Potty Progress
When my son was 16 months old, I bought a small potty for him and put it in the bathroom so that he’d get familiar with it. I had no expectations, I just wanted him to know what the potty was used for. He did get very familiar with it and has known exactly what it is for quite a while now. It doesn’t mean he wants to use it, but he knows what it is there for.
Throughout the past year, my son has been showing increasing signs of readiness and has gone in the potty several times. Each time he is very proud of himself and I think that he is going to continue, but it hasn’t worked out that way. Recently he started showing more signs of potty training readiness, such as asking me to change his diaper and telling me when he has gone. Here is a full checklist if you are interested in checking whether your child is ready or not.
My plan is to be a little bit more aggressive in helping him get potty trained. I just ordered a new potty seat for downstairs so that they are accessible for him whenever he needs it. I also got a few potty training books that he absolutely loves.
What type of things have you done to sort of urge your child along in the PT process? At what age did you start? How long did it take? What age did your child fully potty train?
Like you, we made sure we had potties accessible both upstairs and downstairs for him (although he prefers to use the big toilet most of the time). At *every* diaper change, I would sit him on (or hold him over) the potty, and tell him he could potty if he needed to. If he did, cool, if not, fine. It became a predictable routine. I also paid attention to other times he needed to potty (after waking from naps/sleep, etc.) and would take him then, too.
BUT, he did see this new big wheels type bike that he wants, and Tommy told him that if he starts going potty in the potty from now until his birthday without any accidents, then he can get it for his birthday. He is really excited about it! And when it happens, his old bike will then go to Logan. (I told Tommy "watch Logan will see all this and we will have to get them both new bikes in the spring time!")
I have been hearing a lot of good things about the 3 day potty training process. So, I am going to try that with him starting soon. I was going to start it this weekend, but we are going to be out and about all weekend, and after doing plenty of research it is best to start it when you can be home with the child all the time so that you will stay on the whole thing. So, more then likely I will start it with him next Wednesday. Tommy is going to be working a couple of days next week, so if I can get the ball rolling while Tommy is here, it will give Brandon more incentive to want to do it.
Brandon is really good at telling me when he needs his diaper changed. He has been into taking his diaper off after he has pooped, so now is the time to get this show on the road!
Here is how it went with N:
20 mos – potty seat introduced
22 1/2 mos – start more focused training
2 1/2 years – cotton training pants with vinyl covers during day
Regression – 2 weeks later, back to diapers for a 2 1/2 week break, then trainers
2 years 10 mos – regular underwear
3 years – accidents became pretty rare during day
3 years 1 mo – trainers at night
3 years 3 mos – dry most mornings
3 years 7 mos – underwear full time
She may have stayed dry overnight sooner if we’d put her in underwear sooner. That seemed to trigger staying dry. She’s had one accident standing right in front of the potty (almost made it) since Nov 12.
At Christmas, my brother said he thought we’d said she was trained when I had to go help her finish – wipe, wash hands. He thought she ought to be able to go totally alone. They aren’t having kids.