Summer recap: potty training

I neglected to mention that Gabe is now potty trained. We had been talking about it for a while during the spring, and even though he was on the young side (just over 2), we decided to let him give it a shot while we were all home during the summer. We wanted to wait until after our first trip to Dallas (2 days after Mike finished teaching) because we couldn't imagine flying (with layovers) with a potty-training toddler. During our trip, Gabe told everyone who would listen all about how he would wear underwear when we got home. In retrospect, the process was pretty painless. I did some reading, but mostly followed the advice from a friend whose son potty trained during the previous summer at about the same age.

Essentially, we went cold-turkey from diapers to underwear. Day 1 was fairly novel; Gabe was excited about his new (Thomas and Mickey Mouse) underwear, and he (generally) dutifully sat on the potty every 20 minutes when Mike's alarm chimed. We had a couple of accidents and a couple of tantrums when sitting on the potty got old, but overall it was a good day. Day 2 was not as good. The morning was ok, but after naptime, Gabe refused to sit on the potty at all. After a huge crying fit, we decided to revert to diapers for the evening. I thought it was the sign of a failed attempt (which we were ok with; we knew it was early), but it turned out to be the revitalization that Gabe needed. Day 3 saw many fewer accidents (and Grandma and Grandpa came to visit!), and on Day 4, we drove out to the coast to spend a week at the beach. The vacation turned out to be the perfect potty-training destination; Gabe was completely distracted by the new house and lots of family. We got over our cabin fever from not leaving the house for three days, and Gabe had a perfect toilet: the ocean! By the time we got back home, Gabe was completely potty trained - talk about a productive vacation!

What we didn't expect was that Gabe would night-train himself two months later. I guess he just didn't like wearing pull-ups; by early September, we were completely diaper free. So... who needs size 4 Pampers? :)