Yesterday we had a small breakthrough. Just before her bath time i decided to try to persuade my two year old to sit on her potty. Normally she will either give me a very determined NO, sit on the potty fully clothed, or take her nappy off and sit on it for all of two seconds, before escaping the potty zone and running off at breakneck speed.This time however she managed to sit on it longer than normal, even having a very short conversation about my brother and family who had come to bring her a present that day. She then stood up and announced that she had done a wee, and to my delight she had achieved just that, barely a dribble but still there.
I thought that as it had been her first achievement i should give her lots of praise to encourage future sittings on the potty, so i phoned Grandma and Grandad. They were of course very pleased, after talking about getting her potty trained for what seems like months.
This probably sounds very boring to some of you reading this but this is my first attempt at potty training a child. I've house trained a puppy but not a child. This is also my little girl, so all motherly emotions are involved, plus peer pressure to potty train before she learns to change her own nappy! I was also incredibly proud of her for finally managing to reach the goal that we've been aiming for.
Today however was a very different story.
Whilst getting my girls dressed, my two year old told me that she didn't want to wear her nappy today, she instead wanted to wear her pull up, big girl pants. (Her pull up pants are made of terry toweling with a built in waterproof liner). I agreed to her request so long as she let me know when she needed the potty.
We all finished getting dressed then started to muck the house out, me asking my little lady every 10 minutes if she needed the potty and sitting her on it just in case.
My husband then came in from the garden, to ask if i wanted to go out this afternoon to get some more supplies from the nappy lady, to which i replied yes. He then went back outside to the disappointment of my two year old. "Pleeeeeeessssssse Mummy can i go and help Daddy?" "I'll just check with Daddy", i told her. Daddy said she could help, so i got her coat and wellies on and went outside to find Daddy, little hand in my own right hand and potty in my left!
I asked my husband if he could make sure he kept asking our two year old if she needed to go, and to encourage her to sit down.
Leaving him in charge i went back to the house and finished tidying up. I had just finished the housework, (not much to do today, yeah!), when i heard my little girl crying outside. I went outside to see what was wrong, and was told by my husband that she got upset because she wanted to have a ride in the wheelbarrow on the way to the bonfire, as well as the way back. I asked if she had done a wee to which my husband replied, "oh yes lots, just not in the potty." The poor little thing was soaked, so i got her fresh pull up's and trousers and asked Daddy to sit her on the potty next time, and not to just take her word for it when she said she didn't need to go.
They both came in for lunch, then we all got changed ready to go to pick up supplies from the nappy lady. I decided to put a nappy on my little girl in case she fell asleep in the car and wet the seat, as that wouldn't have been very good for any of us.
We got our supplies and headed back home with two sleeping girls in the car. After we had arrived home and had unpacked our supplies, i persuaded my little girl to sit on the potty again. She sat on it for a little while before hopping off and running into the other room to get her toys. She came back with her baby doll and fitted her with the new doll size reusable nappy we had bought for her. She then stood up to show me and wee'd on the floor. I was mildly annoyed but told her not to worry but that she must sit down on the potty next time. So we got her cleaned up and she carried on playing, with Mummy every 10 minutes asking if she needed the potty, and sitting her down just in case.
I was just doing the washing up when i heard a little voice say "potty, oh dear, clean pants please Mummy." I turned round to see my little girl standing there with very wet pants. Again i tried not to get to annoyed, cleaned her up and carried on as before. This time i though i left the pants off, as i wondered if she just hadn't got to the potty in time, and wearing no pants may make it easier for her. She went off into the sitting room, and a couple of minutes later she came back in saying "oh dear Mummy, wee wee." By this point i was starting to loose my patience a bit but tried to stay calm in front of her. She did it another two times before i got really annoyed and decided to leave her in the sitting room with Daddy and her baby sister, while i stewed in my own juices in the kitchen.
Maybe she's just not ready yet, or maybe i'm not teaching her correctly? I have to admit i don't really know how to teach her to use the potty.
I've felt quite a bit of pressure from various people to potty train my daughter. They probably didn't realised or even mean to put any pressure on me, but it just feels like it when they're telling me that their child is practically out of nappies, and is younger than my little girl. I try not to listen to them, and keep telling myself that she'll get the hang of it one day, and know exactly what to do, and won't want to wear nappies anymore. It's just hard not to listen to them.
So if anyone has managed to get to the end of this post without falling asleep through boredom, (you can wake up now), and has any tips for me, i will be eternally grateful.
Maybe i will just give it another week before trying the potty thing again!
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4 comments:
Slowly! That's how to teach a child to use the potty/toilet. Do it too fast and you'll frighten them out of it. Massively overdo it on the praise when she does finally go and lots of bribery to encourage her. Eventually, the penny will drop as will the pull-ups.
Another way I found was to have your daughter wearing knickers first then a nappy over them. That way, whenever she wees she will wet her knickers and it will soon become apparent that it isn't a nice feeling. Also, the wee won't soak her clothes because it will be caught in the nappy, even though you will need to wash tons of knicks!
Good luck!
CJ xx
Well done on you daughter's potty training! It is hard but very rewarding!
Greetings from London
I found you through the black box. I was not bored with your post. It brought back memories.....some not so great! Ha. Ha..
Potty training is so hard at times. Here is a tip that worked like magic with mine. Here in the States you can buy blue bowl cleaner thingies that turn the water blue in the toilet. We used a seat that fit over the toilet for the kids to sit on. Now let me stress.... you have to make a big deal out of this.....when they finally do pee in the blue water, it turns the water green.....magic.....truly magic.....and they will want to do it everytime. After a couple of days of this, they will want to pee in the "magic water"
other than that one, I shrug shoulders....sometimes it just takes a while. Good luck. I enjoyed your post.
CJ - Thank you for your advice. I never thought of putting a nappy on top of the knickers. I shall be trying that.
A Cuban in London - Thank you for stopping by my blog and for your encouragement.
Coloradolady - Thank you for your tip, i'll definitely give that a go as well.
Thank you for all you encouragement and advice, i'll keep you posted! BM x
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