Tristan's ready for underwear!

No, he's not fully potty trained yet but I would say he is 75% there. The past few days he has been making remarkable progress. We tried underwear on him a few weeks ago but he was wetting his pants several times a day. Now, he maybe wets it once. We use diapers when we are out or when he naps and he still stays dry. He'll still be wearing diapers when he sleeps at night for some time but I can see us giving up the daytime diaper pretty soon.

We're obviously really excited! He is not only staying dry most of the day and peeing in the potty 5-6 times a day, he is now also starting to tell us when he has to go. He poos in the potty too but he has been doing that for at least 6 months already. I guess that was also another reason why we didn't push the potty training so hard since he was already pooing in the potty and changing pee diapers weren't so bad.

When we started Tristan on underwear and he was peeing through his pants, Jean-Louis would get really mad. I was less mad because I knew he had to pee and get soaking wet a few times before he would learn. The good thing is that he really hates it when he is soaking wet. Jean-Louis kept telling me he wasn't ready but after a couple weeks of soaking pants, we are finally seeing progress. When I say a couple of weeks, I really mean a couple of days for over a couple of weeks since he only wears underwear at home with me Thursday, Friday, and a few times on the weekend.

I use stickers to reward Tristan on every successful pee. Jean-Louis didn't like that idea initially but I kept telling him that it's okay and it works. Now not only is he sold on the idea of giving stickers to Tristan but he is giving Tristan more than what he deserves, at least more than what I would give him. For instance, Tristan only gets one sticker for a pee. When Tristan came home with a dry diaper after a trip outside and then peed in the potty, Jean-Louis was so impressed that he gave Tristan two stickers! To think he was against the whole idea of potty rewards in the first place! :)

Tristan only wears underwear at home starting Thursday. On Monday, he goes back to daycare and is in his diaper. We can put up with pee on the carpet here but we can't assume daycare can. Today, when I dropped Tristan off at daycare, I spoke to one of the staff members about his potty progress. They told me that they can try underwear on him at daycare too if I wanted to. Yes, please! If we can transition him into underwear during his daycare days too, he will make even more progress. Being in underwear there will also force the staff to be more attentive to his potty needs. Right now, their focus is still on the older kids who are closer to turning 3 years. In just over a month, Tristan will be 2 1/2 (30 months). It's funny to think we have been putting him on the potty on and off since he was around 15 months old. I should have thought of using underwear sooner:( Although, underwear for very small bums are hard to find.