At almost exactly 2.5 years old, Hunter is officially off diapers during the daytime.. and has done so for the past few weeks now.

He was showing potty-readiness signs when we were at home. We often have little-or-no clothes on when we’re at home (OK that was a little TMI!), and the kids are the same. Hunter would frequently be bare-bottomed and would start looking for a potty or telling me he wanted to pee.

I realised a HUGE key factor in getting a kid to use their potty regularly and effectively is to have that potty smack in the living room. That’s where they play and hang out, and Hunter simply wouldn’t leave to go into a bathroom to pee. Thus, plonking the potty right there gave us a success rate of 100% – immediately. He’d simply walk two steps to the potty, sit down, pee, and get back up to play again. Easy peasy.

So this went on for weeks and months. And thus posed the problem – how to go diaper-free when outside?  I started trying to take him to the bathroom every hour, despite him wearing a diaper. But, I was told it wasn’t effective as he wouldn’t feel that sense of discomfort when he peed himself. So a few weeks ago, we went THE FULL HOG!!!

Hellooooo BIG BOY UNDERWEAR!!

He was exceedingly proud of them. And we made a huuuuuuggggge deal out of it, and reminded him virtually every 10 minutes, so he’d remember he wasn’t wearing a diaper.

And now he’s diaper free! On the down side, I have to take him to the bathroom every 1-1.5 hours when we’re out. Super hassle. But, it’s been a few weeks now so I’ve gotten the hang of things and know the timings.

The only issue is when he’s at drop-off school (which he attends twice a week, for 3 hours each time). Obviously they don’t follow his timing, since they have their own potty times. Those almost never coincide with his pee timings, so we get accidents. Argh!!! He’ll basically pee right in his pants as he’s standing at the toilet bowl waiting for his turn. Gah. Oh well.. guess holding on for extended periods of time will need some working on.

So now I’m all interested in big boy underwear!

Is your kid a briefs or boxers kinda dude? I like briefs because they ‘fit’ nicely and neatly under shorts/pants.. but I like boxers because they just look SO. DAMN. CUTE.

I’m kinda leaning toward briefs for when we’re out and wearing clothes, and boxers for at-home wear.

Actually, now he just stands up and pees straight into the potty. Which I prefer as when we’re out, I don’t have to clean or prepare anything… he can simply whip it out, and pee 😉 Ahhh… the benefits of having a boy! Unfortunately, he’s way too short to stand and pee into a regular toilet, so I have to bring a plastic bag with me to hold it out in front of him, and he pees straight into that. But I reckon in 6-12 months, he’ll be tall enough to reach the proper toilet. Yay!

Funny how hunter was poo potty-trained at about 11 months old, but not pee potty trained until more than a year later, at exactly 2.5 years old!