Potty Talk!
If you don't want to read about our potty adventures, you'll skip this one. Nothing TMI-full, just possibly not of interest to anyone well, you know, not interested. :)
So. We've been a little frustrated by dababybean's complete disinterest in the potty. I really pushed him to try using it a couple weeks ago (no punishment or rewards, but I knew he had to go so I refused for us to leave the bathroom until he did - we ended up being in there for like an hour and a half :P ) and while I kind of regret having put my foot down so firmly, it did get him over the "I can't!" issue and learn that he had some control he didn't realize he had. I knew he had it, because he goes hours dry, he recognizes when he's wet, and he gets through most nights dry.
But, he still really would only use the potty as a bedtime delay tactic. We cloth diaper, so honestly, I didn't/don't feel pressed about getting him "out" of diapers - when he's ready he'll be ready. However, it would be very nice for him to be able to move up from the toddler room to the "pre-primary" room at school both because I think he's ready for the challenge, and because come summer, tuition goes up, but the tuition drop for moving to a higher ratio room is about the same as the increase, so it evens out. But he's been REALLY adamant about not using it at school. The teacher who most frequently does the "potty learning" at school has mentioned it to me and we figured that it might be at least partially because he's not used to going to the potty with his pants on! Apparently she was insistent that he try on Friday, insisting that Mommy wanted him to try (not strictly true, but I'm ok with it), and she actually got him to sit for like two minutes. Woo! We were talking in passing about this for a few minutes Friday when I picked him up, and based on that I decided we'd give it a real "go" (ha ha) this weekend.
When we got home from school Friday I told him we weren't going to wear any diapers this weekend, just undies. I also told him that if we go all weekend wearing just undies that we'll buy some Bob the Builder undies. We already have Thomas and Elmo, but he's a NUT for Bob the Builder lately - Target sold them until like two weeks ago. Argh! Kohls sells them online so we're going to go check out their brick and morter store tomorrow - if they don't have them I'll have to break down and order them. I just hate paying shipping! We try REALLY hard not to use punishment/reward/bribery (they're really all the same thing) as behavioral tools, so I'm a little uncomfortable with myself for that, but I'm trying to look at and spin it as a cause/effect. Yes, I'm being a hypocrite, but it makes me feel better. :P
But! It's all working! He hasn't worn a diaper since we took it off him Friday, and while it's only a day, that's included bedtime and naptime. I've been laying down waterproof/rubberized mats under him to try to minimize potential mess, because I'm not willing to give him a double standard for undies/diapers, but for the most part he stays pretty dry at night anyway, so I. The only "accidents" we've had have been associated with bowel movements which makes sense - pretty much everybody pees a little bit when they have a BM, right? (rhetorical question!)
We had a slight miscommunication in which he got really upset because he thought he couldn't go outside without wearing a diaper (?!), and he keeps seeming to make a connection between going potty and being allowed to do something, like play on his new tricycle. I'm not preventing him from doing it if he doesn't potty, but I encourage/make him potty before we go outside, and he almost always does actually go, so I can see how he's making the connection, I just don't know how, other than to keep reminding him he's not getting to go play because he's going potty, it's just something we do like eating and drinking and sleeping, to get that through to him. So far other than the allure of the undies, I've avoided any kind of of reward system.
Huge breakthrough this afternoon is that he went poopy on the potty! First time ever! Yay! I don't think he actually meant to. *lol* He's also taken to wanting to use the toilet rather than the potty, too, which is totally awesome as it will make pottying out of the house so much easier. He's so darn PROUD of himself, it's adorable... he concentrates so hard and when he goes he's ecstatic. I have to admit my attempts to avoid excessive praise have failed miserably in the face of using the potty.
But, I'm pretty proud of myself for having chosen the right time to push the issue, and doing it the right way this time, and I'm very excited to see him having/developing so much control and awareness of his body, and I'm a bit sad at this additional step away from babyhood. It'll be interesting to if going to school in undies next week works...
So. We've been a little frustrated by dababybean's complete disinterest in the potty. I really pushed him to try using it a couple weeks ago (no punishment or rewards, but I knew he had to go so I refused for us to leave the bathroom until he did - we ended up being in there for like an hour and a half :P ) and while I kind of regret having put my foot down so firmly, it did get him over the "I can't!" issue and learn that he had some control he didn't realize he had. I knew he had it, because he goes hours dry, he recognizes when he's wet, and he gets through most nights dry.
But, he still really would only use the potty as a bedtime delay tactic. We cloth diaper, so honestly, I didn't/don't feel pressed about getting him "out" of diapers - when he's ready he'll be ready. However, it would be very nice for him to be able to move up from the toddler room to the "pre-primary" room at school both because I think he's ready for the challenge, and because come summer, tuition goes up, but the tuition drop for moving to a higher ratio room is about the same as the increase, so it evens out. But he's been REALLY adamant about not using it at school. The teacher who most frequently does the "potty learning" at school has mentioned it to me and we figured that it might be at least partially because he's not used to going to the potty with his pants on! Apparently she was insistent that he try on Friday, insisting that Mommy wanted him to try (not strictly true, but I'm ok with it), and she actually got him to sit for like two minutes. Woo! We were talking in passing about this for a few minutes Friday when I picked him up, and based on that I decided we'd give it a real "go" (ha ha) this weekend.
When we got home from school Friday I told him we weren't going to wear any diapers this weekend, just undies. I also told him that if we go all weekend wearing just undies that we'll buy some Bob the Builder undies. We already have Thomas and Elmo, but he's a NUT for Bob the Builder lately - Target sold them until like two weeks ago. Argh! Kohls sells them online so we're going to go check out their brick and morter store tomorrow - if they don't have them I'll have to break down and order them. I just hate paying shipping! We try REALLY hard not to use punishment/reward/bribery (they're really all the same thing) as behavioral tools, so I'm a little uncomfortable with myself for that, but I'm trying to look at and spin it as a cause/effect. Yes, I'm being a hypocrite, but it makes me feel better. :P
But! It's all working! He hasn't worn a diaper since we took it off him Friday, and while it's only a day, that's included bedtime and naptime. I've been laying down waterproof/rubberized mats under him to try to minimize potential mess, because I'm not willing to give him a double standard for undies/diapers, but for the most part he stays pretty dry at night anyway, so I. The only "accidents" we've had have been associated with bowel movements which makes sense - pretty much everybody pees a little bit when they have a BM, right? (rhetorical question!)
We had a slight miscommunication in which he got really upset because he thought he couldn't go outside without wearing a diaper (?!), and he keeps seeming to make a connection between going potty and being allowed to do something, like play on his new tricycle. I'm not preventing him from doing it if he doesn't potty, but I encourage/make him potty before we go outside, and he almost always does actually go, so I can see how he's making the connection, I just don't know how, other than to keep reminding him he's not getting to go play because he's going potty, it's just something we do like eating and drinking and sleeping, to get that through to him. So far other than the allure of the undies, I've avoided any kind of of reward system.
Huge breakthrough this afternoon is that he went poopy on the potty! First time ever! Yay! I don't think he actually meant to. *lol* He's also taken to wanting to use the toilet rather than the potty, too, which is totally awesome as it will make pottying out of the house so much easier. He's so darn PROUD of himself, it's adorable... he concentrates so hard and when he goes he's ecstatic. I have to admit my attempts to avoid excessive praise have failed miserably in the face of using the potty.
But, I'm pretty proud of myself for having chosen the right time to push the issue, and doing it the right way this time, and I'm very excited to see him having/developing so much control and awareness of his body, and I'm a bit sad at this additional step away from babyhood. It'll be interesting to if going to school in undies next week works...