Riding the Rails to James

When we first started potty training, I was going to do a little something nice for every five landings.

By day two, I felt like I was living in a Showcase Showdown. We had initiated a small tee tee treat (mini fruit roll-up) and a poo poo prize (mini bag of gummies) and those were flying out of my hand left and right.

After our 3 day focus, I began to notice some spotting during playtime. He would get so busy with his trains that he’d literally proclaim, “I have to go to the potty!” while he was running to the bathroom. Thus, we had a some spotting again. Thankfully, no puddles.

Ironically, we’ve had no incidents when we are around town probably because I’m more aware so I ask him if he needs to go. So far, all of our spottings have been at home.

We thought we’d create a reason to keep those choo choo’s dry and clean. Since James the Red Engine has been requested for quite some time, we introduced the Railway to James:

This chart has 21 squares. For every DAY that he keeps his undies dry and clean he gets one sticker. We’re six stickers in so far.

Now that we’re in the midst of this, I think 21 days is too big a goal for a 2.5 year old, but it’s what I made so we’re sticking to it. (You know – 21 days to form a new habit.)

At first he didn’t get the concept of “a sticker a day gets you closer to James”, but now he’s totally on board.

Today, he made another mad dash to the potty because he was so busy having “a big road race.” When I gave him a pair of fresh choo choo’s he said, “I can’t get James today.”

Well, we can try again tomorrow!