You see, it happened by accident.
I have been trying to read her signals to gauge when and if she was ready for potty training.
How old is she you ask? 17 months.
Think she’s too young? You and lots of other people.
So, I took to the Johnson & Johnson Potty Training book that is in my house- came with some toy or soap or something we have. There were a few things that I got out of reading that book:
- Ask your parents when you potty train. That may be an indicator for when your child is ready.
- Look for signals (interest in when you go to the bathroom is one)
- How many wet diapers does your child have a day? That may be an indicator because the longer they stay dry, the more you can bet they have the muscle control to “hold it”
Here’s why I thought C was ready to go potty:
She has been walking around grabbing her vag for a few weeks now. I was thinking maybe she had a yeast infection, so I called the pediatrician (I’m sure they think I’m a hypochondriac) and they told me to let her walk around with a diaper off.
Earlier this week I noticed her crouching while she walked around the house during the day. She could be playing or eating a snack and she would stop, bend down- stay there for a while and then carry on with what she was doing. Turns out, when she crouched- she was either going wee-wee or poo-poo. And the grabbing her vag? She only did it when her diaper was wet with pee. If there was poop- she’d simply cry and follow me around until I changed her diaper. So, on Monday I said what the heck, let’s go diaperless today and see if she’s use the potty- no pressure, though.
She already knows what the potty is. (She calls it the pah-ee) She’ll sit on it and then get up and say “oo gun” (all done). On Monday she sat on it with her numbers book looking at the “aww-geee” (doggie) and the “bow” (ball) in the book and guess what? She went potty. (Yaaay Cadence) So I gave her a little chewy Gerber fruit snack thingy. (Since she’d never had one before, I figured it was the perfect snack for potty rewards)
Later on that day, we almost had poop on the rug, but like a movie put in slow motion, I ran across the room with the potty and recovered the poo before I had to later help the rug recover from being pooed on. Success! (Sort of) Poop in the potty.
Tuesday- pee on the rug and pee on the kitchen floor. At one point she went in the kitchen, crouched down, peed and then said “Uh-Oooooh.” Which even further convinced me that she knows when she’s peeing and that she probably shouldn’t pee on the floor. Wednesday- nada- she wore diapers. I don’t know why. She just did.
Today, she had a playdate with her friend Nadia who just turned two. They were playing and playing and us Moms were chatting and chatting. Baby C started grabbing her vag- yet again and crying. So, I put her on the potty and my friend asked if her daughter could watch (sure, why not?) Well, Baby C peed and got her chewy Gerber fruit snack thingy. Nadia wanted one too, but her mom said “You can only get one if you sit on the potty and go poop or pee” Well wouldn’t you know, Nadia started stripping off her clothes right away! Sat on the potty and what? Went pee and poop. Holla! Score for the Mommies and two chewy Gerber fruit snack thingies for Nadia (One for pee, two for poop).
So, yeah. We’re sorta kinda potty training. I’m not putting too much stress on it. She understands what’s happening. She enjoys “reading her books” and eating goldfish on the potty.
My friend Jill gave me great advice this morning- remember Pavlov and his dogs? Jill did that with her youngest. She set a timer for 15 minutes and every fifteen minutes, the timer would go off (like the bell Pavlov used) and her boy went to the potty. After a while, he knew when he heard that timer- it was time to go sit on the potty.
Could my girl be any smarter? That’s why we are friends. So, I’ve been setting the timer today and every 15 minutes, we sit on the potty. Sometimes- she pees and sometimes no. But the point is that she’s going.
I’d like to hear some potty training stories. What has worked for you and what has not? How old did you start potty training? Were you strict about it? Where’s the worst place you’ve found poop after letting naked toddler run around? Tell me anything.
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no potty training stories since Eddie is not quite one, but holy cow do I LOVE baby c’s hair! She is adorable. I am not so looking forward to the potty training, to be honest, but I guess we will take that when it comes!
Katie´s last [type] ..Couch to 5K Day One
I used three day potty training (http://www.3daypottytraining.com/) it was fabu! It’s incorporating EVERYTHING you are already doing and takes, yup, 3 days! The e-book was worth its weight in gold and if I have the chance to do it again, I would in a heart beat!
Boo was a little later, she just wasn’t really interested in taking off the diaper, so it took us until she was about 2.5. Like you, I wasn’t really “YOU MUST POTTY” I just worked with the program and watched the miracle of “I want to go potty” happen. I think the key factors were:
1.) Ariel dropped off a package of panties in a pretty bag and then called (her aunt) her and asked boo to keep them dry… Boo was more than obliged to help a princess out!
2.) We bought about 4 new games and played played played… Every time she went potty in the potty there was another round of whichever game she wanted.
I wish you the best, if it’s time, then it’s time!
I, too, have started sorta potty training. I went into it gung ho and I was going to be done in 3 days. This has worked in the past, with my baby brother and with two foster kids I had, but they all had clear signs and were ready. I started this round out of peer pressure. I have two boys, adopted, who are 27 and 33 months old and they are both autistic (but none of my friends believe the three psychologists that diagnosed (whole other issue)). So they do not speak english very well, mostly jibberish, and they don’t really have cues. The youngest doesn’t give a rip about anything and the oldest is VERY interested, but can’t figure out how to control his faucet. Everyone thinks the oldest is well over 3 years old so I get people, like the nursery workers at church, talking behind my back about how he isn’t trained yet. I do want him trained so maybe I’m just lazy, but mostly, I caved to the ignorant pressure.
So, our tools include…
-2 rolls of paper towels
-1 bottle of Clorox wipes
-1 box of swiffer pads
-1 bottle of swiffer juice
-1 kitchen timer
-4 potty training DVDs (you can get a free one at pampers.com)
-lots and lots of underwear (I think the underwear is important so that they get upset when they pee their pants and they realize they don’t like that.)
The cold turkey plan…
-Show the varying DVDs for a week or two leading up to P day.
-Plan for a time when you can be home with no interruptions for 3 days.
-The morning of P day, get up, have breakfast, as usual, and put on one of the DVDs. They typically run for about 15-30 minutes.
-After the movie, take off the diaper and put Baby on the potty.
-Talk about how exciting this is and how the pee pee and poo poo will go in the potty and any rewards, if any (I don’t offer a physical reward).
-Play another DVD and point out how Baby is also sitting on a potty and any other similarities.
-Set the timer to go off at the end of the movie and say “Oooo, let’s look in the potty and see if anything came out.”
-Anytime there is anything in the potty, get excited and offer high fives and such. Then take the potty to the toilet, with Baby, and wave bye bye to the pee/poo as you flush it down the drain. Then wash hands (and mommy washes the potty out).
-Now set the timer for every 15-20 minutes and sit Baby on the potty every time it dings.
-By the third day, Baby should be doing very well and on their way to great success.
The reality…
Like I said, this worked for at least three kids that I’ve trained or helped to train. Boys do take more work and I did not give us uninterrupted time as I knew I needed to. Well, I tried, but hubby really wanted family time away from home so I allowed that. Anyway, we started on Saturday and followed the plan until 2pm. It went pretty well for beginners. J had 4 accidents and 4 successes and C had 3 accidents and 5 successes. J was SO excited about the potty and really wanted to go, but didn’t know his own cues. C didn’t give a rip, but seems more trainable. We got home from family time about an hour before bed so we did not put our underwear back on. Sunday, we stayed home from church, specifically to train, but I was not motivated and we never got around to it. Monday was a day full of appointments so we didn’t do anything. Tuesday through Thursday is school so we didn’t do anything then, either. With this 4 day weekend (Friday through Monday), I want to follow the plan as closely as possible, but I also need to do some running around tomorrow, so we’ll see.
Good luck to you. It sounds like you are on a good path.