Potty training Daniel has brought me to my knees. Any confidence I had in being a mom who prepares her children to be contributing people in the world has been erased over the last 8 months with three "blood, sweat, and tears" attempts at potty training. I would ask for anyone reading this to leave comments or ideas, but I feel like I have tried everything...every carrot and a couple of sticks.
But here we are again...making the attempt. I have to admit, I lack faith in my child's ability, but I'm trying to not let that show. There is one thing about potty training that makes me laugh...the ONLY thing that makes me laugh. It actually cracks me up, and that thing is this...
One of Christian's desperate attempts to get Daniel to use the toilet was to talk to Daniel using the toilet as a puppet. Christian lifted the seat lid up and down while explaining proper potty usage with this "toilet puppet". After Daniel did his business, the toilet puppet said
"Thank you. It was a pleasure doing business with you. Please come again!"
Daniel copies the toilet puppet now. After he does his thing in the toilet (rarely), he makes the "toilet puppet" say
"Thank you. Pleasure doing business."
He also says it every time he has to practice (my current strategy is making him practice running up to the bathroom from 10 different locations in our house after every accident). He practices a lot. So, at least that is making me laugh!
8 comments:
I know we just talked about this last week, but I have a new found strategy that has worked for me like a charm the last 4 days. I have let Taylie run around completely bare-bottomed and every time she needs to use the potty, she goes and does it! She knows she will end up wet and have to help clean up her accident (which, there have been a few). So far, so good! Maybe that may work...good luck :)
Well, I didnt have to do this with my kids, but Jon says it worked for them. His mom would put cheerios in the toilet for them to "sink", I guess it worked like a charm. good luck!
Well, everyone seems to have something that worked for them. My kids inherited the Nuttall need to go often. I had to take them at least every hour. I know the idea is for them to take charge of making sure they get in to the bathroom on time, but that didn't work well for me. I would start out having them try every half hour. I was taking the responsibility to get them in there at first, but as they had success they started taking care of things on there own. Good luck. You are a great Mom. Denise
Oh, Tara, I wish I had some words of wisdom. But I actually just want to comment and say thanks for the humor. I can totally picture Christian doing that.
Maybe if "squirmy" talked to Daniel?
Tasha
P.S. I'm willing to bet he'll be potty trained before high-school.
Funny you should post about this. I just potty trained Maxson. It's different for every child--but here's my rules:
1. My child should be waking up with a dry diaper before potty training begins.
2. They need to be at a point where they are asking to have their diaper changed (not all the time, but they need to be at a place where having a dirty diaper is something they don't like).
3. It needs to be their decision.
4. Don't use pull-ups. Use training underwear.
5. Make it a movie day. Take them to the store beforehand and pick out their favorite drink and candy. Have them drink their drink during their movies and tell them every time they need to go to the bathroom to tell you. After they go in the toilet, they get some candy. Do that all day long. Don't go anywhere.
6. I only remind my child to use the restroom before bed or before an outing. They need to learn to recognize the need to do it themselves.
My little guy will be turning 3 at the end of May. I knew the time was coming. So I started reading him the book "Too Big For Diapers." I'd been asking every day if he wanted to go on the toilet like his big brother, and he responded "No!" So one day a friend was over playing. He used the toilet and left the door open :-). My 2 year old saw him and I asked, "Do you want to go on the toilet like Simon?" He answered, "Yes!" It was great. He's been potty trained for 3 weeks now, and hasn't wet the bed once. He's had a few accidents his first week--because big brother wouldn't let him go first in the morning! But other than that he's been great!
All kids are different, and I think the oldest children are harder in a family because they don't "see" any siblings using the toilet before they do. I wasn't able to do all my rules with my oldest because of some bladder infections he had at the time that messed everything up. (Additionally, I wasn't sure of what I should do.) That was one of the longest months of my life as a parent! Hang in there. You'll find something that works for you. I asked around and my list is a compilation of success stories from other parents. Good luck!
We tried cheering, pleading, pennies, stickers, and I don't remember what else. What finally worked the best was candy (not my first choice, but we used it out of desperation), a dum-dum for number 1 and a big tootsie pop for number 2. It worked like a charm...until my little one outsmarted me. He decided to go just a little, tell me he was done, then go just a little 30 minutes later...etc...he got 7 tootsie pops in one day. After that we had to work on transitioning to a different reward system! :)
We did a lot of reminding, too, about every 1/2 hr to an hour he had to sit on the potty - just-in-case.
He also got stressed when I threw away a pair of dirty undies. He was pretty proud of those undies, and did not want me throwing them away!
Who knows what will work for Daniel - but I'm sure he'll figure it out soon.. :) In the mean time keep up the laughter so you don't go crazy! :)
Good luck!!
That is hilarious!
I tried potty training Alyssa like 9 months ago and it was a disaster. I gave up and 2 or 3 weeks ago she told me she needed to go potty. Later that day she told me again, then again. She basically did it all herself and has never had an accident. She even stays dry some nights (I'm not brave enough to deal with a wet bed. My suggestion is not to stress yourself out. He will decide he is ready someday, hopefully before kindergarten. But I do understand your frustration.
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