E was 2 years and 2 months old when I decided to potty train her. I read several books trying to decide our best plan of attack. I wanted the quick route. The quicker the better. I went for the "Potty Training in One Day" method. It was the most exhausting day of my life, but it worked. Now boys are so different. They tend to be potty trained later than girls and if you start too early, it won't go as well. Just look for the signs everyone would say. I decided to not worry about it. My boys will let me know when they're ready. I wasn't going to put myself through a "One Day" potty training camp with 2 boys.
At the beginning of the year, I wondered if my boys were close to conquering the toilet. I thought W was ready, but not O. Surprisingly, it was O who decided he wanted to go potty. He took off his diaper, climbed up and urinated with perfection. We were shocked...stunned...overjoyed! We all danced and cheered over such success. W wanted nothing to do with it. (I still didn't push the issue, with either boy, knowing they were still on the young side to be potty trained.) O lasted a couple weeks. He only wanted to go in the morning, at nap time, and before bed. Then he stopped.
W was taking notes. He realized that he could wash his hands with soap if he went potty on the toilet. Well, he loves soap, so that was an easy incentive to go potty. At first, he thought he could get away with just touching the toilet with his bum in order to wash his hands. He was very upset that we told him he had to sit on the toilet and go potty. Eventually, he started sitting. His main goal was to wash his hands. Then miraculously, he decided to start using the toilet to go potty. He does it all on his own now. Half the time, he doesn't even tell me and I find out by hearing the toilet flush. It's all motivated by washing his hands. That's the only thing we have gotten on him about because he keeps washing his hands while playing in the water. He'll go as long as possible before we mention he's been in there too long. But I'm washing my hands! he'll say. He will then bust out into the ABC Song, knowing that's the song we taught him to sing for the duration of his hand washing. He's a clever little thing! These past few days, W has been going potty on the toilet about 2 dozen times a day. It's a bit much, I know, but we just want to encourage him.
Now O...he didn't care up until yesterday. He now wants to go potty like W. Hmmm...I think we're on our way to potty success! Here's a great list of potty training signs for your wee one.
1) Physiological readiness signs for potty training are (Bladder & Bowel Control) :
- Child's awareness of the need to go - demonstrated by squatting, grunting, hiding when child feels need to eliminate.
- No BM's through the night
- Dry diaper for long periods of time i.e. from long naps and/or in the morning.
- Urinate a lot at one time (vs. a little through out the day)
- Some regularity of bowel movements.
- Is your child able to undress him/herself?
- Is your child able to pull his/her underpants down?
- Is your child able to pull his/her pants down?
- Your child can follow instructions - from simple instruction such as show me your nose, to more complex instructions such as putting away toys where they belong.
- Has the vocabulary required to follow your instructions - i.e. understands words such as potty, toilet, wet, dry, underwear, "big girl" etc.
- Is able to imitate behavior.
- Desire to master one's own body and environment - manifested by "I can do it" or "I am a big boy/girl now"
- Child's desire for parental approval
- Child's desire to imitate and desire to be like others
No comments:
Post a Comment