!
• Rewards - I am all about bribing. He gets 4 mini marshmallows or a few chocolate chips. Or for a really good day - fruit snacks. Odd choices, but he gets really excited for them. So I will gladly hand them over. At first it was every time. Now it is only when he asks after going... which is about 1-2 a night. But stickers on the chart... that is every time.

So Jim and I continue to cross our fingers that this will stick. We are okay with an accident everyday... for now! :) Although we have thrown out one pair of underoos already... it was just not worth the work!