Eli the big boy!

So I said I would write about Eli and his potty training and so here it is! On the 3rd of January Eli and I got to take a trip to Wal-Mart for his new underwear. We made it a special trip with just him and Mom. A few days before I kept asking him what kind of underwear he wanted and he would tell me he wanted Bob the Builder underwear. I hoped they would have some but I knew if they didn't they would have Cars underwear and that would be just as good. So when we got to the store as I thought there was no Bob but plenty of Lighting McQueen and Thomas the Train. That was good enough for Eli, so good in fact that he wanted to hold them the whole time we were in Wal-Mart. I took him over to the toys to see if there were any King cars (he is one of the cars in the movie "Cars"). We didn't see any and that was the one car he didn't have that he really wanted and that I thought could be really good incentive for him. So it was off to Target to see if by chance they would have Bob underwear and The King. Once we got there we went right for the underwear and they had the same thing as Wal-Mart so no reason the get more of the same thing. So we were off to check the toys. I got to the cars and of course there were lots of McQueen and Ramone but no King. I was really worried because I didn't know what else to get him that would help him be excited about going potty. As we were about to leave I noticed a bunch of "Cars" cars in a really strange spot and there at the very back was, THE KING! It was great to see Eli's face when he saw the car and it worked like magic to tell him he couldn't have it until he had learned to go potty.

So on Monday January 5th was the start of our potty training experience. I got the idea of a potty chart from a friends blog (thanks AJ) and put suckers and the King on it. Eli picked Fillmore as his game piece to move around the board and when he did good at going potty he would move a space but if he had an accident he would have to move back. The first day was awful! We didn't even get past Start! The next day wasn't bad but still not great but by the third day he was doing wonderful. I couldn't believe how fast he picked up on it and I think it helped when he really started to understand that when he got to move Fillmore he was getting closer to the KING! What was really funny was to see him go over to the chart and touch the King and talk about how he was getting closer to having him. By the time he got the King he was doing great at going potty and it took him no time at all to finally have his big prize at the end, A SWIM PARTY! I have to say Keith and I are so proud of him for being such a big kid!