April 29, 2010

Potty Training

Two weeks ago the toddler mentioned about 50 million times that he needed to be "pottied." I didn't feel terribly prepared, but we tried it. Before last week he has never, I repeat never, gone to the bathroom in any form of a potty.
We started the week out by letting him experience big boy underwear. I didn't leave the house because I knew what was going to happen. Indeed, he went through 7 pairs of pants and panicked every single time. By the end of the day I was about to go crazy, but the husband suggested that this little thinker of a child of ours just needed time to process.
That evening my mom brought by the "Elmo's Potty Time" video for us. By then I decided that we would go one more morning with underwear and then stop trying for awhile. I even e-mailed one of the cousins on the husband's side for advice on how she potty trained her 2 little boys with similar temperaments (the husband's genes are strong with our children).
The next morning was frustrating so after the third accident I explained that I didn't think he was quite ready so we were just going to wear "practice underpants" as opposed to underwear. He was a bit upset, but was okay with it.
That afternoon after nap-time, I put the pull ups on him and let him watch the Elmo video over and over and over.
That afternoon and evening the toddler came to me every time he needed to potty and went in his potty. I was amazed.
Now, he's fairly good at it, but not good enough yet for underwear. I think we'll wait a few weeks for consistency and then try again.
After all, he won't go to college in diapers.
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2 comments:

Leanne said...

Sounds like he is doing great! Don't you love Elmo? If he could teach Ross to eat fruit, I'd pay him handsomely. Okay, off to check amazon for "Elmo Eats Fruit." Way to go, big boy James!!

lhassler said...

Great job on all fronts! I fear the day we go diaper-less. I don't have that kind of patience.