I checked my email this evening and noticed that there were actually comments that had come through on my blog. That is when I remembered that I had a blog….oh, and that it could use a little updating. Unfortunately, my creative moments seem few & far between so I have had little to contribute these days. I will give this my best shot though…
We found out a couple of weeks ago that we are expecting a baby girl. What a dream come true to have a boy & a girl! I feel like the luckiest woman in the world. My life has been a sea of pink since we got the news. This is the first granddaughter on either side of our family and I know she is just going to be spoiled rotten. We already have quite the little wardrobe, for our future princess, and I already know that her outfits are going to be better than my own. It is just so much fun to be able to buy for her.
Ethan is starting school soon and we have his little meet & greet night coming up. I am a teensy bit worried about all of this because they have put him in a class that is for potty-trained kids and my son is nowhere near the potty-trained stage. I have read that it isn’t good to pressure them into potty-training just because you feel under the gun, but it is hard not to feel that pressure.
Potty-training with Ethan is not going as I had hoped. There are a couple of things that inhibit us from being successful. One thing is that he does not like to be naked…..at all. I know that most parents have the exact opposite problem, but our Ethan is very private and thus he must be fully clothed at all times. Other than swift diaper changes and popping him in the tub (both with much struggle) he is always fully clothed from head to toe.
The other problem we have may be the way that we started the potty-training fun. We thought that putting him on his little toilet in front of the boob tube, watching a favorite movie, would be a great way to get him to go on the potty. We also gave him his favorite salty movie snacks, a gallon of fruit punch, and a big bowl filled with warm water and little boats for him to play with. I even was pouring the water very slowly into the bowl to make great sounds for him to potty by. Two hours later he did potty, but now all sitting on the potty must now be done in front of all of his favorite shows, playing with boats, eating snacks, and drinking fruit punch. Are we going about this the wrong way? Oh…the other thing….he has never peed on the potty since this one incident so our tactics have not been a roaring success.
Now I have read these great tales of people potty-training their kids in a day and, God bless them, I think that is just freakin’ wonderful….but I have trouble grasping the realism and if there is really that much success with that. I have heard greater success stories from people who just let their kids decide to go on the potty and when they made the decision, their kid was potty-trained.
Now all I need is for Ethan to make this decision within the next two weeks and we will have absolutely no problems…..
Any suggestions from my little peanut gallery will be much appreciated. If I have to read Once Upon a Potty one more time I just might lose it, however, I will read it four thousand more times if you all think it might make a difference.
I must return back to the potty-training trenches….good night, all!
I am currently potty training my son, who will be 3 in two months. It’s been a long process of slowly having him try out the potty when he wants to, then suggesting the potty more often, asking him if he wants to wear his underwear today, etc. I think we’re near the end – he has been out of diapers for the most part for 2.5 days now.
I would suggest setting a timer and taking your son to the potty every … hour? or whatever and just having him sit on it and if he doesn’t go, he doesn’t go. Maybe make a reward chart to put next to the potty. I have a yellow sheet of paper taped on the wall and every time he goes potty on the toilet, he puts a sticker on the sheet. I said “When you get 10 stickers on the sheet, we can go out and buy more stickers!” No sense in promising some big toy as a reward – that’s not a road I want to go down at this point. When he resists going to sit on the potty, I give him some control by saying, “You can either sit on your little potty or you can go on the big potty.” When he has those two choices, he’s more cooperative.
Also, when we’re home, I’ve been leaving his diaper off and just having him wear his pants – no underwear. The underwear gives him a false sense of security, like he’s wearing a diaper.
I think the key is just keep taking him to the potty every now and then, being positive and making it part of your routine for a while. He’ll get there.
With my daughter, she resisted and resisted and at about 3 years old (or 2 months short of it), she suddenly was ready and decided to stop wearing diapers. Maybe your son just needs to feel completely ready, then he’ll just make the leap.
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Thanks, Amy!! Those tips were great and I can use all the tips we can get.
Ethan just turned three and we are just getting started with the potty-training for him. I imagine this is going to be a l-o-n-g process, but all we have is time, right?? Ha!!
Amy
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