The breaking news of the day...Astrid went poo poo in her potty at 1 PM today.
We've been potty training for awhile now. (The photo is of the cover of a potty training book that our nanny bought for Astrid last December. If you push the button, the audio is of a flushing toilet.) I instructed the nanny to put Astrid on the potty every 3-4 hours to get her used to a schedule. But without me being home to enforce it, the updates I was getting was that she wasn't using it, and would just go pee pee every once in awhile. And I have to admit on the weekends we haven't been good about sticking to a schedule either.
Now that I'm home (my last day at work was Friday, May 11th - more on that later) the potty training is something that I'll be focusing on to get Astrid on a potty schedule.
Here's what happened today:
After lunch I took off Astrid's clothes to wash them (she had oranges for dessert that created quite a mess). Astrid proceeded to take off her diaper. While I was washing out the stains in her clothes, and washing the dishes, I let her run around without a diaper downstairs. (We have hardwood floors so it wouldn't be a big deal if we had an accident.)
When we went upstairs, I tried to put a diaper on her but she kept saying "pee pee" so I said, "Okay. If you need to go pee pee - go sit on the potty" and she did. She went pee and then got up and said "poo poo". She uses pee pee and poo poo interchangeably so I didn't think anything of it. I just thought she wanted to pee some more so I said, "okay sit on the potty and go poo poo". And she did.
It was hilarious watching her reaction afterwards. She immediately jumped off the potty when she was done and kept pointing at it exclaiming, "Poo Poo!" And then she wanted to look at it and was strangely fascinated by it. Hahah. And she got all excited about flushing the toilet.
So we're on our way....
I just have to keep up giving her the opportunity to sit on the potty at the same time everyday - especially at 1 PM right before she goes down for her nap.
We've been using stickers to reward her for going potty (and initially for trying), and now she's got the peeing down, but she's just not on a schedule. She just wants to go whenever we're in the bathroom and she sees her potty, or a toilet. Like in Costco the other day, I had to go to the bathroom, so she wanted to go too. She can go in the adult toilet as long as I hold her there. I would love for her to do that when she's going poo poo too, so I don' t have a mess to clean up afterwards, but she'll have to get used to going in her potty first that's made for her size (a white Baby Bjorn potty).
I was chatting with an older lady, and she wanted to know about Astrid and was trying to give me potty training advice. She said with her son they used M&M's, and that's how he also learned his colors. I was thinking, "Um thanks for the advice but no thanks." I don't want the whole potty experience to be associated with food in any way, shape, or form. And I also don't want to use food (or candy!) as a reward.
I don't care for the stickers as a reward either because 1) she wants them on her tummy and those leave welts, 2) if we put them on her hand they end up falling off and stuck to something else, or 3) she sticks them to walls and the floor. Maybe I'll create a chart where she can stick the stickers onto it and she can see her progress.
Anyone have any other suggestions?
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4 comments:
Isn't the whole topic hillarious? I never thought that I would potty train a kid in my life .. and now we are pretty much done with it ... Julius only wears diapers at night, nap time .. and when we have long car rides / plane flights ... and even then he demands 'potty' .. of course at the most incvonvenient times (like standing in line for the security check)
One thing our pediatrician told us: No reward system or overly excited applause ... just a 'very good' and a pat on the back ... the kid has to learn that it is a normal thing to do .. not some extra special performance ... (funny .. as i type this .. J just said 'Potty?' .. i tol;d him 'pants off' .. he took his pants of and ran to the potty in the bathroom)
Have I ever shown you this link to this weird japanese potty training video ??? I am kinda curious (though now the topic is nearly over) there is an Elmo potty DVD and a doll.. that has to be put on the potty ... :)
They all learn it eventually !!! Good going Astrid !!!
Ooh, i like the sticker chart idea. We've been training Evan since mid-January and it's taking a loooong time. Some days are better than others and on weekends, everything goes down the toilet (pun intended). It's just so hard to keep at it on the weekends 'cause we are usually on the go.
The sticker reward thing only worked in the beginning and I have to admit I've had to bribe Evan with cookies sometimes to get him in the potty. I know it's wrong but it just gets so frustrating sometimes.
I have no other suggestions for you but I think I will do the chart so he sees his progress.
Peter:
That's very good advice. Stickers helped in the beginning, but now she's more excited about going so she can empty the potty and flush the toilet. So go figure we don't need the stickers any longer.
That's great that Julius is now potty trained.
Maria:
The chart idea comes from my teaching days. I never enforced the homework, but I had a chart where my students received a sticker for each homework assignment they turned in and then after a number of weeks if they had a perfect record they got a prize. You wouldn't believe what a motivator that was!
Good luck with Evan's potty training!
hi, i was googling potty training stuff and came upon your blog. you should try thepottytrainer.com. it has excellent and sound advice from a true potty training expert!
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