Thursday, February 25, 2010

Potty Time!

It is that time again! Dun, Dun, Dun... Potty training! Sooooo not one of the highlights of parenting, but one of the last great hurdles of babyhood. Addison took me 6 months to train, and then Addison decided to save Logan the grief and trained him herself in a week. It was so great. I would do that again, but both the kids are in school all day and now it is left up to me once again. I seriously contemplated keeping her home from school to do it for me, but I didn't know how I would write that note to the office. I don't think "potty training younger sibling" would fly as an excused absense. Do you ?

This was a week that was not so busy so I decided to jump in. But, as Murphy's law would have it I got a raging cold this week and feel like poo poo myself. It has made it more more interesting, that's for sure!

I read a comment on another blog from a mom who did this...TV, juice, no diaper, toilet. I must say it was a great idea and worked well to get things started. My only beef with this process is that there are NO good potty seats out there for boys. They say the little lip is for boys, but their poor little tool is squished like a bug. We had several accidents because there was not enough room, or it had popped out! Ugh! I think I need to find a manufacturer and create a potty just for boys! The millions I could make!

Anyhoo...we have had some good progress and successes. He did a poopie on the second day.This is him standing next to his victory. I decided I best not share that photo with you. You can thank me later.
Is there anything cuter than a potty training toddler?
We have three different potties around the house and he has had a red little bum from all three. He has really been such a good sport about it. He is enjoying the attention and story time. He even had monster trucks, Thomas the Train and Barbies as toilet companions today! We'll see how the rest of the week goes! If you have any great pearls of wisdom when it comes to potty training, please, please, please pass them on! Just don't recommend a cold shower if they don't go on the potty. ( I actually know someone who did that to her kids when potty training) I can see you cringing just thinking about that! Wish me speedy luck!

7 comments:

Amy @ Keep'n The SunnySide said...

OK.. what worked for me and mine.

For my son. I bought a potty, and put it in the bathroom. It had a little cup that popped in the front of the potty. He really had no problems with it.

I went out and bought a super awesome marker set that had stamps on one end, of each marker and a little stand they fit in. HE wanted those markers so bad. He lOVED to draw, still does.. LOL. I put them on the back of the "big" toilet seat. I told him that if he "potty'd" for a whole week he could have the markers. He wanted them SO BAD. I would find him in the bathroom starring at them, but not touching them. HA! He would run into the bathroom saying, better go potty. HE had a few accidents, but not many at all. I reminded him about every 30 minutes to "try" to go potty. Sometimes he didn't want to, but I marched him in there regardless. I told him big boys wear big boy underwear like daddy. He totally bought it. It was like a dream. I still cannot believe it worked. He was so happy to get those markers. I kept it up each week with a new "bribe". Some may disagree with my bribe method, but then again, I disagree with a cold shower.

Happy Pottying!

Connie said...

He is so going to hate you in ten years for posting his little 'training' session. I wish you lots of luck and a quick recovery from that nasty cold. {Look at it this way, with your nose so plugged up you don't have to smell his 'results' all that much.}

Mandy Bird said...

So don't like the people who use punishment in potty training. It just makes it worse. I use my oven timer and set it for 30 min. and then have them go sit on the potty. Every 30 min. So it has to be when you can just stay home and focus on that.

tammy said...

He has the cutest, sweetest face ever! Those pics of him are adorable!

Megan said...

Good blackmail pictures to use on Landon when he's dating! I've been thinking about potty training for Micah soon as well. I agree with you on potty chairs for boys, they are not made well! We had luck with using a sticker chart for successes. For my oldest son who struggled with it, he got a lot of little rewards each time until he became more successful, then we spread out the rewards to 5 earned stickers, than 10, etc. Good luck and hope you feel better soon - I have been sick too and have no voice.

McCleary Mama said...

We are getting there too. Logan is finally a bit more interested in his potty chair. I haven't been home to really work with him on it, but I have to admit, that I have NO IDEA how to potty train a boy! And you are totally right, the seats for boys are awful!
Here's to hoping for a quick learner!! =)

Anna said...

I potty trained 2 boys and found that teaching them to go standing up (unless they had to do #2 of course) was easier than having them sit and make a mess all over, as you said. Also the clip on seats were too small for my boys and the little clip on cup thingie never stayed in place. we just had a stool for them to stand on in front of the toilet.

Some fun things that helped us....put a few drops of blue food coloring in the water....yellow + blue = green, also a few cheerio's for "target practice".