Potty Training
Potty training is HARD. For anyone who had it easy, I'd like to stick my tongue out at you. Okay, not really, but....you get the picture. I haven't blogged much about this because, well--there is no potty-ing happening yet in our potty. But, I just started thinking that I need to remember just how hard this is and what all we had to go through to get it done. We've been talking to Logan for a long time about going on the potty and he even peed on there awhile ago. (Note: That is the only time he has ever peed on the potty.) We've been letting him sit on the potty, reading potty books and watching potty videos forever. So, we've definitely been preparing for this for awhile. Last Monday night, we took him to Babies R Us and let him pick out a new potty thinking maybe that would help. It looks like a truck and whenever he decides to pee in it, it will rev it's engine. It's pretty cute! My sweet friend Tracy also sent me her son's potty watch. It's been helpful because it plays fun kids songs and lights up when it's time to sit on the potty. Tuesday of last week was day 1 and it was awful. He did not want to sit on the potty so it felt sort of like a battle of wills. I was letting him run around naked and he held it for over 4 hours!! I was frustrated, he was frustrated....a big, fat flop of a day. (I KNEW that the worst thing that I could do was get frustrated, but, well....it's hard!) Day 2, I rethought my plan and started rewarding him for sitting on the potty. This is working out well because whenever the potty watch goes off (you can set it to play music every 30, 60 or 90 mins) he is excited to sit on the potty. Since then, every day he'll sit for up to 30 mins at a time every hour to hour and a half, but still has not peed in the potty. Most of the time when we're at home, I let him run around naked or in underwear and just clean up the accidents as needed. He is dry at night and for hours at a time during the day though, so it is not too bad. I've been putting on a pull up when he's sleeping or when we're out and about. We have a brand new package of hot wheels out in plain sight for him. He knows that every time he pees on the potty he will get one plus 2 m&m's. You'd think this would be big motivation, right?
There are many things about this that are hard. Just the routine of constantly putting him on the potty and cleaning up accidents is exhausting. We're dropping whatever we're doing whenever the potty watch goes off and sitting there reading books or whatever while we wait. It's also hard day after day to stay super upbeat and positive when he just tries on the potty. (A silly part of me is thinking, "why, oh why won't you just pee already!?) But, I know that it is more complicated then that and that someday it will click. I feel encouraged that he is sitting on the potty, and also initiating to sit on the potty all on his own sometimes. (Maybe part of it is because he gets 1 m&m if he sits for a decent amount of time, but who cares!)
I think there are 2 schools of thought on this. One is that when they're ready, they're ready and you can't really do anything to make that happen any sooner. These people tell me to back off, relax and that it will happen when he is ready. The other side says that with consistent routine, he will get it. These people say to let him have accidents, feel what it is like to be wet, consistently put him on the potty and he will catch on. I have several friends who's children didn't potty train until closer to 3 1/2 and they say that Logan is still young. I also have several friends who'd kids potty trained closer to 2 1/2 and they say it's all about consistency and sticking with it. So, what's a mom to do? For now, I'm sticking with consistency and trying to encourage him in every way I can. And, doing LOTS of laundry....
Posted in: on Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at at 8:42 AM
