Round one and round two happened fairly quickly. Round three has been a slow progression, but here’s where we’re at:
Things we have checked off the list: Going on the big boy potty at home, napping in underwear, wearing underwear in public, sitting on a public toilet.
We purchased the Baby Bjorn toilet trainer, which fits nice and snug on our seat. Hooper was a little skeptical in the beginning and asked to hold my hand when he sat on it. He needs some help getting onto the toilet but does not require hand holding any longer and has both peed and pooped in the toilet. Every now and again, he’ll request to use his little portable potty and it’s on my to-do list to remove the thing so it’s no longer an option.
We started putting him down for a nap with training pants. Now, we put him down for a nap with underwear. I remind him when I put him down that he needs to call mama if he needs to go to the bathroom. I no longer remind him because the second I put him down he recites, “tell mama, tell mama”. That kids memory is sharp as a tack. The other day, however, he called me and when I came him he had already peed and pooped in his pants. He pointed it out and then said, “tell mama”. That was his first accident in a while and I’m sure they’ll be a few more along the way. More times than not, however, he’s able to hold it until he wakes up. The downside is that “holding it” has shortened his nap some, so some days I do put him in a diaper for his nap if I have a lot I need to do around the house.
We’ve ventured out in underwear. I took him to his gym class the other morning and to the grocery store and out to eat. All of the outings have been a success. I tried taking him to the bathroom at his gym class and he downright refused, clearly scared of the toilet. Those particular toilets have an unusually loud flush and it gives him the willies when I take him in with me. We tried again, with Papa’s help, when we were out to eat. He sat on the toilet, but refused to pee. So, it’s a work in progress. One step closer.
Things still lingering on the almighty potty training to-do list: Pulling down his pants on his own, getting on to the toilet on his own, using public restrooms, wearing underwear overnight.
I bought one of those on-the-go potties, but have yet to break it out. I’m questioning if I even need it and am leaning toward helping him acclimate to the public toilets instead. Has anyone used these portable potties? What do you suggest?
Also, the giveaway to Comfy Rumps is still going on if you want to enter to win a pair of training pants for your little potty trainer.
When we were first potty training I had one of those seats with us at all times. Public toilets was really intimidating for Keane but having his “Cars” seat was familiar and always helpful, and helped me from always worrying about him falling into the big toilet. Also when we went to the beach, I would just bring the regular potty, put it in the back of our SUV, have him go pee pee in the seat in the back of the SUV and then dump whatever he did in the public toilet. It was baby steps getting him used to public restrooms but after a year and a half of being potty trained, the public restrooms are not a problem at all. Also, the auto flush thing they find scary and intriguing at the same time. Ha.
I’m sure potty training is a big pain in the ass, but he looks so adorable. I can only imagine how confusing it is for kids to transition from relying on their diapers to speaking up to use the potty. It makes him seem so grown up and gets me kinda sentimental, honestly. And it’s so painfully cute that he’s scared of the loud flushing toilets. Wait until he gets the automatic flushers. Those still scare me…
We’ve used one of the portable potty seats with our daughter on several occasions. We just stick it in the diaper bag or stroller while we’re out. It makes it so much easier than trying to hold her over the big public toilets. Totally worth the $9.99 we spent on it.
Amazing blog! Im started with my chlid the tranning pants too its very efficient
It sounds like he is making great progress! I always said I was going to get one of those fold up toilet seats and never got around to it. Instead, I used to turn my son sideways toward the back of the toilet. Eventually he no longer wanted to sit that way and just holds himself up and sits forward. He learned/did that all on his own.
We started potty training when our daughter was 8 months old. She will be 2 in a couple of weeks. My suggestions:
1. Start teaching your baby to pull his pants down the minute you start training. Out daughter does not tell us she needs to go, she simply starts taking her underwear off and goes to potty herself and then brings the end results to us.
2. Intorduce regular toilet seat as well as training seat at the same time with potty. Every now and than ask him if he wants to go like “mom and dad” on a big boy toilet this way he won’t be caught by surprise in a public restroom or on an airplain. We never had this problem. She knew what regular toilet is and was never afraid of one. Toddler wants to be just like “you” use it to your advantage by introducing them things that “you” use.
3. Travel potty is a great option if you are in a park all day or there is long line at the airport and he “needs to go now”.
My next post will be about how and when to start potty training. Follow me at http://www.layered-cake.blogspot.com and look out for “Potty Training Posts” I hope you will find this helpful.
Good luck you are doing great so far!
Mom
Sounds like things are going well! I am so nervous about potty training when the time comes! Eeep. Well, when I was a nanny we had the portable potty and we only broke it out when we went to play dates where there either wasn’t a bathroom available or they were too disgusting. i.e. – the park or beach. 😉
How old is your boy? We’re trying to potty train my 2yr old, but it’s been a bit of a challenge here.
Hooper is 28 months… or 27 months… I forget. He’s two something. If it’s challenging, just wait… It’s kinda a butt, honestly. Some days it’s just easier (for me) to put a diaper on him. But he showed signs of being ready, so we went with it. I regret that decision some days 😉
I started training my sons each at 18 months old and would slowly get them more interested in the potty or they would go here and there. I gave them a chart next to the potty and put a sticker on every time they’d go (bigger stickers for pooping). It really made them enjoy doing it and the older one was completely potty trained without accidents by two months after his 3rd birthday and my younger son was completely trained by his actual 3rd birthday. My mom trained me in this way and I was trained by 2 in a day because I loved getting stickers, but girls are usually early in the training game so I was patient. I used a potty seat to put on the toilet alone because I wanted them to know that BIG potties are where all people are supposed to go, rather than a special potty that they might grow attached to. I used to bring a potty seat with me everywhere for a while (they make ones that fold for the traveler). I think the training pants are helpful! We used pull-ups and overnight diapers until they were all trained and then gave them underwear. It is REALLY TOUGH sometimes because they start crying and don’t want to always go on the potty, but we endured and so did they. Have fun. . .this is an annoying time that is totally worth the result!!