Two weeks ago I thought I was a pretty patient person, since then I have realized that I'm not. We have been potty training at our house.
Don't worry everyone has advice:
"Wait until they're ready"
"Don't wait too long"
"Use Pull-Ups"
"Don't use Pull-Ups"
"Buy cool underwear"
"Boys are harder"
"Boys are easier"
"Have him sit down"
"Have him stand up"
"Buy a little potty"
"Have him use the regular toilet"
"Don't be too stern"
"Don't be too soft"
"Have rewards"
"Don't use rewards"
"Start on a Monday"
"Start on a Friday when Andrew has work off"
"Do it before the baby comes"
"Wait until the baby is older"
"Don't make it a big deal"
"Make it a big deal!"
For the past few months we would randomly have Riley sit on the toilet, and he would pee quite often, but never poop. And It's pretty obvious when he needs to poop, but he wouldn't on the potty. So I promised him he could have anything he wanted if he would poop on the potty. So months passed and he finally pooped on the toilet. The reward he wanted was to eat ice cream with friends. He wanted to invite about 12 friends, not all could make it, but it was a pretty big ice cream party. The next day we were at the park and he ran to me and said, "Need diaper change now!" so we went to change him and his diaper was clean. Five minutes later it wasn't, so I figured he was "ready".
That next Monday we started potty training. We had really cool underwear and good treats. We decided to try the "Potty train in 3 days method". There's a book and a thousand blog posts about it but in a nutshell you put your kid in underwear and they pee all over your house for 2 days and then suddenly they realize how to use the toilet and your life is good after that. It wasn't exactly like that. Also I made Riley be outside all day so he wouldn't pee all over my house. Also he wasn't allowed to wear pants because I didn't want to watch them.
Day One:
Low- When Tanner pooped everywhere then Riley peed on the floor and told me he did it on purpose.
High- When we were getting ready for bed and Riley said he needed to poop and he did in the potty! Yay!
Day Two:
Low- When I stepped in a surprise puddle of pee (Andrew’s low was probably either having to change wet sheets or when Riley pooped in his underwear. I wasn’t on duty either time)
High- about 75% of the pee got into the toilet.
Day Three:
Low- I had anxiety that Riley would pee any minute now for 8 hours.
High- After holding it for 10 hours Riley announced he needed to go potty and he did! (it may have something to do with the fact that Andrew got a gummy bear after he peed in the potty)
Day Four:
Low- Riley decides he hates using the potty and cries most of the day, so did I, also Tanner.
High- The weather was nice.
Day Five:
Low- Everything before his nap
High- Andrew came home early! Also Riley got to leave our house for the first time since we started.
Day Six:
We take a new approach and don't wait for him to tell us he needs to pee, because he won't, We just make him go when he wakes up and before he sleeps. It works pretty good. And he even told us he needed to go once.
Day Seven:
We go to church. We make Riley use the potty every hour. He doesn't like it and cries in the bathroom. Oh well.
Since then we haven't had too many accidents because he has to go before we go anywhere and before and after naps and bed. He sometimes tells me when he needs to use the bathroom. He still doesn't like it very much but he's mostly stopped throwing big fits and sometimes even thinks it's fun. This morning it he said "Bye Tanner, see you in a minute, I'm going to go potty".
I'm happy I don't have to do it again for a while.
