Getting ready for potting training!! I bought a potty chair and one of the small seats that goes on top of the toilet seat. I bought two books for toddlers about learning to use the potty. I bought that cute, animated DVD and one of the books I got goes along with it. I also got some training pants, some cute big boy pants and some double purpose plastic / training pants.
The boys enjoyed the DVD the most and they have watched it several times. They love the potty song, which is played while they show lots of cute pictures of toddlers running around and playing with a potty chair. They enjoyed playing with the potty chair, sitting on it and taking it apart. They loved one of the books. It has a button that, when pushed, plays the sound of a toilet being flushed and then little kids laughing. Unfortunately, it is extremely LOUD. For some reason, it didn't sound that loud at the store. The boys do not care anything about looking at the pages of this book. They just want to press the button over and over and over again. So, for now (until I can figure out how to break the button), that book is in the top of one of our cabinets:).
I knew it was most likely too soon but today I decided to put them both on the potty and see how they did. Ben wanted absolutely no part of it, so that was the end of that. Nick wanted no part of the potty chair, but is very excited to get to sit on the big potty, mostly because he likes tearing toilet paper into little bitty pieces and putting them in the toilet and he also likes flushing the toilet over and over again. I let him sit there several times today because I thought it was good practice. He seemed interested and I figured at least he is getting some practice on the routine (washing hands after, etc.).
After he finished sitting on the potty (with no results, other than some wasted toilet paper and water) I put him in the double purpose plastic/training pants, thinking that he might feel the wetness and want to go sit on the potty again. He peed in them right away, although he gave no indication of this. Soon after, he wanted to sit on the potty again (which is how I knew he peed in them right away), so I let him and then put him in a pair of cotton training pants with another pair of the double purpose plastic/training pants on top of them (thinking that maybe he would now feel the wetness). Nope. Didn't even notice the wetness and, when I asked him if he was wet, shook his head no, even though I knew he was.
My conclusion is that I am definitely not ready for this and am really dreading the time when I must do this. I don't think they are ready either....well, Ben is definitely not ready, which I pretty much already knew. Nick might be, if I really wanted to work with him on it. I think I would rather wait until he is more obviously ready though....mostly because I am just not ready...and I think if I wait longer, it might be easier and faster.
I am definitely going to need to do some reading about this in order to be more prepared. Oh how I dread this. (Can you tell I hate messes?)
5 comments:
I'm SOOOOOOO with you on the messes thing. I wasn't ready for a long time because of that.
You know, you might want to wait till next summer when they can run around naked outside. That's nice because they can see what's going on but they won't be peeing on your furniture, etc.
I am by NO means an expert on potty training. I can tend to STRESS out about messes and stupid stuff so I was REALLY relaxed on the potty training thing. (Plus we had one that really wasn't ready till he was 4- we tried LOTS of different things) I just decided to give up and not stress. My boys are FINALLY trained. It took a long time though. It didn't bother me. I was just glad not to clean up messes. Each kid is different. Some are scared of the potty. Some are EXCITED about the potty. Some boys are ready at 2 and some aren't ready till 4. One of my kids gets so involved in playing that sometimes he still will have an occasional accident because he didn't realize that he had to go until it was TOO late. (He's our 5 year old.) On the other hand our 20 month old will go stand by the potty and try to take off his diaper. He is trying to be like his brothers. I actually thought, "maybe he really wants to do it." I went to set him on the toilet backwards and he stuck his foot down in it and laughed. :):) It was too funny. I was laughing too hard to freak out about the toilet water dripping on my floor. :):)
OK this has turned into a WAY TOO LONG comment. Sorry for rambling. You are doing a great job with your sons. Don't stress. As tuned in as you are you'll know when they are ready and God will give you the grace to be able to train them...messes and all.
Oh, one other thing...
When we started training my boys we let them go into the bathroom every time with DADDY to watch him pee. It fascinated them. It also took some pressure off me because they want SO MUCH to be like their Daddy and this was a good chance to see another way they could be like Daddy. Good-night!
I am with you. I have no answers for you, but am dreading doing two kids at the same time.
Oh, yes, I remember that book with
the "flush button". MY kids loved
it, too, and I hated it. I think
I finally hid it until I could take it back to the library.
This will cheer you up, evidentally
some people start potty training
at birth:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3528826
As for the mess, John Rosemond (author of a few parenting books and a syndicated column) recommends the "1 week and $75 method" - you are supposed to let them run around naked for a week, then get your carpets and couches cleaned. (Where I live, $75 won't even get you one
room of carpet cleaned.) We didn't opt for that method, but this last summer I was ready to let him run around naked in the back yard (he was 4 and still wearing pullups). Never quite got there, one day things just clicked, and he was suddenly wearing undewear.
Around here, we reach for the "Nature's Miracle" (available at any pet store) whenever my son
has an accident. He's 4-1/2, his last accident was yesterday morning. Our furniture and carpets
are more than 15 years old, so I know that I can replace everything
in a couple of years.
Sue B
Oh, well. If you really want to avoid the mess, I think later is better than earlier. There are really two separate things going on in potty training. The first is learning how to use the potty, including pulling pants down and up, and washing hands. Most two year olds can handle this, once they stop wanting to play with the toilet paper (that takes a while!). The second thing is knowing when you have to go. That's a lot harder, and it's really a developmental thing, you can't push it. especailly with boys. My son is 4-1/2, and he's known how to use the toilet since he was three. He only started wearing underwear 2 months ago, and we've had two accidents this week alone.
(one at home, one at Costco -arggh!)
Good luck!
Sue B
I never even attempted potty training until my kids were well over two for exactly those reasons. And if they don't train quick, they go back into diapers. Lyra has been my quickest trainer so far. I think it took her 3 or 4 days? the others have been around a week to train.
Oh, and we did the naked thing too:):):). It works great.
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