Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Potty training.

Not something I am ready for.

Not something I want to conquer or even think about right now.

But, when do you begin to think about that? Or when do you attempt to conquer that?

My mom thinks Morgan Kate will be easy to potty train. I think back to our days of not napping and refusing to drink from a cup and I think potty training will take at least four or five years. Maybe more. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little. But I do think it will take quite some time. And right now, it's not really on my list of things to accomplish. However, there have been some new conversations/episodes around our house lately. And those conversations/episodes have got me thinking. Today's conversation/episode went a little like this:

Morgan Kate: (turning beet red, deep in concentration, shivering and then turning to me) Poo-poo
Me: Morgan Kate, did you go potty?
Morgan Kate: (grabbing her diaper) Poo-poo

Those conversations/episodes are happening more frequently. (And yes, I allow our twenty-one month old to say "Poo-poo".) Of course I have googled potty training and even viewed this "Ready for Potty Training" checklist, and MK does meet many of the "qualifications". But, again, I'm not so sure it's something we are going to attempt any time soon. I could be wrong. And just in case I am wrong, I was wondering.....when did you start potty training your child? And do you have any tips or suggestions?

9 comments:

Justin and Jessica Jones said...

We started with Madeleine at 2. She got it pretty quickly, and only wet her pants on occassion at night. Micah has been a whole other story. He could care less about using the potty, and trust me, I have tried lots of tricks to encourage him. Some of my "boy mom" friends at church told me that it would be reasonable to expect that he would be potty trained by age 3 or soon after and not to feel rushed by the early potty training mamas. Sometimes with boys if you train them too early I have heard that it can cause bed-wetting problems later on. All I can say is be glad you are dealing with a smart girl for this little phase because it seems like my boy is much harder than my girl was to train. :)

Looperville said...

Heather,
#1 came very easy for Chandler but #2 was another story. He would do it in his pull up and them tell me, Mommy, I pooped in my pants. We placed a gum ball machine on the back of the toilet. Every time, be pooped in the potty, he got to get his own piece of gum. He started this at about 2 and he is 4 1/2 and still loves to get his gum...

Lexie Loo, Lily, Liam & Dylan Too said...

Both of my kids were completely potty trained by 2 1/2. Lexie could have been trained much earlier if we hadn't gone through all the health issues with her chronic diarrhea. We had started, but had to stop due to the diarrhea.
I don't think it would hurt to introduce the potty. The one piece of advice I have is not to push the issue. Just follow her lead, and if she wants to use the potty, go with it. If she starts refusing, wait a few weeks and try again. Good luck! It probably won't be as bad as you think!

Newman Family said...

Brandon is absolutely no where near ready for potty training even though he will be 2 in a few weeks. Although technically he shouldn't even be 2 until October. I did, however, set up his potty in our bathroom so he gets used to sitting on it. Usually before his bath I take off his clothes and sit him down on it. He usually pops right back up which is why I know he is not close to being ready. He also has used the potty seat as a hat and to put his pacifiers in. My husband was a late potty trainer so unfortunatly I think Brandon will be following him in being late. Unless he starts to show interest in it I probably won't really try until next summer. I have heard that boys tend to train later than girls.

Allie said...

I love potty training! So far my class has been 100% potty trained by May for the past 5 years. Let me know if you want my no pullups method. It takes about a week, but you have to have full dedication for that whole week. Morgan Kate (and Mommy) can do it!

The Fricks said...

Josie started training at 18 months (she had most all of the signs), and was completely trained at 24 months. I was a beaming mother and thought I had it all figured out. Wes is now 26 months and the toilet freaks him out. I will be overly happy if we have him trained before kindergarten. He shows no interest at all. So, my advice....they'll tell you when they're ready...be patient. As you've already figured out, kids do things in their own time. But they will eventually do it.

Anonymous said...

My kids (girl and boy) were both completely potty trained by 2 with few accidents thereafter. You must remember accidents will happen and that is ok. My best advice is to not use pull ups. You can get really cute training pants at Target/Walmart with rubber pants to go over them. It sounds old fashioned but I am a firm believer in them. That way she can feel when she is wet. Pull ups act just like a diaper. Also the main thing is consistency. Take her every 30-45 minutes even if you think she does not need to go. We did not use toys to entertain our kids while on the potty. Potty time is not play time. We did give them an m&m if they pottied on the toilet. If MK can tell you when she poops in her diaper, she is ready. And believe me you will feel like a new woman when you get your babe out of diapers!

Scott and Malisa Johnson said...

I felt like Emily was ready far before I was ready. I wanted to wait for summer, when I was home with her. And then I certainly didn't want to begin potty training right before our big Disney world trip (and the long drive!) So she was pretty much ready long before we tried.

That said, what we did was allow Emily to pick out her new "big girl" panties. She got princess panties of course. The deal was, if she didn't have an accident, she got to continue to wear the princess panties. But if she did have an accident, then she wore these thick cotton gerber panties. I imagine they're what our moms used before pull-ups (?) and they aren't uncomfortable or anything, just not "pretty." Emily only used the Gerber panties twice. And she never had an accident after that.

Now the twins... they may not have the logical understanding to grasp the entire "if, then" scenario at that age. And I don't expect they will be as easy to train as Emily! :)

Megan Thiel said...

We waited until Drew was almost 3 and then did potty training bootcamp one weekend and he was trained. Basically, we waited until he was ready and he wasn't ready until then. He would poop in his diaper up until that time and didn't care at all. When we were training him, we made him wear underwear and not a pull up. However, we still put him in a pull up for naps and bedtime. I have a friend that basically said no pull ups either and their little boy did great after a few weeks. I just didn't have the guts or patience to deal with all the possible accidents in the bed!

Kayley is much different than Drew. Kayley sees Drew going potty and has been telling us for awhile that she has to either go poop or had just pooped. If she asks to go into the potty, we take her in there and let her sit on it, but she hasn't actually done anything while on there.

But, we are big believers in waiting until they are ready. Kayley sometimes tells us before she has to go, but she'll come up and say "poopy" and we look and she hasn't done anything and then within a few minutes we check again and she went so she is starting to get it, but I am not about to start potty training her. She doesn't "get it" enough yet! I have heard too many horror stories of potty training that drags on for months and months and months because the parent started too early! But, like I said, if she runs into the bathroom and wants up on the toliet, we let her.