Thursday, September 25, 2008

Soliciting Advice

So, I'm trying to potty train my 2 year old. He will be 3 at the end of November. He is not really interested. I bought some pull-ups (to make things easier on me), and he actually cried when I put the first one on. He's doing a little better about it now, but really, I'm not sure how to proceed. Any suggestions from all you old hat mom's who know what you're doing? This is only my second attempt, and my first with a boy. Everyone told me boys would be easier, but so far that is not panning out so much. I'm not completely at my wits' end yet, but this is so much different than Jonni, my girl, that I just don't know how to start really! Anyway, lots of comments people! I need a plan!
The Almighty Liz
P.S. The car is still running just fine.
And we are almost all well. John and Erik are sickest. When does THAT happen? Never.

13 comments:

Mary said...

That's funny...everyone told me girls were easier. What do they know? I wish I had some good suggestions, but I am the absolute worst potty-trainer ever! (And Launa was easier for me to potty-train.) I'm thinking though, that if potty training is making Erik cry, he's really not ready for it yet. Another thing is, if he hates that wet feeling, you can always buy the icky reusable training pants with the plastic covers. And if he hates being wet, it will give him incentive not to have accidents. That means that you'll have to clean his poop by hand though. :( That's all I have. Sorry you're having potty issues.

Mary said...

Also, you might want to wait til Erik is feeling better before you really start pushing the potty training. If he's not feeling well, he shouldn't be trying to learn a new skill if he doesn't want to. It'll only make things harder for everyone, and may have a negative connotation for him, making it even HARDER to potty train him.

lizS said...

oh yeah, i'm not really pushing any issues right now. the kid is miserable enough! no, i'm planning. i'm statigizing. because i'm tired of changing diapers! i need to have a game plan in place with this one, i think, in order to succeed.

Bruce said...

boys are clearly harder. ross was almost 4 befor the job was compleetly done. he would hold it (#2) all day untill we put a diper on for bed time and then he would go in the diper. i have herd that you can just let him go arround the house with nothing on on bottom and he will see the istant results of not going to the bath room. once again you are left cleaning up poop. never tried it, just some thing i herd. i think we usually do it by asking them all the time, like every 20 min if they need to go and then congradulate them big time when they do. then go to they training under pants. they are thicker than normal under where. there are some accidents of corse but it folows a natural progression. ask renae. she is the one that does most of the work on this at our house.

Emily said...

Sigh. I had all these grand plans for how I was going to have Madeline potty trained by Christmas. Now? Hey, maybe next Christmas!!! ;-) Let me know if you find anything that really works great--I could use advice, too.

lizS said...

we did the naked bottom thing with jonni. but she had the basic idea, and was just being obstinate. (big shocker) erik isn't showing any signs actually; he doesn't wake up dry, he doesn't go in a corner to drop his bombs, ect ect. if he wasn't almost three, i wouldn't even be bothering. however, he IS almost three...

Dana Cheryl said...

I learned in some child psychology classes that many children aren't fully potty trained until kindergarten. Everything I've read says to wait until they ask... Bribes seems to work too. If you can find something that interests them enough. Good luck!

timpani76 said...

Bare bottom, with both kids.

Vance did not wake up wet, made no indication that he wanted to be trained, but he was almost 3!

I read somewhere that boys need to see their daddies going pee, ALOT. So, get John to take Erik pee. Also, Vance really liked going ON things, like trees and car tires. Only boys can do this!

I think you have to make the potty training seem BETTER than the diapers. Give him incentives (CANDY!), give him praise, and whenever I got mad at all, that would set me back with Vance. You getting mad over the messes just makes it seem like diapers are more fun.

lizS said...

no, i totally haven't gotten mad yet. this is erik; he's nearly impossible to be angry with. and john does take him pee, but he can do it more.

Renae said...

So, I guess I'm an "old hat mom?" (When did THAT happen?!) Unfortunatly, I don't know how to do it either. Yes, I've done it three times, but I'm no expert. It seems to me that when they are truly ready, they just "get it" all at once. (Unless they have some crazy fear of the toilet monster, like Ross did. That's another story). Until they are ready, all efforts are fruitless. I don't know how to potty train! It just happens. You try and they don't get it. You try again, they still don't get. You try again ... one day they get it. I don't know. Sorry for being so unhelpful.

Eyepoke said...

no renae! that is most helpful actually. now i know that i should be more relaxed and less stressed out about the whole thing. have a more layed back approach, instead of a freaking-out-cause-he's-almost-three approach. :)
liz

Andrea said...

OK. I want to start this by saying potty training is my least favorite part of parenting and that I stink(literally) at teaching boys how to use the potty. Now, that being said, I have potty trained two boys and here are a few bits of info.
I always made them clean up their messes and help wash out their messy underwear. It really helped...they were more likely to go in the potty if they knew how sick it is to clean it up.We had a jar of skittles or M&M's and they got one every time they went pee and 2 every time they did....well you get the point. I have a million other little hints but this is becoming very long. Oh one other thing, this last time potty training Tyler my neighbor told me something that actually helped a lot. Role Play what they are supposed to do. So you sit at the table and say, "If you have to go potty and you are at the table, what are you going to do?" They you both run to the potty and act like it's all urgent and you practice from different places in your house. Then when they have an accident they have to practice it like 10 times. So if Tyler had and accident in the kitchen I would say, "Uh-Oh let's practice what you'll do next time. If you are in the kitchen and you have to go potty you should run, run, run to down the hall and run, run run, into the bathroom...." Tyler would get so sick of having to practice it 10 times after he had an accident he stopped having them. OK - WOW that was a lot. Make of it what you will!

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