Potty trained!

I don't really know when parents consider their child "potty-trained".  All I know is that Owen is consistently going in the potty and rarely, rarely has accidents.  He's not night-trained, of course, as that won't happen for a year or more.  But we are just SO proud of him!  We are fairly comfortable taking him out in his undies- we just diligently ask him over and over if he has to potty.  He's so great at staying dry.  I can hardly believe it!

I don't know what clicked for Owen, but one day he just started doing it and we kept rewarding.  Treats, bribes- you name it, we did it.  I'm not ashamed.  Ha!  IT WORKED DIDN'T IT?!  I think it was good for him to have a tangible reward rather than just praise- though we did a lot of that too.  A lot of people say that then they get hooked on the reward.  Well, not Owen.  He asks for a treat almost every time, but he doesn't get one every time.  He is fine with that.  We upped the ante to "no accidents all day" or sometimes no treats at all, and he doesn't seem to notice.  So, no issues there.

He is really proud of himself, too, which is great to see.  So it's not all about the (psych nerd moment ahead) extrinsic value (i.e. the reward)- there is intrinsic value as well and that is a good sign that it will stick.  Fingers crossed, of course.

Also, let's hope he doesn't regress (at least not for too long if he does) after baby arrives.  Either way, I think it was wise to train him now rather than waiting- and training him to continue going in his diaper, in my opinion- and then starting at square one with a (likely) more defiant child then.  Plus, you know there was NO WAY I was waiting until he was THREE to start potty training.  I'm just so glad we're on this side of things now.

Hooray, Owen!