Visit from the Diaper Fairy

Oliver recently decided he was ready to leave his diapers outside on the porch for the Diaper Fairy to take away and give to other little boys and girls who might still need them. After watching another little boy's experience with the Diaper Fairy online, he thought it might be a plan that would be beneficial for him as well. So we packed up all the diapers we could find, except for the pull-ups, and in exchange, the Diaper Fairy left Oliver some Squinkies (which Henry has been trying to eat ever since).

Since there were no more diapers left for Oliver to wear, he had no choice by the dawn his Buzz Lightyear underwear (I'm not allowed to call them undies. Oliver says undies are for girls) and learn to hold it in for the potty or let it run down his legs. The first two days were rough. I was mentally and physically drained chasing Oliver around the house, reminding him to tell me when he has to go and bargaining with him to try sitting on the potty, just in case. There were threats of sending the Squinkies back to the Diaper Fairy with a note that he wasn't ready to be potty trained, there were some accidents in the underwear, and maybe some tears, from both of us at times. Surprisingly though, from day one he woke up dry from his naps, which I thought was a great sign.

After the first two days, a light bulb must have went off in Oliver's already bright little mind because he just seemed to get it. He told me when he had to go pee pee and poo poo and we didn't have any more accidents. He still wears pull ups at night because he's not quite there on waking up dry from an all-night snooze, but the hard part is behind us I believe.

Now there is a side-story to the Diaper Fairy, as depicted in the pictures below. About a month ago I had told Oliver that if he could get potty trained, I would give him the first forty dollars I would normally spend on diapers to him to get a new toy. Lucky me, he doesn't know the value of money yet, so I was able to get away with purchasing these Toy Story Aliens with the rewards certificates we had earned from our Christmas and baby shower shopping. The aliens, however, since that time were sitting in my garage, waiting for the day when Oliver would be potty trained.

After Oliver had two days of no accidents, I made him a chart and told him if he could keep going pee and poop on the potty and not having any accidents for five days, I would give him the aliens. After five long days, Oliver made it and earned the aliens. As one last opportunity for a bargaining tool, I told Oliver that he had to hold the potty chart up and smile for a picture before he could open the aliens. He gladly agreed, apparently feeling the aliens were a big pay-off for a small concession to make mommy happy.