The end of potty training

Five years of diapers, pull-ups and wipes is slowly coming to an end. In January Caleb became fully potty trained during the day... in February, Xander became fully potty trained at night, and this week I thought I'd accomplished the hat trick and Caleb was ready to be fully potty trained at night too. We're real close, but no cigar. After a couple of days of some dry nights, some wet nights Caleb and I decided to take an underwear break and revert to pull-ups at night.

In a way it is a good thing, because we just bought a big stash of pull-ups when Caleb declared he was ready to wear underwear to bed. When we exhaust this stash we'll try again.

Before we brought Xander home I had some anxiety about the whole diaper process. I think it is normal. But after five years I'm a pro. I can change a diaper in two seconds flat on fleeing toddler. I know the true meaning of wardrobe malfunction and blow-up.  I know which brand of pull-ups work best at night on three-year old who loves his liquids before bed. And I know how to handle a nasty diaper rash caused by toddler's diarrhea -- don't ask -- and the pediatric gastroenterologist is right, they really do grow out of it around the age of three.

So, sometime between next week, and when we travel this summer we will not need to pack pull-ups or wipes. I can reduce the number of outfit changes, and the boys might even be able to repeat on pajamas to save packing space. We are coming to the end of an era, and I can't wait!

Flashback: Traveling with the Recently Potty Trained

Anytime you are planning travel with a child that has just started potty training, you have to weigh some things. First, do you regress the child back to diapers or pull-ups (glorified diapers) or do you continue potty training from the road.

On our trip to get Caleb in 2008 we opted to take Xander from underwear back to pull-ups. It made sense. He had just turned three, and his potty training was unreliable at best. Peer pressure meant he was dry at school, but two seconds after he came in the house at night, he had wet his pants. On the weekends it was worse. He would look at you, smile, and pee his pants. I didn't want to rely on this on a 12-hour flight, or while away from the hotel on a mini-excursion, or on a train.

So we went to pull-ups, and he happily didn't miss his underwear. I waited until we got home, and then started a full force effort to potty train. It took about one month to get him retrained, and another three months until he would do number two in the potty ... but it felt like the right decision.

One thing to note is that in Europe the concept of pull-ups is almost unheard of. When you buy them they are thicker, like a good nighttime pull-up. I actually preferred them to the flimsy Huggies or Pampers for traveling. Much less likely to leak.

Recently we took Caleb, now a member of the recently potty trained, on a short get-a-way to Florida. We opted for pull-ups (actually for both boys) on the airplane, but otherwise kept him in underwear. Since we were staying in one place, this was also the right decision.