...Potty Training, plain and simple.
Chris and I have basically avoided the issue for a long time now for several reasons. First of all, Colin was obviously not ready. I had bought a potty months ago and Colin hated the thing. If he was fully dressed and someone was sitting on the toilet, he would occasionally come in and sit on the potty with the seat down. He made no mention that it was a potty, just treated it like a seat that he could talk to us on. Second of all, his tiny little tushy must not have felt very comfortable on the potty because he got his nervous face and would squirm and fly off of that thing as fast as he could. Third of all, Colin never makes any mention of the fact of whether or not he poops or pees or stinks or is wet, or anything of the like for that matter. We literally talk about it every time we change his diaper and still, nothing.
While I have generally shaken time tables in my head, the one that keeps resurfacing is the potty training thing. I know this can take a really long time, and now that he is in school, I really wanted him to be trained as quickly as possible; ideally, before he turned 4 (and I know in a lot of cases it's 5). We just recently started talking about the fact that we had to reintroduce the potty idea so that he can at least get adjusted to it at some point.
I went to Target yesterday and bought this new seat that goes on top of the toilet. It looked like a much better fit for him in terms of feeling comfortable while sitting on it (and it's rather high up so he can't just jump off of it when he doesn't want to do it). I figured that one of the best ways to start with him was to just sit him on it many times throughout the day (in my head, I had once an hour stuck there). Of course, with today being day #1, I didn't put him on it nearly that many times, and most of the time he was really not that happy with me. There was nothing going on in that potty today. On top of that, there really aren't any rewards that we can offer to him considering he doesn't eat much (I mean come on, can you imagine me offering a spoonful of ice cream every time he did something on there?), there isn't any toy that he is highly motivated by in terms of receiving something new every time (he has more toy balls that we can count, so that's kind of out), and I did consider something like a sticker chart, but more than likely, the thing would be ripped down by one of them very quickly.
- sigh -
I REALLY don't want to have to do this one and I am REALLY dreading it. So, suggestions? I don't have a child who tells me anything about his business, so anyone have experience with this? Really, I'm open to ANY suggestion...
5 comments:
Ug, potty training...I am sooo not looking forward to that with Russell. Treats worked with my other kids, but Russell is not into food all that much so never mind treats!
I guess the only thing you can do is keep taking him to the potty as much as you can during the day...And when he goes make a HUGE deal about it. Good luck Kelli!
This may sound strange and embarrassing, but if you and your husband could each make a big thing (only in your own home!) about doing your own business he might want to get in on the act. For instance, if you go to your husband in front of Colin and say REALLY proudly that you just went in the potty and your husband (pre-warned) gives you exactly the same big-time extravagent praise that either of you would give Colin if he went there, then after a few times he might decide he wants some of that praise and attention too... if you keep on sitting him there, eventually he will use the potty by coincidence, and then you can praise HIM big time in the same way, phone up daddy or someone else so he can "tell" them he's such a big boy or anything else that he'll like.
Further along the process, big boy underwear with a favourite character on who he can be encouraged to keep dry ("we mustn't let Mickey get wet!") might help? Good luck!
You can do this! Our kids have PT really easily (although Dariya isn't totally there yet) Alayna has been day time trained since just after turning 2.
We read lots of books on it while they were on the potty and I started by putting them on every night before bath time. When they got good at going then I started adding more times of during the day.
We only use praise, but that totally works for my kids.
Praying that Colin picks it up easily.
My best advice is go at his pace, there need be no time frame. Kids who are pushed usually take much longer and push back instead of train quickly.
Good luck,
I dreaded it with Landon and I dread it with Sutter! Landon didn't care that he was "wet" when he was put in underwear and he had NO desire to not wear diapers. This morning I bought plastic covers to put over underwear and I'm going to put Sutter in them this weekend and see if he reacts to being wet. We talk about going "pee pee" all the time and if he pees in the shower or when we're playing outside (nakes) I make a huge deal about it "YOU JUST WENT PEE PEE" and clap. I'm not sure if he gets it or not but I hope he hates the feeling of being wet and we can go from there...if he's like his brother and doesn't care then I'm not sure what I'll do? Good luck!!!
We tried to use stickers as motivation with Samantha, but it didn't work, so we never used any other motivation, other than having books nearby that she could read while sitting there. Don't worry, he'll get it!! And once he finally does start going in the potty, it may be quite some time beyond that before he starts to *tell* you that he needs to go, or self-initiates it, rather than going when prompted. That part will definitely be in his *own* time. :-( Love that photo, though!!!
Post a Comment