Big news!

This week Cale and I were on our own. No visitors - just quality mother and son time. In Caleb's world this translates to hours of building lego rocket ships and airports interspersed with twice daily swims. I encouraged long naps so I could squeeze in some work and would try to pry the lego out of his hands long enough to sneak in some other games - like fishing at sunset.

Well, I have some big news. I have waited a long time to write this - but here it is - I think Caleb is officially potty trained!!  We have been slowly working on this for months, but Cale has taken this task very seriously since we arrived in Jamaica. He did really well the first 2 weeks, but then we hit a period of 'potty training regression' - a term I quickly learned from google. I began to get frustrated when he had an accident and I really wasn't sure how to get back on track with things. After doing some reading I decided to change my approach and follow some key potty training rules:

1. Never ask if it is time to use the bathroom, tell them when it is time. ('come on, it is time to pee now' instead of,  'do you need to pee?' ) This worked really well.

2. Don't make a big deal out of accidents. Just clean it up with little reaction.

3. Make a HUGE deal out of successes. Try a sticker chart for each accident-free day. I was a bit skeptical of this one, and I somehow felt he was too old to actually feel like receiving a sticker was a big deal. I was dead wrong. 

We now end each night now with a highly enthusiastic ceremony. Caleb gets to put a sticker on his chart as I (and any guests who are willing to participate which has been all so far!) sing 'For he's a jolly good fellow' and 'Caleb, Caleb, he's our man, if he can't do it no one can!' He BEAMS with pride, claps his hands, dances and comes running for high fives. We are now at 27 stickers, and although this doesn't represent 27 consecutive days, it does represent a huge step towards independence and probably my greatest parenting achievement to date. And no more diapers! (Except at night). And now my only problem is figuring out how to put an end to the sticker chart! I'm sure I can google some advice on this  when I need it!