Potty Training {CHECK!}

Y'all. Cruz is potty trained.

Potty. Trained.

Ahhhh....it is like the best feeling ever. If I never have to hear the words potty training again? Consider me a happy gal.

He's actually been trained for about a month now, but I wasn't about to jinx us and post about it then. Uh uh, no way. We need to get some time under our belts and make sure it was for real.

And for those of you with toddlers who just haven't taken the plunge? Just know I'm not bragging.

Not even a little bit.

Instead I'm surprised that my kid is actually at this place. I honestly didn't know if it would happen. Like ever. Or at least not by kindergarten.

He started out well. When we had our nanny he thought it was the coolest thing to go pee or poo for her. She would send me all of these great pics of his business...and of course like any mama I would show all my co-workers, all the pics. Even the number twosies. I thought we were going to have a potty trained kiddo before age two.

Turns out if you want your kid to be potty trained, you actually have to work with him when the nanny isn't around. Yeah, it was a shocker to us too. #fail

In January, we decided it was time. Remember this post? And when I say we decided it was time, I mean I decided one random Saturday when we had nothing going on to try and train him in a day. Well that doesn't work too well. Especially when the main character started hating being asked if he had to go to the bathroom.

Come May we were ready to give it another go. Here we used a chart, bought a super cool toy to bribe him with, sat in the bathroom for what felt like hours on end while he just sat there waiting it out. I think it took two months to get 10 stickers on his chart. He was having none of it.

Like any great parents, we gave up. We resigned to the fact that we were going to have diapers in our lives for many, many years to come.

Then after many mornings of him waking up dry in his diaper and telling his teachers when he had to go to the bathroom at school, we just decided one day to send him to school in big boy undies.

He only had one small accident when he was playing too hard and didn't tell them in time. So we kept at it each day.

For the first three nights we put him in a diaper and then just decided to take a chance overnight. And he had no accidents.

We've kept this up since and the kid is rocking it out. Sure, we've had a couple accidents here and there. Yes, there was one night he peed the bed, our bed {gross}. But it's been a month and I can't tell you how proud of this kid I am.

So after a lot of frustration, pee on the floor, bribes, tears {me}, naked time {him}, M&Ms and 7,316 "Cruz do you have to go potty's" - we have ourselves a potty trained kid.

Am I the only one who went through this? Please tell me it will be easier the second time around...right?

Here are some of our potty training must haves:

• Prince Lionheart weePod - their little booty fits in it perfectly and for little boys, the little dinger blocker is a must.
• Potty Hook - to hang the weePod, of course.
• Bumbo Step Stool - helps them hop right up on the toilet seat. The more I can do to make him toilet independent...the better.
• Kandoo Flushable Wipes - trust me, after a couple of #2s you quickly realize toilet paper won't do the trick. These do.

On another note, Cruz's teachers always tell me some great stories about our guy and this one is a fave. Back when Cruz was still in diapers, he went potty in his diaper at school. His teacher said, "Cruz that didn't make me very happy." So Cruz went into the bathroom, sat on the potty, got up, pointed to the toilet and said, "there, Chastain, does that make you happy?"  =)

Only my kid.

Linking up with these lovely gals - Ashley & Jess.