So. Big stuff happening here in our household.
For one thing, I'm in the midst of trying to potty train Donovan. Again. Well, for serious this time. As in, he's been naked from the waist down for the past 2 days (expect for naps/bedtime). He had major screaming meltdowns yesterday about wanting a diaper on, which thankfully didn't recur today (that's the part that we always stopped at before, not wanting to "push it," this time I'm standing firm). That's about the only progress we've made, though. So far he'll just pee and notice it, saying "Hey, I'm peeing!" like it's this way-cool thing, then go on with his playing. We've had 3 "catches" but they're pure coincidences. I'm thinking tomorrow we'll go for cotton training pants, and maybe feeling wet and having to change out of them after peeing will help out (I'm also putting him on the potty often, every 10-30 minutes). He talks about using the potty, I think the will is there, but I don't think he has much of a clue yet of when he's about to pee.
I go back and forth between thinking this just might work, and feeling totally and utterly discouraged and calling his preschool to say, "Nevermind on that September start date, this kid's never gonna be out of diapers." BTW, why did I start in the middle of the week? We'd actually planned to start this weekend, but then yesterday morning when D had a massive poo in his diaper and I had to hold him down kicking and screaming because he didn't want it changed (a problem we have way too frequently), I just lost it and declared The End of Diapers. And then I couldn't go back on my word, so we just went with it. I figure we'll give it through the weekend and then... I don't know what we'll do if there's still no progress. I'm not thrilled about going back to diapers and the struggle of yes-you-need-your-nasty-diaper-changed-dammit but I'm also not keen on having the house get peed on all day for weeks on end (thank god for wood floors, most of our rugs are in the garage currently). I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
The second Major Thing that's happening here, is that Quinn has undergone yet another shift and is now allowing me to transfer him down onto his bed for naps again. Writing about it probably means it'll stop tomorrow, but the past few days I've gotten him to take at least one nap on his bed-- yesterday's was a whopping hour and 40 minutes which totally blew me away (today's were a more normal 30-40min). It is incredible how different the day feels when I get that break from him, that time to focus on other things (like my firstborn). This new development has also, needless to say, been a very nice one to coincide with our potty training venture.
So, yeah, that's what we're up to. What I would like to know from you, if you have kids who are past the diaper stage, is this: what approach did you take for potty training, at what age, and how long did it take before your child knew when s/he had to go and could use the toilet mostly independently, most of the time. I don't need potty training advice as I'm pretty sure I've heard every bit there is under the sun. But, I am really curious to hear of other people's actual experiences and timetables.
Thanks! =)
Oh I feel for you right now Marcy! I can't comment on my own little one but I can comment on what I experienced with little Max.
ReplyDeleteHe seemed to be "poop" shy. Would hate it when people knew he was going, and I figured it out too and then would rush onto the potty trainer. I know we read a few books on there and had a few accidents in the big boy pants.
As for the peeing, I would keep an eye on it and try to get him to go every 30 or so minutes. He was wearing cotton big boy pants. As time went on, we did have a few accidents out in town, but I started sensing when he had to go, so I took it upon myself to try and avoid those accidents.
Quite possibly it will be easier with Zack home this weekend for you. Then he too can help get big D to the toilet.
I also have a friend with a boy your age. He was fully trained for #1 but wore a diaper during naps and bed for #2. I think sometimes boys just take longer.
Fingers crossed D takes to it this time!
With my first child we didn't do anything. We signed him up for maternelle in the fall and then just crossed our fingers that he would figure it out. We left him naked a lot, had a lot of accidents, had the potty convenient, and then, voila, one day it just happened. Ok, maybe not, in one day but essentially, over the summer he just figured it out and more stuff ended up in the potty than on the floor. We would talk about it calmly, especially when cleaning up a mess, but we never put him on the potty at regular intervals or anything. He started school in the fall still having the occasional accident but nothing more than that. We didn't pressure or insist. I guess we were lucky??
ReplyDeleteMy daughter just turned two and we've started leaving her naked a lot. She has a lot of accidents and zero successful potty attempts! She doesn't seem to care about peeing all over the floor and thinks sitting on the potty is something that you do for 2 seconds. Oh, well. We've still got some time (she'll start school in Sept. 2012) and perhaps she'll require that we be more creative or proactive since her personality is different. And maybe not...
I guess we just tried to make it as normal as possible.
I forgot to add that we starting really leaving Felix naked starting in the late spring and throughout the summer and he was 2.3 years old or so. His birthday is in December so when he started school in September he was 2.5 years old. When we met with his teacher the June before he started, she said there are lots of kids who come to the school to visit in June and they are not potty trained and something happens in the summer where they figure it out...hang in there!
ReplyDelete