My pockets has been very happy the last 6 months! It’s been exactly that long since we stopped using and buying disposable diapers. Coco was 3 years and 4 months old then.

How did I exactly train him? Did I really train him? Was he too “old” to still be wearing nappies at past 3 years old? When is the ideal age?

All I did was I followed his cues. I just don’t want me and Coco to be pressured. I want to do everything at his own pace. To be honest, I thought I’d have a hard time removing diapers in his life. I’ve actually thought of him as a kindergartner in diapers. But lo and behold, he doesn’t wear diapers anymore!

There was a time when he was little past 2 years old that he started to remove his diapers while he was playing. That was my cue. He doesn’t want diapers anymore during daytime. After his morning bath, he doesn’t wear them until the time I freshen him up at night before sleeping.

During daytime, he would play all day, almost never a pee accident on our floor. I was actually bothered. He wouldn’t pee at all. I would ask him every hour if he wants to pee. I had to drag him downstairs to pee. He would also tell me if he wants to do #2. I carry him all the way down, because I was so afraid he would mess up our floors and actually saving myself from another chore. But most of the time, he wouldn’t bother to pee or poop at all.

But at times, I would still cheat – when I am too lazy to bring him at our downstairs bathroom. So far, close to 5% accidents on the floor or with our mattress of the 2-3 months that he don’t wear nappies during daytime.

I remember one of his motivations before to not wet whatever bottoms he was wearing was having him wear his favorite “bottoms”. He loves wearing pajamas, he is addicted with pajamas. He’d wear it all day. This was during the time that he doesn’t want to pee or forgets to pee or was too busy to pee or was actually too lazy to pee. One time, he accidentally wet himself. He was wearing his favorite Mickey Mouse pajamas. Since it was already wet, I had to change it. He was crying and crying until I was finally able to have him wear his shorts. Since then, his laziness to pee properly lessen.

It was a month before we were diaper-free when we went to my friend’s house for a play date. My friend’s kid who’s the same age as Coco sat on his potty to pee. After that, the other kids got enticed to sit as well. One by one, they peed. Twas like peer pressure at its finest. Coco got attached to his friend’s potty, he didn’t want to stand up and leave it alone. After I encouraged him to play, he would again sit down and try hard to pee, even if he just peed. He would sit there for a good 10 minutes, making himself at home with the potty.

I didn’t think of buying him his own potty because we could just go down stairs for that. But after I told my mom about Coco’s funny attachment with his friend’s potty, my mom bought him his own potty.

Yes, he would sit there for minutes, lots of them, lots of times a day! He would “flush” it and it will play some nursery rhyme when he’s done. There came a time when I wouldn’t need to remind him to pee, he would actually do everything by himself- independently.

So came the night of the night, I put him to sleep and did my work till the wee hours of the morning. Slept and was awoken by Coco because he was already awake. I just let him play and watch TV while I try to sleep again. When I finally woke up an hour or two later, I told him to remove his nappy. He just got back to our room after eating breakfast downstairs. He told me he doesn’t have one. I was surprised, I asked if he has already removed it by himself and he didn’t. I was so shocked that I sat up and checked the area where he slept for signs of wetting it while he was asleep. Nada. He didn’t wet our bed. He had no diapers the whole night and that was his first overnight with no nappy. I got so happy and excited for the thought of him as a potty trained toddler.

I tried again to put him to sleep without a nappy the following night. I made sure he peed before he went to bed. Since I sleep during the wee hours of the morning, I tried to wake him up to pee. He would cry hard for waking him up and he would tell me he doesn’t want to pee. I got to make him pee that time, but I never repeated that forceful way to make him pee again.

I’m not sure why or how he was accustomed to pee in sitting position. I never corrected him, because I feel, he’d eventually learn how to pee like a “real man” in his own time. As long as he’s able to pee properly, I’m good. Last month, I was awoken by a sound of dripping water – like the one coming from a faucet. I was surprised to see him pee “like a real man”. I was so startled, sat up and wait for Coco to finish. I asked him how he learned to pee like that, he said he got it from his dada. In short, he imitated his dada. Most of the time he still pees sitting down, but when he is in the mood, he stands up.

Last month, he started to wake up at night and pee. Since I am still awake around the time he wakes up to pee, I always get startled when he’s standing behind me, “mommy, wiwi..” He would go potty and then go back to bed and sleep. I noticed when it gets really cold early in the morning, he’d wet the bed. So, don’t get me wrong, he isn’t perfect. He could still wet our bed, after all, he is still a baby. So, these days, I ask him if he wants to pee before I finally hit the sack. He normally answer back with a yes or a no. And that’s what I am going to do now – right after I hit the publish button.

I didn’t really give you tips nor answer the most asked questions about potty training. I just shared our experience, but maybe you could also get a thing or two from our journey. And I hope you’ll have a successful journey, to the land of the (diaper-)free(baby. See what I did there?