*Be advised this post does talk about bodily functions*
I'll be honest it was a rather abrupt decision to enter into the world of potty training. I found this
post from Fiona at
Coombe Mill very helpful and is pretty much how we ran with it. I did give it lots of thought but there always seemed to be an excuse not to do it and he just did not seem quite ready. We introduced the potty and I'm guessing the rather famous "Pirate Pete's Potty" book to get us started. We got him to sit on the potty just before bath times and one day he finally actually did a wee! I got rather excited. Unfortunately it was rather hit or miss when he actually did it in the potty and more often than not he was quite happy to go in the bath. Then came a week when he was being rather successful so I introduced it first thing in the morning as well and that was usually successful. The deal breaker was when we got the poo and the wee! One night he sat on the potty and all I could hear was "It's my caca!" "No it's my caca!" a few times and then "I did it mummy!" Oh the joy! We actually had to get daddy to come and have a look too. When he was doing that a few times I decided that that weekend was it.
It started on a Wednesday evening last week. We had our big boy pants already and I bought a cheap little sticker chart at Tesco. It's one sticker for a wee and two for a poo. To say it was a rather dismal beginning is an understatement as he weed his way through dinner. We also had to get over a hump at the fact that stickers were only for when he went to the potty. I immediately began to wonder what I was doing but there was no going back.
Thursday morning went surprisingly well. I sat him on the potty pretty much every half hour. I found that asking him to go was pointless as he usually just said no but if he really fought it I would not push the issue. He was managing to stay dry for long periods as we were out and about in the push chair and even through his nap. During lunch time though we had a pee marathon again and I went through several pairs of pants!
Friday we were out for the day in Stirling. We decided not to introduce any sort of pullup even for outings or long drives so I stuck a protector on the car seat and off we went. He did really well but did have the dreaded poo in the pants accident while we were walking around the Loch. He did put his hands to his bottom and tell me he was doing it and happily finished it in the potty so to me that was a step forward in the right direction anyway. Otherwise we both survived the whole day out.
Saturday we spent the day at the beach and unfortunately had another poo incident which stressed us all out as he was not very happy about getting cleaned up. You learn pretty quick that making light of accidents is key and just reminding them to use the potty works best. Here I think he was really caught up in the day and just was not into getting distracted. I have actually tried to limit the amount of distraction from an activity by bringing the potty to him and making sure he still had something to keep him entertained while he used it. It was noticeable though the longer stretches in between wees and I did not feel as stressed about having to ask him every 5 minutes if he wanted to go.
Sunday morning we woke up dry and tired. We had a relaxing day at home with no accidents and a nice big poo in the potty at the end of the day. I was unsure what Monday and going to nursery would bring and I was tempted to phone them half way through the day to see if everything was okay! They were so pleased with how well he had done with no accidents at all. He was also wanting to use the "big" toilet instead of his potty.
This week we have not been having any real major accidents and just what I like to refer to as spillages on the way to the potty. My only concern was that we had a long wait till we had another poo which then made me late for work, can't rush those I'm afraid. I still have to ask him to go but we have got the occasional request. We have been having dry nights as well since the beginning of the week so I think we will be getting lighter pullups to use for then. I'm honestly surprised at how quick it's gone from using a nappy to none and so proud of how well my little man has been coping. I also decided to not confine myself to the home as most would suggest and we still have been pretty much successful. The weather made things a bit easier as we have been able to run about in as little clothes as possible. I'm still prepared for the occasional accident but like my little man says "I did it!"
