Potty Parade!

Much to our surprise, Drew has taken an interest in his big boy potty. We've talked to Drew about using the big potty and have tried to keep mentioning it throughout the day, but Drew never seemed to care. That is until this past Saturday when Drew very adamantly stated "Drew go potty." He proceeded into the bathroom, lifted the lid on the regular toilet, closed the lid, and then left the room. He did the same thing about 45 minutes later. So that night, after his bath, I asked Drew if he wanted to sit on his potty. He said "OK." A while ago I had bought a new Elmo book that has magnets to create-your-own picture and decided we'd use it exclusively for potty training. (Many thanks to Megan & Noah for the idea, and to Waldenbooks for having such a book on their clearance rack!) So, out came the book, and Drew was hooked. Although he sat on the potty for about 25 minutes, he did not pee that time. But on Sunday, he sat on his potty maybe 5 or 6 times and peed FOUR times that day! How excited were we! Yesterday he sat on his potty 4 times and went once, and today he has sat on his potty 3 times and has gone once. So we'll keep trying and encouraging, but will be careful not to push it. After making a trip to the dollar store, we are now fully prepared. Here's the process...
1) Drew sits on the potty with his Elmo magnet book
If he pees...
2) A potty party! We clap, scream "YEA!!" and get all excited, followed by
3) A potty parade! We march into the kitchen to get the...
4) Potty prizes! Drew gets to pick a dollar store toy item from the potty prize bag and then he gets
5) Potty praises! Drew gets to put a reward sticker on a chart on the refrigerator.

So, that's the plan. We'll see how long it lasts; how long Drew grooves with the big boy potty before he lacks interest all together and we try again at another time OR he's ready for his new big boy underwear (also, of course, Elmo). Part of me knows that Drew is aware of the potty and what he's supposed to do with it, but another part of me also thinks he lacks some cognitive development to know when he has to go and the physical ability to hold it in while we rush to the bathroom. Either way, it's a start. And we will have potty parades until he is in diapers no more!