Little Pooper

I feel confident in saying that Dexter is finally potty trained!  There was a lot of resistance from Dexter and, even when we took away the diapers and pull ups he would hold his poops until bedtime and, well, poop in his underpants in bed during the night.  For a few weeks Ben and I got up every three hours to check on him and see if he needed to use the potty but more often than not Dexter still refused to go or we would open his door and walk into a wall of stink (too late). Then I thought I would give Dexter the option of wearing pull ups or his big boy underwear to bed.  For about a week, he chose pull ups every time but, miraculously, every morning he was completely dry and hadn't pooped.  After a couple days of "holding it", he decided to try to go on the potty and complained that he was scared it would hurt because it would be "big" (he was probably right to fear this since he had been holding it!).  I explained that it would feel good to get it out and that if he did a poops on the potty every day, it would be small and would never hurt.  He got the big one out and, that night, he chose to wear big boy underwear to bed.  Ever since, we've had a poops on the potty at least once a day and he has had no accidents, even during the night! I think giving him some choices and some information finally did the trick.  He doesn't like to go by himself (even though he does all of the appropriate steps by himself, he wants Ben or me to be there with him) so we are now awoken around 5am each day when Dexter comes into our room and announces, "I have to go pee on the potty standing up," or "I have to go poops on the potty." Usually Ben gets up and goes with him while I get up, get dressed, and leave for work or school. For Ben, it's not so great (especially if he's had a rehearsal or gig the night before) but for me, it's wonderful to see Dexter before I leave the house in the mornings.