No more safety net!

So, after several months of not doing much on the potty training front.  By that I mean, we've let Cole rely on his pull-ups/diapers, since we've been too busy to help him go potty.  While the house was on the market, I didn't want any accidents on the carpet and once we sold the house, we were just TOO busy to do anything with Cole let alone work on potty training.  As a result, he went back to square 1.  He was even telling me that he just wanted to go in his pull-up.

Last Thursday, I said "enough is enough" and we started potty boot camp:-)  Since our entire downstairs (with the exception of the formal room) is hardwood floor, I really had no reason not to let him run naked.  So that's exactly what I did!  I staged both of his pottys in the open area, I gave him juice to drink all night and let him figure it out on his own.  He was 50% successful that night.  The next day, I had concocted this elaborate scheme.  My idea was to reward his potty training success with a trip to the State Fair on the train!  We passed the train every day on our way to school...so I knew this would be a great incentive.  I told him that only boys in underpants get to ride the train.  He immediately told him that he "does not like pull-ups" and "only wants to wear underpants".  Ah...I could see this working already...Literally, five minutes later, Nick calls to tell me that he got off work early to take us to the Fair on the train.  (YIKES! Now what do I tell Cole!  So much for my elaborate scheme....).  So, after majorly back tracking and explaining to Cole why we were taking him to the Fair and (of course) I had to put a pull-up on him (now this kid was totally confused!).  As it turned out, my little pep talk must of done something because he stayed dry the WHOLE TIME!!! 

Saturday and Sunday, I did my best to stay home with him as much as possible--it still wasn't possible to the degree that I wanted to.  He did go with only underwear on, or (better yet, in Cole's mind) with shorts only:-)
He did a pretty good job and much better than I expected considering the disaster of the last few months.

On Monday, he went to school in underwear and only had two accidents (one during nap time).  Monday night, I drew an ice-cream cone and drew circles for 2 stickers and stuck it on the fridge.  I told him every time he pottied on his own, he'd get a sticker and once the ice-cream cone had 2 stickers on it, he'd get his cone.  Well, well, well, that's all the motivation this kid needed.  He got his cone after dinner.  Later that night he pottied again and ask if he could start a new ice-cream chart (LOL).  Of course, the first ice-cream was shared with Isa.  I guess he went outside to eat it and at some point had had enough and gave it to her.