Jacob goes potty

Two weeks ago, if you would have told me that Jacob would learn to use the potty any day now, I would have laughed in your face. Just the way that he would pee anywhere as soon as he was out of his diaper, giggle with glee, and proceed to step in it....well, didn't seem like a kid ready for the potty to me, you know?

But somehow, amazingly, all of the sudden he decided he wanted to use the potty. I think it was when he was watching Melinda, not too long ago. Melinda always begs Jacob to come "help" her go to the bathroom - to hand her toilet paper, and then flush the toilet for her (she doesn't like the loud noise it makes, and she's had nightmares about the water overflowing out of the toilet and filling up the house). So Jacob's very involved in the process. And then, we went to the library 3 weeks ago, and decided to check out a couple potty books. He especially likes the Once Upon A Potty - Boy book. We also checked out the You Can Go to the Potty book, but he pays more attention to the pictures of a crying baby being taken care of than the bigger boy going potty, in that book. Anyway, just about a week ago, he pee'd in his diaper, and all of the sudden was saying, "I want go potty, mommy!" and started tugging at his pants. I was a little dubious, but I helped him get his pants and diaper off, and he went and sat on the potty. And got the teeniest little trickle out, lol. But he was so proud of himself!! He started jumping up and practically dancing, proclaiming "I did it!!!" He asked to go to the potty a bit sporadically after that, for the next several days.

Yesterday was a lot of attempts, all day long. Every time he noticed his diaper getting wet, he was at my side, begging me to help him go to the potty. And every time, of course, he had practically nothing left to do on the potty, because it all went into the diaper already. And today was looking like a repeat, and I was getting tired of it, fast. So before lunchtime, when he was already on his 3rd trip to the bathroom, I decided to leave his bum naked. He didn't like that at first, he kept asking for a diaper back on, and pants. I eventually compromised and gave him an oversized shirt and leg warmers to wear. (By the way, I used this Flikr tutorial to make my own children's leg warmers (aka "Baby Legs") out of women's knee high socks, it was fun!) He decided that was a-Okay with him! And pretty soon, he was running back to the potty every 10 minutes to go pee, with chants of "Quick quick quickly! Go potty!" And then he'd come back out and tell me, triumphantly, "I pee-peed! I pee-peed, mommy! Come see, come see!" I swear, that kid pee'd on the potty at least 20 times today. (What is the deal with boys!?!?) He *also* pooped on the potty, twice!! He only had one accident all day long. Amazing, huh? I guess being naked just made things click for him, finally!

My only problem is that, at least as of yesterday, he doesn't really seem capable of 1) understanding that he should use the potty before he goes in a diaper, and 2) getting pants and a diaper off quickly enough to take care of things by himself.

And of course, there's the whole issue of a baby joining the family somewhere in the next 3-6 weeks. I've heard many stories from other moms about how their child regressed with potty training after a new baby was in the house. So I don't want to get my hopes up to high that he will keep this up, just in case it all goes back to the way it used to be in a few weeks.

Still - the fact that he did so extremely well in a single day gives me hope that he won't still be in diapers when he's 4 years old!! :)