And it has us all captive! Kim and I, well mainly Kim, took the initiative this past 4 day off of work to dive headfirst into potty training. Kim set up the idea a week ahead of time by telling Morgan we would be teaching her doll, Morgan Baby, how to use the potty. We've had a potty out and waiting such a moment for well over 6 months now and have never used it.
Kim also devised a sticker reward system to let Morgan celebrate certain aspects of using the toilet the rest of us have forgotten. 1 sticker for sitting down, another for pottying, another for flushing and the fourth for washing hands. Then there are the candy rewards for having dry pants at the start of the adventure and another candy for actually pottying. It's a brilliant system and has worked well for 3 days now.
We even tried introducing an "on the road" element, using the potty at Costco, with great success. It has not been all "fun and games" however and there have been more than 1 accident, but she is only 2. This evening, while Kim was dealing with a fussy Eliza, Morgan decided to wet her training pants while looking me in the face saying, "No daddy, I don't need to pee." Then when she was put on the potty to finish that episode, I went in to put the wet pants in the bin and she wandered away. It wasn't until a few minutes later that I noticed the wet spot on the floor. "Did you have to go and pee on the floor? I asked if you were done and you said yes." "yeah." "Well, are you done going potty or do you want to do it on the floor again?" "Don't get mad at her!" Was shout whispered from the other room.
It is so frustrating when she won't do the simplest thing and yet so exciting when she wants to, succeeds and is proud of it. When she came running over to me screaming, "I peed daddy, I peed!" earlier today I got a big hug and told her, "All you need to learn now is to tie your shoes and drive and you're all set."
Since I started typing this post she has come out of her room, after bedtime, to ask if she can use the potty, event hough she is back in a diaper for the night.
It takes time I keep telling myself.
Kim read in a book today that the most important things in potty training are a positive attitude and patience. Yeah, patience, sure, whatever. I have patients at work I'm not allowed to scream at and kids at home who don't appreciate sarcasm. Day 4 tomorrow, let's hope it keeps getting better.
3 comments:
You are doing a great job but patience is very important. Sounds like you have a good system and just keep on going. GOOD JOB
Like Aunt Bett said, "If they're not potty trained by 16, then you can say there's a problem." Wiser words...
Dylan was potty trained by Starbucks. Thank god for Horizon vanilla milk. Dylan would pee in the potty for months before he would poop in the potty. He often would hide, sometimes in the bathroom to poop in his pants. We had tried everything including bribery. One of these bribes was buying him Starbucks milk if he pooped in the potty. This tactic did not immediately work, though occassionally he would spout this back to us.
One day I was getting a massage. After the massage Dylan informed me that if I took him to Starbucks, he would poop in the potty. I first could not believe that he was willing to try, but second that my 3 year old was manipulating me. Ah well, I drive to Starbucks telling Dylan the whole time that he had to go poop first, and that if he didn't, no milk. We go the bathroom, and the child leaps on the potty and does his business. My jaw dropped as Dylan would cry and scream if we tried to get him to sit on the potty prior to this. Needless to say, he got his Starbucks milk. We did have a slight issue for a few days with Dylan thinking that he could only poop at Starbucks.
Potty training has to be one of the most frustrating parenting things to date, but I have heard that boys are harder :)
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