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Thursday, May 23, 2013

Potty Training the Princess

Explicit discussion of potty-training. Consider yourself warned.

I'm thinking it's time to start actively potty-training our little Princess Pumpkin Pants. She'll be 2 next month and it's starting to sink in that she's not a "baby" anymore.

She's already gone #1 and #2 once which is encouraging. She knows what the potty is for, just have to work on getting there on time.

I've been trying to remember how we trained Henry. He was just over 2 when we started and I have to give credit here to his daycare teacher. She was absolutely incredible and I cannot praise her enough. We had no clue what we were doing and there seems to be a thousand methods to teach your toddler to pee in a pot.

Should we let him run around half naked at home with a potty close by? No, it was January. Not the best time to be bare-bottomed and after peeing on the floor (and Dada's chair) a couple of times, it got old.

Should we keep the Pull-ups and watch him intently for signs of imminent excretion and hope we make it to the potty in time? Yeah, I was realistic and admitted I would not focus on his expressions and body language THAT closely. I was pregnant, working full-time and going to grad school.

We ended up having him wear underwear and gave rewards of "pee-pee" candy and lots of verbal praise. We bought a Thomas the Tank Engine See & Say as his prize for going #2.
We also did a bit of periodic sitting on the potty at first, regardless of whether he had to go, which ended up being a battle of wills. Then it was M&Ms when he told us he had to go, then only when he actually made it to the potty. By the time Kat was born, he only used Pull-ups at night and stopped soon after. He stills dramatically drops whatever he's doing and runs full-steam into the bathroom yelling, "I GOTTA GO POOPIE!" Our poor neighbors.

We're lucky now in that Kat worships Henry and wants to do whatever he's doing so it only took Henry peeing in the potty sitting down for her to grasp what it was for. She actually went after that and flooded the bathroom floor because she wasn't QUITE on there, but still....I'll take it. Then we had to remind Henry that he goes in the grown-up potty after I caught him using the potty chair.

A couple weeks ago Kat was in the tub and I recognized that sudden, inwardly tense facial expression. QUICK! Scoop her out and set her down on the potty. Made it just in time and she looked extraordinarily pleased with herself. She even happily clapped when she was done.

So I think she's ready. She surprises me with her awareness. This morning she needed a post-breakfast bath and after she was undressed, she picked up her clothes and padded out to the hamper to toss them in. By herself.

Wonder what it will be like to live in a diaper-free home?

2 comments:

  1. Certainly brings back memories of potty training days with our 3 kids.....and now we have our 23 month old grand daughter living with us. We are in early potty training stages too......she has her very own 'Dora" potty, and announces when she wants to use it.....sometimes perfect timing and sometimes just a little too late......

    She sure loves the words 'potty,' 'poop' and 'pee-pee' right now.....!

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  2. She's just Kathryn's age! We haven't gotten to the verbal warnings yet. Hopefully not too much longer! :o)

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