potty training a boy before 2

About a month ago, I was kicking a bag of dirty diapers around the bathroom when I realized that I just don't want to be doing diaper laundry any more. It had started to feel like it was never-ending because dipes have to be washed every 3-ish days, and between the washing and the air-drying and the re-stuffing, diaper laundry almost never ended.

These days, most folks don't even think about trying to potty train until the child is at least 2. Well...surprise surprise, I decided to buck convention in this regard, too. For about three weeks now, Gabriel has been diaper-free at home, with mixed-but-increasingly-more-successful results. He's made consistent progress, just not what I would call super-duper rapidly. That said, we went from peeing all the time everywhere, to peeing occasionally in corners, within a couple of days.

I am more or less following the advice of John Rosemond in his book, Toilet Training without Tantrums*. The very basic idea is what Rosemond calls N75, short for "naked and $75." N75 basically says that when it's time to train (and the sooner, the better), let your child go naked (or wear briefs if a boy) around the house and then when training is over, spend $75 on getting your carpets cleaned. I think it might be more like N100 these days, but since I have all hardwoods I just rolled up my carpets and we're good to go.

I started him off naked during all waking hours, partly because I am cheap and didn't want to buy underwear, and partly because I thought it would be easier logistically since G doesn't know how to take his pants on and off yet. But when I realized that he was having tremendous fun watching the "arc" if you know what I mean, I put him in teeny, tiny tighty-whities. These things are really freaking cute, to the extent that underwear can be cute. No more arc. So that seemed to help a lot with the progress.

He's also been staying dry during naps since we began this little experiment in parenting and socialization, which is admittedly very exciting but only to a small audience, namely ME.

We aren't quite there yet, but he's come a long way and has built up what seems to be a pretty good awareness of his body at this point. Now it's just a matter of getting him to remember to get to the potty, and not just be happy about identifying "go-time." We're about 75% there.

I'm not sure what will come next, but at some point I'll have to get him used to the deal while dressed, and while not at home. All in due time. In the meantime, I think I'm gonna go do the dance of joy.



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