Bring on the potty chair!
Congratulations: Your child is ready to begin toilet training. She is emotionally, physically and cognitively ready to take on this exciting new challenge. Here are some signs that indicate she's raring to go:
She understands the need to "go" and can communicate this to you before she actually goes.
She has nighttime control over her bowel movements.
She demonstrates imitative behavior.
She dislikes wet or dirty diapers.
She is able to stay dry for at least two hours or wakes up dry after a nap.
She is able to pull elastic waist pants up and down.
For more signs that she's going to be a good candidate for potty training, read the 10 Signs of General Readiness.
Well, we decided to take the plunge into the world of potty training. Boy, are we all tired! Maggie has been showing signs now for a few weeks that she is ready (especially with the nakedness!) and having a growing interest in the potty. I discussed it with her teacher on Wednesday and she said, "oh, yes, I noticed her showing signs all day! I definitely think you could try with her!" So, we decided to bite the bullet and give it a whirl!
Started Friday night--one accident but THREE times on the potty!! What a great first start! Between Gymboree and a three hour nap, she had time to potty in her pull up, but she still ended up three times on the potty yesterday. Now, this morning hasn't been quite as successful, with lots of time on the potty, one major pee on the potty, and four accidents throughout the house (maneuvering her out of the pee so she doesn't fall, getting paper towels, and getting the dog not to lick it up is quite the feat!) :)
Now, it is 15 minutes earlier than her usual go down for nap, but I couldn't wait any longer. She is playing in her crib, I'm researching more tips and pointers for success, and then I'm going to take a nap!!
I'm going out with the girls--Jen, Amy, Deb, Jenn Miller, and Stacy (we'll miss you desperately, Tracey, and we won't have any fun, I promise!!)--tonight, so Andrew is on potty duty! We're equipped with sticker books, potty books, and a few other toys that are strictly to be used in the bathroom. She loves to play on the potty (and I have to admit I've had a lot of fun visiting with her and playing with the stickers--lot of one on one time) and LOVES the reward afterwards--washing her hands! How much do I love that handwashing is a treat?
Any good pointers?
15 comments:
My 2 year old, Alexandria, was doing so well for a while, going on the potty most of the time and one day she even stayed dry the entire day! Now I don't know what happened, but she is not interested at all anymore. She'll go only once or twice a day on the potty! The thing that frustrates me is that I know she can do it! I'll try the sticker thing, she LOVES stickers!
Good luck to you and Maggie!
My only advice it to be patient. It simply takes time, but one day Maggie will be totally dry and using the potty each time. I loved the one on one time in the potty too. Good to know I'm not alone in that one. My girls and I had some great bonding and conversations while in there. :) Oh! You might want to make a potty chart as well. This worked wonders with our second as she was slightly difficult in this arena. I just made a simple grid chart and each time she successfully used the potty and was reasonably dry we gave her a sticker. Ten stickers meant a surprise or she could save and get twenty for a toy pick at the store. We also hung it on the bathroom door so she could show everyone her progress which made her SO proud.
Good luck!
My question for you is....do YOU have any pointers for ME??? I'm on my 3rd child, and I'm still clueless!!!
With my daughter Alexis we did it in a weekend and and never had an accident after. We just gave her SO MUCH FLUIDS an had lots of opportunities to go the rest room. We had a "TREAT" bowl and she got one after each SUCCECFUL attempt.
Now with my son Hunter... different story... hes a tricky one! :)
We did the naked method to start out, with the potty in the living room... when she mastered that (about 2 days) we moved it into the bathroom... she used her little potty for many months and just recently I took it away and got her used to using the big toilet with an insert seat and her stool to climb on!
Oh we did m&ms to start too ... eventually moved to stickers, and then no reward....
my daughter just turned 3 and we started when she was 2 1/2 (we were moving overseas and saw no need to try before the big move LOL)
GOOD LUCK! Can't wait to hear reports :)
I'm refusing to give you any pointers because I'm so pissy that you are all getting together and having fun without me, while I'm in moving hell.
No, seriously, I don't have any pointers, other than follow her lead. 7 years and 3 kids later, I still hate potty training the most.
I don't have any good tips, unfortunately, but I just wanted to tell you that I always say my daughter and I have our best conversations while she's on the potty - I laughed when I read that you're enjoying the "potty time." Funny what amuses us mothers, eh?
Best of luck!
Emily
http://momminitup.com
My three year old still wears pull-ups at night (she wets the bed), but she is fully potty trained otherwise. My advice would be to just be patient, and give TONS of praise when she goes! Tessa, even to this day will say "Mommy, I pooped in the potty!" with such enthusiasm...I sometimes think "what did i do?!" but it worked to get her to go #2 in the right place. I would try not to get too upset over the accidents, yet reinforce the correct way to go.
Good luck! I think this is one of the hardest challenges in raising a child!
my only Advice would be what worked for both my girls, we would set a timer and it was set for every 20-25 mins and when it would go off I would take them to the potty and they would go sometimes sometimes not after wards we set the timer again soon I had them telling me it was time to potty, it took 2wks start to finish with my oldest and about 3 months with my 2nd daughter, Praise and stickers are great too!!!
Now my boys LOL whole differant ballpark!
I have six kids and each one has done something different as far as potty training. #1 and #6 were the easiest because my mom trained #1 and #6 was trained by #5! #4 (my youngest daughter) wanted to take dance and I told her that dancers don't wear diapers so she trained herself. #3 (my oldest daughter) was the hardest of all of them. I finally put her in dresses with no panties when we were home and she got tired of changing dresses (little knit cheap dresses). We had tried the m&ms and charts and stickers and....well you get the picture! LOl!
Maggie
The sticker-chart was our miracle. Our daughter absolutely refused to potty-train and we had to put our foot down when she was 3 1/2. She got small stickers for pee-pee in the potty and huge, sparkly stickers for poo-poo in the potty. She was fully day-trained in less than a week with the sticker-chart.
We took a huge piece of posterboard, drew a month-calendar on it and then drew her name in large colorful letters at the top. We taped the chart to the outside of her bedroom door, and every time she went potty, she got to choose a sticker and place it on that day of the month. SHE LOVED IT!!!
She's 4 1/2 now and rarely has accidents, even though she still wears a pull-up at night... her pull-up is almost always dry. By the time she's 5, we're hoping to be done with nighttime pull-ups forever.
Try the sticker-chart; it's cheap, easy and fun. And it worked like a charm for us. We got everything at Target (they have a great selection of stickers in their scrapbooking aisle).
My best advice would be to get rid of all diapers and pull-ups and go straight for the underwear. It means more messes to clean up and more time spent doing it, but I think kids need to feel how wet underwear feels. Once they realize the icky feeling, they learn the importance of going on the potty. Stick with it--she'll get it eventually. Keep us posted! :)
My only advice that I have learned pt'ing 3 little girls is take your cues from them. Sometimes it's quick (my one did it in 2 days) and some take their time. Don't push too hard, and let it seem like it's her idea and make a huge deal about her accomplishments!!
I had a chart that once was filled, we went to the toy store and she could choose something she really wanted. It gave her the incentive to try and pee/poop on the potty!
Good luck!
Good luck! I think we may start Gabby sometime soon too! Gabby is captivated by handwashing too--how funny!
I recommend pull ups...I had my daughter wear underwear inside the pull up. That way she felt wet when she had an accident, but it was not hard to clean up... It worked well for us..maybe for you as well.
Good Luck -
Carrie
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