Sam's Shababaland CD "Star" Chart Complete! (Potty-Training Phase 1 Complete!)

At the end of June, when we had a week of no preschool and a few days of no scheduled activities, I decided it was time to roll up the carpets and take a big stab a getting Sam out of diapers.  When I say roll up the carpets, I mean I realized right after we started this exercise that I needed to roll up the carpets (Sam showed me the hard way while playing with trains in the living room).  I'll say, those first two days were stressful for both of us, but it got the idea across: We would be having a lot more "underpants time" (at least while we were at home).  After a while of me reminding Sam to "try" to use the potty once an hour and every where we went that had a facility (or a semi-secluded bush), something more was needed.  He could hold it for hours, but never (rarely) initiated the need to go on his own (better things to do I suspect).
It was time to try out the tried-and-true Horowitz Family motivational tool, the Star Chart (Sheyna speaks of her fondness for these often--ask her if she still uses them for motivation).  Sam just needed a good incentive.  And what did he want more than anything else, his very own CD of everyone's favorite collection of Shababa (Shabbat-related and inspired) songs: Shababaland!
Once I finally got around to planning out a chart for him, I set a goal for him that I thought would be doable for him within two weeks.
8 days later, Sam has applied over a hundred stickers to a poster board for completing various desirable toileting habits with less and less prompting from adults.  This morning he applied the last four stickers and happily presented in his chart and cash to a surprised Shababa staffer and spent the next 20 minutes clutching and caressing his CD.
Nice work Sam and thank you to the 92nd St Y and Shababa for inspiring the motivation.

The Shababa folks were impressed too, see link here.

Ask me what Phase 2 is...  I don't know.  Someone needs to tell me.  Maybe wiping himself properly and dealing with buttons and zippers on his own, in which case it is going to be a LONG haul to get to the end of Phase 2.  I'll tell you this though.  As the weather turns cold and we seek out some new pants for Sam, elastic waistbands will be highly coveted.