Naked week

Disclaimer: The squeamish among you may want skip this one!
I've been told the best way to initiate potty training is to let your child run around naked, or, as it's called around here, "run around with penis." And that's just what Danny has been doing - inside and outside. In fact, Jim thinks we should just stick him outside naked with a bucket.

It's still early in the training and we aren't expecting much from him. We're just establishing a habit of using the potty and letting him get a feel for his body's functions. After a few naked hours, he's been asking for a diaper. Using the potty is a big change for him and I sense that he probably wants to hold on to the diapers just because it's familiar. He's not yet interested in underpants, even ones with Thomas, Spiderman or cars on them.

On Monday afternoon, I didn't replace his diaper after nap time. I explained to him that he should go to his little potty if he feels pee pee coming out. I expected some puddles. What I didn't expect was for him to take an unprompted seat on his potty and begin tinkling while Jim and I were engaged in conversation, essentially ignoring him. Jim promised him and delivered a new Matchbox car.

This morning, he was once again trotting around naked when I spotted the beginnings of poop. I picked it up (with a napkin, people) and showed it to him. I explained that he needed to go sit on his potty to put more poop in it. Thirty seconds later, we had poop. He was absolutely delighted. And I was delighted that it had not become a battle to get him to sit on the potty.

"I did it. I put poop in the potty," he squealed. "I did a car," he added thoughtfully.

Great, I thought. How long are we going to be obligated to reward every poop and pee with a Matchbox car? And do we have enough room in our house for them all? Until now, Danny has seemed unmoved by rewards. Unfortunately, he seems amenable to the idea for potty training. I guess that I'd rather give a reward than deny a reward in this instance.

We called Daddy and Danny had an actual, very clear conversation with him on the phone. Jim promised to bring him home a new Matchbox car.

An hour later, he came to me and said, "Poop." I cringed, expecting it to be on the floor. It wasn't. He had made another unprompted offering to the potty gods. At least this time he didn't mention cars.