Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Instant Mom Adventures In Potty Training

I wanted to share something that I’m proud and excited about. Since I’m working from home I’ve been working with Younger Boy on potty training.

When I first moved in (September 14, 2008) Younger Boy was in diapers. Never indicated when he had to go potty, just went in his diaper. Yet he was showing signs that he could control it.

I wondered if his resistance to go potty had anything to do with the divorce (his last stance to hold on to anything he knew from before), a lack in support and encouragement to go potty in the toilet (my boyfriend was the only one encouraging it, but since he works during the day Younger Boy was with people who weren’t encouraging it) or a combination of the two with a dash of stubborn. (The latter being Highly likely.)

And then I came along.

After about a week of having to work and change diapers I got pretty tired of it. I went out and bought some training diapers on September 22nd. He started to show some progress, but figured out that the training diaper was just a fancy diaper that worked like his big brothers’ underwear.

Well, I will not be outsmarted by a 2 year old.

I went out and bought toddler underwear. And since Thomas & Friends are his favorite things in his 2 year old life right now, I found some Thomas & Friends underwear. And I decided to ask him what he wanted.

Me: Do you want to wear a diaper or Thomas & Friends underwear?
YB: Thomas underwear.

So we started working on wearing underwear. And oh boy, did my poor carpet get some leaks. (It made me kind of chuckle because the apartments charged a pet deposit fee, and I must say that Younger Boy has put more stress on this carpet then both of the cats combined. Maybe they should, instead, charge a Child Deposit Fee.)

I used a potty chart with heart stickers for going potty on the toilet, and a fish sticker for going poop on the toilet. Here’s a picture of the chart and Younger Boy’s progress:



Not too many fish on there, yet. But, he is recognizing when he has to go potty. He’ll actually go running by me on his way to the bathroom announcing “I have to go potty!” and triumphantly comes out saying “I get a heart.”

He also is sleeping in underwear all night, and wearing underwear all day. In fact, I’ve thrown the remaining training diapers up on the closet top shelf (reserved for out of town trips in the near future, but hopefully not distant.)

Achieved:
  • Peeing on the toilet
  • Wearing underwear full time (out of training diapers)
  • Becoming aware that “I have to go potty”
  • Acting upon that awareness
  • Can put clothes on and pull them off (with some assistance now and then)
  • Sleep through the night without wetting the bed
  • Sleep through a nap without wetting the bed
  • Being able to hold it when someone else is in the bathroom

Next on the list:
  • Becoming aware that “I have to go poop”
  • Acting upon that awareness
  • Pooping in the toilet. (Oh yeah.)

I thought that it was about time to share something exciting from my experience. I don’t require a pat on the back, but it is nice to be able to see that I’ve made a difference. Who knew that seeing the number of those hearts grow on that chart could inspire me that “Yes, I can be an instant mom and, hopefully, do a good job at it.”

5 comments:

Morocco said...

Congrats! I've been working with Jazmine since June and she still only goes unaided occassionally. The majority of the time we have to prompt her.

She will go "poo" with no problem though. She hates sitting there because she thinks she is missing something. Usually I'll give her a book to keep her occupied. When she is finished, she tells her self "good gurl" and then claps.

It was soooooo easy with Nicholas!!!

Patiently waiting said...

Wow, that's great! I had to potty train both Abi and Brad. Brad had just turned two and Abi was four and still in pull-ups!

Smirking Cat said...

Congratulations! He must feel so proud of himself.

*Marie* said...

Good for you! Good for him!

Mrs M said...

You are doing a great job!