So,our little dude is about 31 months....a little over
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| 'The' Potty chair. |
2 1/2 yrs. old, and to this past weekend showed little to no interest in using the potty instead of his diaper. At about 18 months we did what the pediatrician's literature suggested and took Ethan to pick out his very own potty chair(pictured at right), and let him play with it and sit on it in front of the t.v. fully clothed etc to get him used to it.....well, the interest lasted about a couple days like with any new toy....and no interest was shown since.
We have read not to 'Push It' with potty training as it will just take longer...so we decided to be passive and just let him decide to start showing signs he was ready. Well, that really never happened. We've been reading the 'Potty Book' for months, tried to get him excited that his friends at daycare were starting to do it etc....but nothing really got him motivated. So, mommy did some research and with dad's help we declared this past weekend to be 'Potty Training Weekend'!
I found a method I thought would work and put our own twists on it and so far it has been successful. For you curious moms out there...continue reading....others skip to the end. :) This could get boring.
First, dad and I decided to try a weekend at home potty training method based on my research and suggestion. We cleared our schedules and picked a weekend where we were only focusing on potty training and not doing errands/outings etc. Then, the week or so leading up to 'Potty Training Weekend', we read the 'Potty Book' lots, made a special trip to get 'big boy' underwear that E got to pick out himself(bought quite a few just in case) and in general psyched him up to get ready for the weekend using examples of other kids using the potty at school, telling him he was a big boy etc. Then....Saturday came....
Friday night we had a particularly rough night with him. For whatever reason he decided to be up most of the night and not go back to sleep after 3 a.m. or so. :( Not a good way to start the day. No matter. He crashed on the couch around 6 and by 8 was awake. Potty Training Weekend commenced!
Day 1: Saturday - As soon as he was awake, we switched out his diaper for undies and let him play/run around in just those with a shirt and socks on. Bonus about this....quite adorable in my opinion seeing your kid in little character undies for the first time. Too stinkin cute! But I digress.....we then encourage him to drink lots of diluted juice or water or milk and have a talk about how to use the potty chair when he has to go. The potty chair was strategically situated in whichever room he was in. Because when he had to go, he had to go NOW!
We encouraged extra drinking by giving salty snacks(yes....we gave him popcorn and crackers in the a.m.). The idea is to give him lots of opportunities to have to 'go' so he has lots of opportunities to be successful on the potty. The only caveat...be prepared for a few accidents and to not get upset about it. So...after an hour and a half or so....he stopped in his tracks and said 'uh oh'.....I noticed some wetness starting to appear and whisked him to his potty chair...with undies still on. I told him that it was o.k. and we'd get it next time. We praised him for sitting on the potty chair, and gave him a gummi bear for trying. This happened about 3-4 more times over the next couple of hours. HOWEVER, just before lunch time he actually ran over to the potty, pulled down his undies and went himself! And no accident! With such a big victory he got a gummi AND a super ball and high fives and potty dances! He continued this a couple of more times until nap time. It seemed he even needed no prompting. He never seemed to need to go when I asked, but he knew where the potty was, and what he had to do and did it in his own time! I was thrilled!
After lunch, we tried one more time, then we put on a diaper for nap time. He woke up dry so we 'tried' again and then put on his big boy undies for the remainder of the day. He had NO MORE accidents that day. He received a gummi each time he got something in there and then we explained he'd get an extra special treat if he had a BM in the potty.....since he hadn't all day. By bedtime...still no BM..but lots of success in the peeing department. So, we put on a diaper for overnight. He did wake us in the middle of the night because he had BM'd in his diaper. I think he must've been a little afraid of doing it in the potty chair? Anyway, no big deal.
Day 2: Sunday - As soon as he woke up we put on his big boy undies...about 5 minutes later he was off to the potty on his own. He hadn't forgotten...yay! This day I decided not to push the salty snacks and extra fluids since he seemed to get the hang of it the day before. He continued with no more accidents and after a few hours even BM'd on the potty! We had actually moved his potty to the bathroom on our first floor, because he was doing so well....and I told him where it was.....I thought maybe he needed some privacy to do the 'big deed'. Seemed to work, because shortly after he had! This was call for a special treat...ice cream! The rest of the day went the same...he went on his own when he had to and got his gummi, high five and praise. He also seemed to like to empty his potty into the big one and flush it. Go figure....kids. We also worked on hand-washing after every time and explaining why its important. And...no accidents the whole day! Diaper at naptime (he did wake up wet this day) and diaper at bedtime. And...that was it. The next challenge....knowledge transfer to daycare.
First Day at Daycare after 'Potty Training Weekend' - So after our unexpected success this weekend, we just decided to say no more diapers except at naptime and overnight....including daycare. I explained to him he needed to do the same thing at 'school' as at home and it would be fun to tell his friends about his new undies and how he goes on the potty now.
I also wrote out a sheet(with bullet-points) to give to daycare so they could do the same things there as we did at home...to keep it as consistent as possible. I know...probably a little persnickety....but I wanted to ensure his continued success! It was received well by daycare and I have received 3 updates so far that he has used the potty 3 times and stayed dry! So far so good. I hate to jinx it by even writing this post...but I am just so gosh-darn proud of my little guy! If this continues to go so well.....I really don't know what I worried about in the first place! Now to just tackle the nap and overnight thing once we make sure he's got this day-time thing mastered.
So...after this little venture into potty training I guess here are my top things I've learned...
1) Don't dread it. Approach it with a fun and excited attitude and your toddler will follow suit. Make it a fun atmosphere with lots of positive reinforcement....whether your kid likes stickers,candy( I know I know), little toys and accompany with lots of praise of course.
2) Expect that your child will be successful. No reason not to think so at this point.
3) There WILL be accidents. Deal with it, accept it and move on. Do not get upset in front of your child over it. It won't make them feel good...they DO want to please you.
4) Once you make the commitment to 'undies' (or bare-bottomed) don't go back to diapers(with the exception of sleeping)....they are better able to tell if they're going and need to head to the potty if they can feel/see it....not so easy with an absorbent diaper.
5) Like everything else with kids...be consistent.
Well, that's about it so far for our adventures in potty training.
Cheers!
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