Potty Training Updates

So we're still sort of potty training, and for all my boasting I did in the past we still haven't made much progress.

We've abandoned the candy incentive because we have no problem getting him to go in the potty... as long as he has to go. We stand him up to pee constantly throughout the day, and he always pees even if it's just a little bit. However, he still won't tell us when he has to go. He'll go for days without getting his pull-up wet (including overnight!) and then he'll pee in his pants like it's no big deal.

Same with poop. If he has to go the moment we set him on the toilet he will gladly poop in the potty like he's supposed to. But if the urge strikes while he's wearing a pull-up, he'll gladly poop there, too. He will even do this while sitting with us playing or reading, it's not that he can't find us. Super frustrating.

We tried putting him in big boy underwear a month or so ago (and by we I mean Steven's grandmother that watches him during the day) but she gave up after he had an accident. Since I wasn't convinced he was ready, I didn't encourage her to stick with it. So yes, we're being wildly inconsistent, too, I suppose.

As I already mentioned, Luke stays with Steven's grandmother 5 days a week (we both work Monday - Friday now, thank goodness) and she also watches 2 other little boys, ages 3.5 and 2. The 3.5 year old is fully potty trained and the 2 year old is darn near trained himself. She's been putting all 3 boys on the potty since they were 18 months old, but for some reason Luke is the only one resisting the idea of telling someone he has to go potty. I've been hoping the peer pressure would help, but no luck.

I'm trying not to get too frustrated with him because he's only 2 and a half, and I've heard boys take longer to potty train. For reference, my MIL says my hubby didn't get the concept at all, but then something just clicked when he turned 3 and he more or less trained himself. I'm too impatient to wait until then. The real deadline is that I want Luke full potty trained, barring a few accidents, about a month or so before Baby #2 gets here. I've been considering one the 3 day training methods, but haven't decided which method or when we'll attempt it.

As difficult as the process has seemed at times, I feel the need to celebrate Luke's successes. Yesterday we went grocery shopping as a family. Luke needed to wash his hands so Steven took him to the men's room. He noticed the toilets were pretty low so he let Luke try to pee. Up until now he hasn't felt comfortable going to the bathroom when he's away from home, but this time he did it! We were so proud of him he got lots of high fives and I even let him have a free cookie from the bakery.

All you moms - especially those with boys - what did you do? Did you wait until they trained themselves or did you try an immersion weekend?

2 comments:

  1. Allison, Jaxon gave into peer pressure from school. He's teachers had great success with him standing on a stool and leaning over the toilet and grabbing onto the back lid. That has worked wonders for us. When we go in public, he'll just stand on top of the seat and aim in. We went cold turkey in underwear and pretty much frowned on the fact that he would have an accident. We did potty treats at first, then weaned off of those. We also threatened time out, although he never had to go. Not sure if that was much help. Good luck! I'd go for it over a long weekend. It's too hard to be consistent over the week. Maybe shoot for Memorial Day. Who knows... by then, he maybe done!

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