Potty Mouth
Huck and his potty reward stickers & reward tattoos all over his arms
Huck has done really well with potty training. He is still having some trouble going #2, but every day is better and better. The frantic running has stopped and underwear is staying clean & dry, and not a single nighttime or nap time accident. We're very proud. I guess I have said that to him a lot over the past few days because he came up to me a couple of days ago, and in all seriousness he put a hand on my shoulder and said, "So proud of you, Mama. Huck so proud of you." It's nice to know that he's proud of me, too.
I think this method had been effective. More like six days than three days, but still better than weeks and weeks of potty training.
I think the hardest part was maintaining a happy, upbeat, patient attitude throughout the training. You're not supposed to do any time outs or yelling or snapping at the child during the training. Gentle reprimands at the most. And being exhausted and not leaving his side or the house and playing Cars for hours and hours on end tends to get a person a little snappy. So it was an exercise in patience, which was actually good for me. Rather than rushing to a screams of, "STOP IT! DON'T DO THAT! GO TO YOUR ROOM!" etc., I would have to be more calm and work things out with him. Sometimes I am too snappy with him, and I know that. Although, I have to admit, that yesterday (day 6) I had to suppress a violent urge to scream at the top of my lungs in Target. Not even at him. But I could feel this scream bubbling up my throat and I had to stop it from jumping out of my mouth. I'm pretty exhausted.
Milo, by the way, is super interested in what Huck is doing. He is fascinated by the reward sticker chart and loves to go to the bathroom to point at the potty and say, "Pah! Pah! Pah!" Which I'm sure means "potty." He also tries to sit on it, but only when Huck is already on it. He keeps backing up slowly into Huck and starts bouncing on him if I'm not quick enough to stop him. Huck isn't a big fan of that. I let Milo sit on it without a diaper on (and without Huck on the potty!), but he didn't like it too much. Although I'm considering trying elimination communication with him after Huck is 100% trained just so that Milo doesn't go through the same fear of pooping on the potty that Huck is going through. Their little cousin Maia seems to be doing great with potty pooping and she's 3 months younger than Milo, and I've talked to other moms who have had great success with EC. I don't think it's something I'd do regularly, but I like the idea of introducing potty pooping before the fear develops.
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12 blowing hot air:
I hesitate to tell people about it because then they look at me like I'm a freak, but Sasha started using the potty at 6 months and soon after, she only did her poops in the potty. She "got it" at that wee age. Oh god, no pun intended.
Anyway, maximizing Milo's potty interest can only be a good thing! Sasha fully potty trained right at 2, but girls usually do so earlier, so it's hard to compare. Anyway, my point is, little little ones can totally get it, and using his interest to your advantage is a good thing!
SaraD
Good job Huck and Marigold.
I'm so proud of you both.
I'm also thinking of starting EC when we get back home...I'll let you know how it goes.
Thanks for the input, Sara. I've only heard positive stories about early training, so maybe I'll give it a try. Although, my sister's youngest child trained herself around age 2, and my sister didn't like it much because she says, "the smaller the kid, the smaller the bladder, and the more trips to public restrooms you have to make." I don't think that's a problem with one kid, but it is definitely a hassle with two (or three, in her case). I have visited more public restrooms in the past three days than I probably have been to in the past three months. And trying to juggle my diaper bag, set up our portable potty, get Huck's pants down and pee-pee pointed in the proper direction while keeping Milo out of the public toilet in a stall made for one person has been a challenge!
Heck yeah, that's a challenge! I was worried about the out in public hassle too, and feel like Sasha probably could have been diaper free long before she was just for that reason. Now that she's fully trained though, somehow she has to pee WAY less often than I do! It's crazy.
Also, someone gave me an idea once that you could keep a little potty in your trunk or whatever, and always have that as an option. Peeps that do that line it with a little plastic bag that can then be tossed.
Who knew I had so much to say about potties?!
I have the Potette Plus and I love it--I bring it into stores with me and we use it on the floor since Huck is a little freaked out by the big public toilets and can't seem to relax enough to go.
http://www.amazon.com/Kalencom-2-in-1-Potette-Plus-Blue/dp/B0016L0MMS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1247870097&sr=8-1
Hmm, I meant to make that a link: Potette Plus
We are an EC'ing family. Our son was potty learned shortly before his 2nd birthday but we didn't believe him and kept him in diapers for another six months. We just packed up our diapers once again with his baby sister who is 16 months and takes herself to the potty if we leave her bottomless. :D She's been using the potty since she was 2 months old. She's been essentially potty learned since her first birthday, but we hung on to the dipes for a while until she was verbalizing it for us. I have :LOVED: not having to change poopy diapers. We use IKEA's little potty (they are 3.99 each). We have one in the car, one in each bathroom and a few extras just hanging out. We throw some vinegar in them every once in a while to disinfect.
There is the downside to once you have potty learned your kids you do have to take them to the potty A LOT. Nap/bedtime has also been difficult at times after the initial learning because they now wake up to use the potty. Naps were cut short for about 2 months after the initial learning phase from waking up to use the potty and not going back to sleep, but their bladders finally adjusted and they are back to normal nap schedules now ;)
But the up side is no more diapers. No more diaper bags. :bliss:
Potty training sounds very involved, why I don't I remember this part of my life?? And the public bathrooms, you deserve a medal for going into so many!
I love how much I learn from you. You always have interesting things going on. I had no idea there was such a thing as elimination communication. Now I can act in the know when I hang out with all my mommy friends.
It's been a couple weeks since your post and I wanted to know if the potty training was still going well. I am on day 2 of the 3 day method and I'm eating all of his food rewards out of frustration! Pee is everywhere. Did you have the same problem?
Yes, he's totally potty trained now and is doing great. He even wakes us at night if he needs to go. He's had two pee-pee accidents since our training weekend, and both happened when he was just having tooooo much fun to pull himself away. He found them very, very upsetting, also.
As for all of the accidents, we did have that issue the first two times we tried training. It was very frustrating. This last time I think he was just ready. The first time we tried, he was also in a huge "no" stage, and that was a bad idea to attempt it at that time. 2-year-olds are always saying no, but he was being crazy with the no's where even when I would say something like, "Do you want a cookie?" he would say no.
email me at sadsilver at gmail dot com and I'll send you the method I used. It helped me a lot to have a clear plan.
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Susan
http://toddlergirls.net
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