(Okay, so there are times when you can't use your own kid in a post photo so this will have to do. We have the same chair in white.)Well I had hoped that Seth would start to get excited about using the potty sooner or later, but really I had hoped for this summer when we could do some naked Potty Camp training in the back yard. It appears that he may want to get out of diapers sooner than that.
This past week we checked out a book for kids about Potty Training. Seth was fascinated by it and wants to read it over and over. On Sunday Jason and I were out without him for a short while and decided to pick up a little potty chair just for kicks. (We have sat him on the big toilet but it was a bit much for him to handle.) He saw it in the car when we picked him up and said, "potty." A new word for him.
When we all got home it was time to get into the bathtub anyway so we asked him if he wanted to sit on his new potty. He loved the idea and jumped on. The book said "get something to do, it can take awhile" so we grabbed a book and he was eating a banana too. Lo and behold a few minutes of waiting and he had done it. There was "pee" in the chair! This was a bit exciting to say the least and we gave him oodles of praise, I mean encouragement for the process. (That whole debate on praise verses encouragement will have to wait for another post.)
I freaked out. (Also, not something you want to do as a parent!) I am SO not prepared for this stage yet! I haven't read all the books from the library, I have not sought out wisdom from other mother's of successfully potty trained boys, I have not...the list goes on. If you know me and my Type A personality you also know that I am fearful of potty training. I hate messes, especially ones involving germs! All I picture is this naked little boy running all over my house spraying the walls and furniture with urine and dropping a load on my cream carpet. Laugh yourself silly, but this is my fear.
Monday morning Seth woke up and told me he was wet. I asked him if he wanted to sit on the chair. He of course said yes. So we headed to the bathroom for what, I was not sure. He wanted to sit and we again "got something to do." I, being the impatient parent, realized that sitting there watching him do nothing was getting boring fast. I decided that this would be a perfect time to shower. He would be right next to me and if he needed me I could reach out and help, but odds were he would just sit there and read...right?
Well once I got in the shower things got a bit crazy. I had told him to let me know when he was done. I should have specified when he had "peed". I guess he decided it would be best to take care of things himself, all things. He got up of his chair, got his own toilet paper to wipe (my husband tells me this is not necessary, guess I wouldn't know how guys do these things huh...), and also "cleaned" out the "pee" in his chair. Yikes! I had missed it all. He peeked in the back of the shower curtain after all this had somehow taken place to let me know he was "done." There was the phobia kicking in, for real. There could be "pee" anywhere. I got out my bleach wipes and went nuts, but I did remember to give Seth praise before I went crazy cleaning.
During the day I offered a chance to sit on the potty chair and he tried once, or was it twice, but nothing happened and today he was not interested yet at all. So am I potty training? No, I think we are just potty practicing. But I am more ready now. I have some training pants and Pull Ups just in case he decides to take this thing all the way. I also have every potty training book at the library on request in hopes I do have a bit more time to prepare my brain.
3 comments:
Well, you didn't ask...but I thought I'd give you my 2 cents anyway. I highly recommend not using pull-ups - they're basically the exact same thing as diapers and are just confusing to a kid about where he is supposed to pee. I was a little freaked out about the mess thing at first too - it's still not a joy. But we just put them in underwear and allow for the occasional accident. Pull-ups, I think, tend to draw out the process and just add confusion.
So there you go - you can take it or leave it:)
Good luck! As a mom, I would just about rather do anything than potty train.
Sound like you are starting an adventure... hey go look at my blog - I quoted you! :)
Mandy, there aren't many things that I dread more than potty training. I would recommend the book, Toilet Training in Less Than a Day, by Nathan Azrin and Richard Foxx. I have trained Abigail and Isaac with this method and just started Ethan this past Saturday. I heard about this book from James Dobson on Focus on the Family one morning and it was perfect timing as I knew I needed to start thinking of training Abigail. I had heard horror stories from my friends of the whole thing being drawn out for 6 months or more and I knew that there was no way I would survive something like that. I knew there had to be a better way for me to potty train my kids and this book was a huge help. The premise is that you set aside a few hours one morning and have your child potty train a doll. The title is misleading. It doesn't mean your child will never have any more accidents after that first day. It means that after that one morning dedicated to teaching them "the ropes", they will know exactly what they need to do and be able to do it. This books explains the process step by step and that is what I liked about it. I don't do every step (I can't remember them all), but if you follow the basic idea, it really does work. If you are a structured person, this book is for you. I also believe that the mom needs to be just as ready as the child, because it upsets your whole world for awhile. Good luck!
Heidi
Post a Comment