Today day three of potty training. Technically, you could call it month three if you consider the fact that we’ve had the potty kicking around for a while, talk about it all the time and even had infrequent, but successful, pees on the potty (sit down potty and toilet, I use the word ‘potty’ for both).
But this week, we officially began. I am armed with nothing but 2 potties (one that sits on the toilet) and dinosaur underwear.
The Boy has been in pull ups since he was about 14 months old – he outgrew diapers quickly and pull ups were just easier to get on and off. As soon as they fit, he wore them. So that wasn’t something special.
The underwear is new, so we started Monday but putting him in underwear for the day, fully expecting accidents. We’ve been averaging 1 accident (pee) a day, which I am calling a great success!
This process should have been started months ago. He showed all the signs, but we were busy, having a baby in February, travelling almost every month on long drives – I just wasn’t ready (even if he was). So we are starting, maybe a bit behind, but we’re all learning. When we left to the park or the museum the past couple days, we had to put a diaper on him. Things are slow, but that’s okay.
Basically, in the morning we put on underwear, and after an hour or so ask if he needs to go (always is a no) and then put him on the potty, encouraging him to at least try. We also do it if he’s had a lot to drink or just ate.
The pee seems to be going okay. Know what’s weird that works? When he first sits, we put our finger at the edge of the pot and tell him to aim for our finger and ‘oh no, don’t get our finger covered in pee, that would be gross!’ and, he finds this hilarious and tries to pee on us. It’s always in the potty at least, but his motivation is to get us!
The most difficult part is the pooping. Still not done on the potty yet. My husband and I both agree, we don’t want him constipated. So, after 2 days of no pooping (and this kid is usually Mr. Regular, 1 poop, each day, almost same time) we put a diaper on him. Within 40 minutes, sure enough, he pooped. And that’s okay. Better he feel it’s okay to poop than hold it in at all costs.
I want this to be an positive process. I don’t anticipate it being easy, but I don’t want to fight. I believe in positive reinforcement, not punishment, and so far we haven’t used rewards (though, when he does go, we make a big deal and after day 2 celebrated his willingness to listen and at least try, even if unsuccessful, with ice cream. Though, we were eating it no matter what, we just piggy backed it on the ‘yay’ for you thing).
Eventually, I will probably want to pull out things like Smarties, stickers and whatever bribery tactic I can to get this done with. But for now, it’s early, so we’re taking it slow.
But for day 3? I’m pretty proud of my guy. This doesn’t mean there hasn’t been a lot of “I don’t want to” and “NO!” statements, because trust me, there has – sometimes I’ve had to pick him up and put him on the potty, so his willingness isn’t oozing out of him. But it’s a start. And that’s all I can ask.
And this post uses the word poop an awful lot of times.
How did potty training go for you? Any tips? Any stories that I should be aware of?
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