(photo at Zac's graduation almost five years ago when I was pregnant with Isabelle!)
I spent today, our actual anniversary, potty-training my 2 1/2 year old. In the past, I've been the mom who refuses to think about potty training until my child's third birthday comes and passes, but I was at Costco Monday and couldn't square myself with picking up another pricey box of diapers. So potty training it is. Charlotte has been through a half a dozen pairs of pants today and I've heard, "I no go ba-froom!" over a dozen. Any tips or techniques would be greatly appreciated. If you don't have any tips and tricks other than to "wing it" like I do, than please send positive thoughts my direction. I could sure use them!
Oh bless you! Liv has been potty trained since April & the last 3 months she has completely refused. I am so sick of the argument that I finally just threw the diaper back on & told her to figure it out & let me know. Let me know if you have a break through & GOOD LUCK!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful family! Happy Anniversary!
ReplyDeleteI'm in the midst of writing a post on this.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime...do you own wetbags? I used them cloth diapering, and for potty training accidents, they are a godsend.
We use the bribery system. I use fruit leather cut up in little pieces because my kids can't have fake food coloring...
I think child-led is the way to go. Stress isn't worth it. :)
wha?? how did i miss zac's graduation? i was living in ut at the time. hmm...
ReplyDeleteBoth of my daughters are potty trained way before 2yrs old I think, if not early and I almost don't recall any stress over this. First, I think it will be much easier if they wear a skirt, which make it easy to go potty, and you only need to wash underwear instead of pants. Second, do it during summer time if you could, for the same reason -- they wear very little at that time and easy to go potty. Third, I don't know about other parents, I tell them dont potty in their pants, and they need to try to control and let me know when they want to go potty. anyway, I think discipline should be used when comes to any kind of training in order to be quick and effective. Otherwise, it's just another way of being lazy.
ReplyDeleteHow funny...today Chris and I celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary. We have two girls, 7 and 3.
ReplyDeleteCongrats!
♥Linsey
It is a little late now, haha, but for the one on the way, I recommend elimination communication(look it up). It is not a form of training at all but rather following your childs cues. When your child has to poop, they typically begin to grunt, at that point you take them to the toilet and then reward them. Our daughter is happy with a smile and a poopoo in the potty dance for a reward. She is only 9 months old at this point so can not walk or anything. We are not consistant with it but do it as often as we can. She is so happy after she does it. Sometimes she will even try and let us know before hand in other ways. I am sure she would rather poop or pee in the potty than in her diaper. Knowing when they have to pee is a lot harder, she has only done that in the potty a few times. Then, when they are old enough to really understand, usually before 2 but older than 1 they kind of potty train themselves!
ReplyDeleteGood Luck, my only advice for Charlotte would be to try and get the older ones involved. Seems like she would want to be like her big sisters!
So funny. I am right where you are. Just started potty training this Monday for my 2.5 year old boy. This is my first time and I have been DREADING it. I was totally going to be all easy-going about it too and wait till he was like "oh mom, I need to go potty!" Hah! But I just can't bring myself to buy one more box of diapers. Praying for patience, for me and now for you too;)
ReplyDeleteMy girl is 2 1/2 as well and we stared potty training back in Nov. A treat worked really well as a reward system. I used chocolate raisins (her fave), and making a really big deal every time she went. She caught on pretty quick, after a few weeks there was no more "reward" just always giving her praise for going. But she would still use the potty. She still has accidents every now and then.
ReplyDeleteGood Luck!
Oh I hate potty training... I'm with you, I don't even consider it until they are three. I like the potty training in less than a day method. It is fantastic and doesn't drag it on and on!
ReplyDeleteI whole heartedly recommend the book "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day" it works like a charm. My three kids were completely trained over a weekend. Also 7 of my nieces and nephews as well. It totally works if you do the steps. It is very old and so kinda funny when you read about aprons and diaper pins etc... My little secret is that my husband read the book too &he would stay home (bless his heart) and do the 1st day training and they would listen because it was a novelty to have him home alone with them. Then I would stay home the rest of the weekend and do the follow through. That was it! Give it a try and good luck.
ReplyDeleteHere is the link for amazon but you can get it lots of places.
http://www.amazon.com/Toilet-Training-Less-Than-Day/dp/0671693808
Good luck! Usually I'm all over it when they're 21/2. I'm hoping my 4th one potty trains himself! I'm ready to ditch the diapers too but don't have the patience or time I did with the other 3...
ReplyDeleteI understand what you're going through! It's tough! I just finished potty training my 2 1/2 year old twins! I got them character underwear and told them that we didn't want to get "Thomas the Train" wet or "Princess" wet. Then everytime they went on the toilet they would get a special treat. (Something small like an M&M) It took the twins longer to catch on than it did for my older two boys. It really depends on the child. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteMy 2 year old is potty trained, took 1 gross week, but it was worth it. My method:
ReplyDelete~Put on undies first thing in the a.m. and remind her that she has to go on the toilet from now on.
~When there is an accident (and there will be at first) just clean up, my daughter was totally grossed out, and remind her to go on the toilet. Sometimes she would stop in the middle so I would have her finish up on the toilet.
~Don't give up and don't give in. Just power through one disgusting week and it will be better!
Happy Anniversary! I think we share the same (Jan 10). We just celebrated our 3rd yesterday. We're in the same boat as you, potty training wise. What's been working for us is to just let him run around naked from the waste down at home. It seems if he has a diaper or underwear to go in, he does, but if he doesn't, he knows he needs to go into the bathroom. We had a few accidents (hardwood floors make it okay vs. having carpet!), but he's getting it down now...plus we have M&Ms in a candy machine- so he gets a penny to get out a candy when he's had a successful bathroom trip. Ultimately, it has to be time though! If he's not ready, you're only training yourself to take him, not training him to go. :)
ReplyDeletePotty training- leave it to me and I will take care of it! Char Char and I will camp out in the bathroom:)
ReplyDeleteCrazy to believe that I have now successfully potty trained 6 kids (1 left!!) but the last was by far the easiest because I think I changed my way of thinking. I think it helped that he was a bit younger so I wasn't expecting as much perfection. Google potty train in 3 days - basically it's all about just camping out at home for 3 days and KNOWING for 3 days you're going to deal with it all...success, failure, etc - but it really works to help them realize when they have to go and how to control it long enough to make it to the potty. There is more to it, I didn't follow it faithfully with the last one but his success was pretty quick and very appreciated :D GOOD LUCK!
ReplyDeleteI'm for the bribery team. It really just works! And then they go alone and you're golden. (I potty trained my two boys at 2 using the bribery
ReplyDelete"method").
Good luck.
have you thought about cloth diapers? they are a one time expense that keeps giving and giving. plus, they babes stay a bit wet and in theory want to be potty trained!? i actually have no idea about that, but that is what i'm hoping for my 10 month old son. washing the dipes is lickety split easy and we own a ton of them (like 40) so we never run out, and even buying 40 of them was cheaper than buying disposables for a year.
ReplyDeleteSo I have yet to try any of this since my kiddo is nine months old, BUT my friend had great success when she had her daughter potty train her DOLL. She was so excited to show her doll how to go potty that it worked like a charm. I thought it was so creative and had never heard of that method before so thought I'd share :)
ReplyDeleteM&Ms!!!! I used to give 1 if you just sat on the potty, 2 if you went #1 and a whole bunch if you went #2. Worked like a charm for all three. I also never thought i'd use a musical potty but my Mil bought one for us for our 2nd and she was enamored. She potty trained just after 2 years old. If she starts to fuss too much, take a break and let her pick out some new underwear. Good luck!! Here's to no more diapers......at least until your little bun is done baking.
ReplyDeleteoh good luck with the potty training! i've done it twice and each time was soooo different! my oldest daughter was a breeze - i couldn't understand how it could be difficult for anyone ;) hahaha - then i had my second daughter :) the BIGGEST help to me was a potty book that i got from amazon called "princess potty" by samantha berger ... it's crazy but that book got her using the potty in a day or two .. .i couldn't believe it!
ReplyDeleteHope you had a wonderful anniversary. Hubby and I celebrate our 9th year on the 7th of Feb of this year.
ReplyDeleteThis is about the same age that I potty trained my older daughter... Although the way she was trained was without pants at all. She did not like the wet pants or diapers and she knew she better not pee on the floor so it helped her learn. When she did have big girl pants on to go places it did not make her backslide either.
Oh by the way, loved seeing someone from home on the news. LOL
Feel free to email anytime!