Ethan's first Vacation Bible School

If you look on our Shutterfly site: rueboudreaux.shutterfly.com you can see all of our Vacation Bible School pictures!

The Boudreaux Potty Method

Disclaimer: I don't really know what I'm doing, but I'm willing to share what I did. Do what works best for your family and please don't supplant my judgment for yours!
First I'd like to say that I have a child who is eager to please (most of the time) and gets excited about three mini-m&ms. Also Lightening McQueen (aka "Kye") is like Kryptonite for this kid and he will do about anything to get a sticker with Cars on it.

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, potty training occurs at different times in different cultures and this timing is more likely based on the culture and not the child! Ethan and I talked about potty training for two whole months before spending a whole day in underwear. At the very beginning he got three m&ms for just sitting on the potty (clothed or not) and that lasted about a week or so. Then if he sat on the potty that would be good, but he only got m&ms if he peed in the potty. A couple of times a week I would put him underwear for an afternoon so that he could feel what it was to be wet. When he went I would not fuss at him or make a big deal we would just talk about the wetness and that our goal was to keep Wall-e, "Kye", or Elmo dry!

Finally when the big day came to start training I put him in underwear and made him sit on the potty every 40 minutes. The key to this plan is to always have liquids available. I didn't really force him to drink, but I did offer plenty of salty foods. I also added a sticker chart in the bathroom and he got a sticker every 40 minutes when his underwear were dry and another one if he could "go" on the potty. Of course m&ms were still part of the system and I would be sure to bring a canister of them wherever we went. Rewarding for dry underwear was my friend Betsy's idea and I really think it has contributed to our success. Ethan even says now when he is in the bathroom, "Kye dry!"

If you read past posts you'll also see that we did use diapers at night and pull-ups only for nursery and VBS. These are only used when an accident would require major clean up (sheets, pillows, stuffed animals, softees, etc.) or would uneedly inconvience someone else. They do have little pictures on the front so I can tell if he stays dry and reward him as such.

To all you moms out there who are considering potty training, go for it! What's the worst that could happen? If you have any questions please feel free to post them. Betsy did post descriptions of the "phases" of potty training over on Tarnished Teapots and it is great!

I declare thee potty trained!

Okay, so we are still having occasional accidents, but we are in underwear all the time except for naps and night time (and even then we are dry 95% of the time)! I even picked him up today from VBS and he was totally dry! That is amazing since Megan and the other teachers have plenty to do besides ask Ethan if he has to potty. By tonight he had had a 100% accident free day which I am so happy about. Today was a busy day and he ended up crying through part of dinner because he was so tired.

Well, one last day of VBS and then I will try to post a summation of my Potty Training method here since so many of my mom friends have asked. Betsy did quite a good job over on Tarnished Teapots, so if you are desperate for help head on over there.

My Testimony

I'm participating this summer in a bible study that is reading a book called "Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God". In the second chapter Francis Chan points out that our next breath here on Earth is not guaranteed. This morning at our study, our leader asked the question, "How would you live your life differently if you knew you only had a week left to live?" I waited a long time to answer the question because I was fully aware of the repercussions of my answer. Why should I be living any differently when I don't know that my next breath is guaranteed? One of the ladies next to me suggested that she would write up her testimony and email it to all her friends. Instead of email I'm going to post my testimony here on my blog and then on my Facebook account. Here is my testimony:

When I was six or so my mom began bringing my sister and I to church. I remember her faithfulness in bringing us to church almost every Sunday through out the rest of my childhood and into my teenage years. I went to confirmation classes in middle school, but I really didn't experience the Christian faith until I was in High School.

Let me clarify what I mean by experience. In church I was taught that God was the creator of the Earth and everything in it, Jesus was the only true son of God and that he came here to die for our sins. We also learned that belief in Jesus was the key to eternal life. John 14:6 says, "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." It wasn't until a youth retreat in Baton Rouge (when I was a sophomore in high school) that I had someone challenge me with what it truly meant to be a Christian. He explained that believing in God and Jesus was not enough. James 2:19 says, "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder."

Our belief in God does not save us from our sins. We must accept God's forgiveness through his Son and this true acceptance leads to a change in our life. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

That weekend, when I accepted Christ as my Savior, I made a choice to make him first in my life. I started living for him and I was truly a new creation. I remember feeling this joy in my life that I had never felt before. I started serving Christ any way that I could by teaching and leading the youth in my own church. Of course I still sinned, but for those sins I truly felt remorse and then forgiveness.

God has seen me through some real trials in my life. Periods of extreme selfishness and/or pride, holding on to past sins, and the hospitalization of my newborn boy. How faithful he was during these times! I have felt His gentle (and not so gentle) prodding to change and be more like Christ. I have experienced His grace and His peace and I've seen His sovereignty be evident in my life over and over again.

Now I live my life knowing everyday that God is watching over me and that if I died I would meet him in heaven. Instead of rightfully being convicted of my sins and sent to hell, Jesus would stand in my place and cover all of my transgressions. I will spend the rest of eternity with Him!

Would you live any differently if you knew this week was your last? What has God done in your life that you need to share with others? Do you know where your soul will spend eternity (heaven or hell)? Have you surrendered your life to Christ?

If you have a blog I would LOVE to read your testimony! If you post it please leave a link here in the comment section:

Potty Success!

Warning: This post contains more potty training information!

Yesterday we spent the morning at Walmart and then iHop. I was so proud of Ethan because he had no accidents for the whole morning. He even went on the big scary toilets at both Walmart and iHop. When we got home I was changing him for nap time (when he has been doing all his #2s) and I told him that if he went #2 on the potty he would get an easter egg. Well it worked! Until 7 o' clock last night he had an accident free day!

Talking to my friend Betsy made me realize that I do need to change my tactics a bit. Our goal should not be that Ethan is accident free, but that he is self-sufficient in this area. Along these lines, I'm doing things a little bit differently today. Instead of timing Ethan and making him go every 40 minutes I'm putting the ball in his court! I'll ask occasionally if he needs to go and he will still get rewards and such, but I'm going to wait for him to decide if he needs to go. I'll also encourage him to just go on his own or tell me if he needs to go. Next week we will be at VBS so he will need to be able to tell his teachers that he needs to go.

All in all today may be a day of more accidents but in the long run I'm sure it will be worth it.