So I actually know a lady whose little girl is the same age as Chance (19 ½ months) who is already potty trained! (I mean, the little girl, not the lady… oh, good grief I just got a mental image of the lady in diapers. Hee hee! (Yes, tonight I am 13.))
Potty trained. I know that most of the experts say not to even try until your kid is two-years-old, but… potty trained. Like magic, those words. Can you tell? It’s starting to sound pretty good.
Figure… I (like all parents everywhere) have changed diapers non-stop for 19 ½ months. I’m not whining. Really. The standard average is diapers for 2 – 3 years and I’m fine with that; it’s not that big a deal. But we’re also planning on trying for a second kiddo sometime here in the next year (I have no details yet and I’d promise to let you all be the first to know… except Keen and various family members would kill me).
When I think about two kids a’poopin’ in diapers all that comes to mind are hip boots. (Yes, I know I’m being a big chicken. I can’t even imagine the moms who have/had one kid a year.)
Plus… and this has figured strongly in my recent yearning for a world without diapers… Chance has just started “the squat”. You know what I’m talking about. The drop everything, crouch on the floor, grunt a few times (sounds so pretty, doesn’t it?), and voila… The Squat.
Honestly, I think I’d rather be surprised into a diaper changing than see it coming. But that’s just me.
So, however much I find the squat not-so-attractive (though occasionally entertaining) I’m taking this as a sign. He obviously knows something’s going on. Right? Time to start talking about the crapper, time to buy a few potty books, time to plan a candy bribe reward strategy for successful poopy encounters (forgive me for not being up on the latest potty training lingo – it is yet another topic of the parenting books I’ve ignored until necessary). My pediatrician suggested that we introduce Chance to the toilet; i.e. let him see what goes in there, show him how to flush, let him wave “bye-bye” to all objects on their spirally journey.
And there, already, we run into the first obstacle…
Our stupid toilet is black. You can’t see shit going down that thing.
So seasoned parents, any tips, advice, stories to share? Feel free to throw them my way.
I’ll be busy figuring out how to make poop glow in the dark.
– the weirdgirl
My twins wanted us to be inthe poor house via diapers because they waited until after they were three to train. My daughter was ready before my son. bribes worked.
I just wrote about this at one of my blogs the otehr day. http://www.parentingourchildren.com if you want to read it.
A black toilet? That’s cool. I bet you can’t tell when you haven’t cleaned it for a long time either. Um… not that I’m suggesting you would do that. Or me either. Let’s just forget I said anything about cleaning.
We’ve been training for over a year now. She’s knows what to do. She just gets preoccupied. She’s finally starting to ask on her own. I am soooo ready.
My little man is 22 months old and no where near ready for it yet, so I’m putting all thoughts of that on hold for the time being. I have heard, though, that the inconvenience of diapers will be replaced for a while with the inconvenience of “I hafta go potty” at the exact time no clean toilets are available anywhere! Good luck.
My daughter will pee in the pot if we ask her about 12000 times. So, for now, it’s still diapers. She’s 27 months… I’m waiting…
I never told you about my crap turning green for a while, did I? There are different ideas on the net about eatting too much spinach or other dark green things, but I can’t yet make it change by trying.
I’m already imaging your black basin decorated with those white non-skid shower stickers. If you can get Chance to hit in the middle of those targets I’ll be so proud. Ask Keen to find out where the 25-, 50-, and 100-point targets should go.
Daniel is 32 months and only wears diapers at night. We’ve taken it very easy with the training and let him do it at his own pace. I don’t mind changing diapers and see no point in rushing this delicate subject.
I would emphasize fun for your son. Make sure he believes the potty is fun to sit on. It will make a huge difference. It also goes without saying that you shouldn’t get upset when accidents happen and encourage him not matter what happens. some kids like the potty and some like the little adapter you put on the regular toilet. Get one of both and see what he prefers.
Buy LOTS of underwear, with cool pattern of stuff your son loves. Firetrucks, Spiderman, Thomas Tank, Bob the builder, Pooh or whatever. Makes things easier.
Also consider the season. potty training during the winter, in case you have one, is a pain in the ass and you want to get it done either before or after the cold weather comes.
AD
Yeah, I don’t want to push potty training too soon because I’ve heard some kids can get really anxious about it. But I figure if we start talking about it now and make it fun maybe we can pave the way, so to speak.
Target decals, fun underwear… great ideas folks!
Oh, and I don’t worry too much about “accidents”. I got over being particular early. My youngest brother once fingerpainted his crib with poop when I was babysitting him once. And I had to clean it up because I was the only one home. Erg.
Ok so Chase is almost 4 (feb), and we are finally coming to the end of the Poop Adventure. We can see the finish line! I have been training for over a year and actually bought 3 different potty’s and accessories before he FINALLY started going ! He has had only 1 poop accident in over a week! and to my pleasure it was yesterday when we got home! Yeah for me! The very best thingthat worked for me? WEll my son loves hot wheels and if he pottied all day w/o accident he got a car when he got home, I stocked up , walmart 98 cents. But if he had an accident at home, he got it taken away and so forth. Last nite he got his dinosaur mountain taken away. It was a WTG for pooping all week toy and well he has to learn, he was devastated but hes learning! Its always a work in progress! Good luck!
I don’t have much advice to give. My son’s got my number on the whole candy (bribe) reward and often refuses to go pee unless he gets candy. He still doesn’t want to poop in the toilet; he prefers to grunt in a corner and fill his pants. When I ask him if he’s pooping, he coyly says “no.” Even bribing him with toys hasn’t worked. I bought a toy that he really wanted and put it on a high shelf. I told him he could have it when he has dry pants all day. It’s been two weeks without success. I can tell you this — it’s difficult to get sticky poop off of underwear. Hosing them off in the backyard has worked best for me, and I’ve noticed that my plants look nice and green in that spot. 🙂