So, I started this blog a long time ago (last week) and a lot has happened since then, but here goes. I dated this from when I began, which is when all the pictures are from. On Monday, the 4th, we were totally out of diapers. And, because I’ve decided not to go shopping for six weeks (more about that in another post) we were just OUT. So, I explained the situation to Keane (22 months) and Burke (39 months) that they were just going to have to learn to use the toilet because there were no more diapers, and we couldn’t go to the store to get any. Burke had previously informed me that he would use the toilet when it was warm again (we had a high of zero a few days ago, to give you an idea) so I brought a space heater into the unheated bathroom, and thought that would help. This is round three of trying to convince Burke that using the toilet is a good idea. He still hated the concept, complained it was too cold, cried, carried on, and basically just didn’t want anything to do with it for the first several hours.

Fortunately we somehow have an insane quantity of underwear and training pants, so we just kept throwing those suckers into the bathtub to rinse, and when we were out of the plastic covers (Keane has zero concept of what we are trying to accomplish here!) and trainers, I’d start a load of wash and we’d just keep going. I figure, hey, if Jodie can do this every day for the sake of the environment, etc, I can handle this! And really, once Burke realized there really were no other alternatives, he started to cooperate. And he stayed fairly dry the second half of the day! He even woke up dry in the morning! Day 1 we just read stories and spent a lot of time in the bathroom (We called school off for the first two or three days –we’ll be making it up in the summer, no worries). Day 2  is what this was all about, and we had a TV, movie, video game day that day, and played with cardboard boxes (Neils was constructing a rocket ship for his pet Pokemon–thank you great grandma Holben!) so there was plenty around, and it actually ended up being such a blessing. Burke was starting to really get it and if Keane ever wet it was usually on those cardboard boxes or on the sheet protector on the couch as those were the main attractions!

So, keep in mind this is what our day is like, when Neils reminds me that I promised to bake a birthday cake for Turtlsprout (a stuffed Pokemon doll he bought with Grandma Holben’s Christmas gift money) who was turning 2. He had just turned 1 the day before, but I was so wrapped up in Potty Training that I forgot all about it. So we were trying again. Anyway, Pokemon have their birthdays by twos, don’t you know, so it was all well and good as long as we had the party. So I made the cake (cupcakes, actually in cute little star-shaped foil wrappers since that’s what fits in our oven), but with all the other stuff going on, by the time those suckers were frosted and I’d made the little flag requested for Turtlsprout, it was well after 6pm and everyone was hungry. So "let them have cake" I said, and we just had that chocolate birthday cake for dinner. Thanks Turtlsprout!

The happy ending is that it is now nearly the end of week two of potty training and Burke stays dry most of the time! We even went to Caesarland (Little Caesar’s version of Chuck E. Cheese) today and he stayed dry the whole time! Woohoo!! Way to go Burke!