Troubles in the Land of Potty

Oliver went nearly a week without his potty when we went to Saint Thomas. When we got back, he got really mad when I set him on it. I really don't want him to hate the potty, so I didn't force him onto it.

It was a few days later when he asked to sit on the throne. I took off his diaper, and it was warm & wet. I knew he didn't have to go, but I sat him on there and told him what a good boy he was for sitting on the potty.

About once a day for these last two weeks, he's asked to sit on the potty (but he doesn't want to sit on it unless he asks). Every time, his diaper is warm & wet when I take it off. Two days ago, we had very cold weather. Our furnace couldn't keep up, and our house was in the high 50s/low 60s. When Oliver asked to go on the potty, I sat him on there while keeping him in his diaper and fleece jammies. My husband commented, "He's going to be so confused." I don't think that it's actually affected him, but time will tell. On the positive side, I think he is associating his pee with the potty. On the negative side, he's asking to go after he pees and so hasn't actually gone on the potty since before our vacation.

I'm not sure how I'm going to proceed. For now, I'm just letting him know that he's a good boy for sitting on the potty. I'll put him on there every time he asks. Next week, I think I'll try busting out the treats again to motivate him to sit on the pot after his nap. Oh, and I also cashed in my Pampers points today to get him a potty seat that attaches to the toilet. I don't think he'll use that for a while, but it'll be nice to have!

Potty Training Milestone?

While eating his breakfast of chopped bananas this morning, Oliver started pointing down and waving to his potty, saying, "More!" I asked him if he'd like to sit on his potty. Then, I got him undressed and put on the potty. I went to get him his "choco chips," and when I came back, he'd piddled! I was so excited. I told him what a good boy he is, gave him "three!" choco chips, and then let him watch me as I flushed it down the toilet.

Of course, who knows, he could have been pointing to the potty because he wanted videos or choco chips. It'll take another time or two to know if he understands the concept, but it's so exciting that he might! Now I wonder if I ought to figure out a way to bring his pot with us on vacation... that might be too much of a challenge, but I'd hate to take a big step backward.

Adventures in Potty Training

Oliver's been in the early stages of potty training for about a week now. It's going very well. Initially, we were giving him cookies and treats while he sat on the potty. While it helped him develop a positive association with the potty (he almost never gets junk food on a normal day), I've come to realize that he's eating too many. Yesterday, for example, he ate four cookies. He was so full from the junk that he wouldn't eat dinner and wouldn't drink milk before bed. That's not good. So, we're moving on to youtube videos. He loves watching Raffi songs.

When it's time for him to go (I'll discuss that in a moment), I let him know that it's time to sit on the potty. I remove his diaper and sit him on the potty, and then I put on a youtube video for him. Usually, if he drinks some water, it helps him tinkle. Also, if I speak soothingly to him and play more relaxing videos (like "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"), it seems to also help him go.

I have a rule in place for his early potty training. Oliver sits on the potty until one of these three things happen:
*He goes potty
*He raises his arms to come off the potty
*Ten minutes pass

I'd say that he uses the potty about half the time he's on it. There are some days when he goes right away, every time. There are other days where he sits on there, watches his videos, but doesn't go.

Oliver seems to want to pee every hour and a half or so. He doesn't pee when he sleeps, but he pees shortly after. So, when he wakes up, I spend about five minutes getting him in good spirits and then plop him on the potty. If his diaper is already warm (from his piddle), then I let him watch one video, tell him good job for sitting on the potty, and take him off. If it's not already warm, then I know he has to go! He usually goes quickly. I try to make the "psssssst" sound as he goes, but I often miss him going because he's so quiet. Once I see he's gone, I cheer for him, and then we go flush it down the big potty. An hour and a half later, we do it again.

This morning, Oliver piddled in his potty. I was so proud of him. An hour and a half later, I checked his diaper, and it was dry. I took him over to the potty and took off his diaper, and--wouldn't you know?--it was warm! He tinkled as I carried him over to the potty. Ha!

Going #2 in the potty hasn't gone well the last couple of days. I'm only on the phone about 10 minutes out of my day, and Oliver's managed to do his business while I was on the phone yesterday and the day before. I see his "poop face," but it's too difficult to get him undressed and on the potty while on the phone. It takes too long, and by the time I get his diaper off, he's already gone, and I streak it down his leg in my haste. Still, it's so easy to tell when he has to go, that I'm sure he and I will both get better at it as the weeks and months pass.

Although Oliver is not at an age where he can hold his piddle for long, he's doing so well with this early training that I feel (fairly) confident that he can be mostly potty trained at 18-20 months. If that goal needs to change as time passes, I'm fine with that. With the direction things are going now, though, I plan on letting him go sans diaper starting in May because he'll be a year and a half, and it'll be warmer. Until then, I'm going to keep working on teaching him what the potty is for and learning how to detect his sensations and such.

Boop-Boop in the Potty?

Oliver's potty arrived in the mail today! We ordered it a few weeks ago with the gift card (his birthday gift) from his great-uncle, Scott.

I sat him on it a few times (pictured) and kept telling him, "Potty." He's a little interested in it. A few hours after its arrival, Oliver made his poop face. I was so excited, but I didn't know what to do! I ran into the kitchen and grabbed a cookie (homemade from Oliver's great-great aunt, Bonnie). I ran back into the living room, excitedly telling Oliver, "Good boy! Boop-boop!" Boop-boop is our word for poop. I took off his pants and diaper (in my haste, his turd went flying and landed on the floor behind us). I was a little disappointed that he already pooped, but I decided to make the most of this first training opportunity. I sat him on the potty and repeatedly said, "Good boy! Boop-boop on the potty!" while giving him tastes of the cookie. He was excited to have such a treat and happily sat on the potty for about a minute before raising his arms for me to pull him off.

So, while he didn't actually boop-boop in his potty, he had a positive potty experience. I'm excited to keep it up. I want him to have a positive experience and slowly learn to associate the potty with his boop-boop so we can really start training him in about six months.