Potty Trained... well close enough!
 

Yay!!!

Just potty trained the 2 year old male child... am needless to say very happy!!! Have to gloat for a moment. No more diapers... he hasn't had an accident in public in over a week and is staying dry all night. We still have the occasional accident at home, but day by day it is getting better! I do still have to direct him to the facilities, but that beats paying $50 a month for diapers! The boy was much easier than the girl child... I guess because he is the youngest???
:D

Has he pooped today? How many poops-per-day are we having?

let us know when you get Flint Sr sorted out

Yes he pooped about an hour after Morgi came home from school. THe average is one to two poops per day. He is still having a bit of trouble getting the poop on the potty consistently, but he'll get it... oh and Honey, this morning he stood to pee... it was pretty funny... he was like "wait Mama... like dis" and stood up and peed in the potty. I guess Pee Paw taught him that?

I've shown him how to do that a few times. He thought it was pretty cool, I figured it might motivate him.

Yay...good stuff. I can't wait to potty train Max. I just need to wait till his language skills are a bit more advanced.

Ah, potty training. Ha ha. Ha.

I just this afternoon tricked Minifob into pooping in the toilet against his will. Had to make him play at the computer buck naked (standing on a towel for insurance) and just wait until he started turtling, then pick him up and run him into the bathroom. The first time he pinched it off in defiance, but when I did it again ten minutes later he gave in and let the rest out. He was completely unimpressed by my extensive positive reinforcement, and so far we haven't been able to come up with a viable negative reinforcement--having accidents, being messy, or having to clean himself up don't bother him in the slightest.

But hey! After his 4th birthday at least I get to start deducting the diapers as part of a medical condition, eh?

Careful Pooka, we had the millimeter all potty trained for three weeks. It was awesome until she decided that she liked to "wait too long" or practice being master of her own destiny.

Now we are in this hellish no-toddler's land of not wearing diapers and not consistently using the potty.

It took awhile with Morgi... we started at a year and off and on tried the potty. It wasn't until I took the pullups away, dedicated a week to staying home with her just spending the time with her (no cleaning, no cooking... just hoovering over her) and told her that we Were going to do this and she finally did... it helped that I took her to the store and filled a large bowl with treats and stickers and goodies from the dollar section and let her pick out a "prize" every day that she did better than the day before. I realized in retrospect I could have done lots of things to improve the process.

With Flintsy I keep the potty in the bathroom and at first I took him every 20 minutes. After the first day I let him start wearing big boy underpants... I have 24 pair... just in case. I normally put shorts or pants on him too because I want him to feel like this is normal clothing... but I don't always. I don't let him run around naked because then I won't know if he had an accident until I step in it... if I do. After 3 days, I gave him 10 extra minutes if he didn't want to go when the timer went off. Everytime we sat on the potty he got a sticker on the chart wether he produced anything or not. He gets a little sticker for sitting and a big sticker for pooping or peeing. We read as many books as he wants while he sits. He loves this time. I try to make th books as interactive as possible. Sometimes I have him bring a toy to the potty and tell the toy what he is going to do and how to do it. We act out what is going to happen then he does it himself and holds the toy. This keeps his hands off his wiener which makes peeing more likely and accidents less likely ;-). Then I started taking him for trips and told him he had to stay dry and not make his car seat yucky or he'd be yucky all day. I also remind him every 10 min or so to "Stay dry". He hasn't had an accident yet when we weren't home. When he has an accident I tell him "Oh, you had and accident... where does the pee pee or poopoo go?" I say this very comly and without emotion. He answers and I say "OK, next time let's try to get it in ther ok?" I say that with a smile and a concerned look while rubbing his back... then I give him a big hug and pat him and tell him how proud I am of him and all his good pottying. He also gets "High 5s". Also we laugh about the sounds it makes... the plop or the sound of the stream. He gets pretty excited. We've read the Everyone Poops book and he cracks up. For both kids I have a car potty that goes with us everywhere. They go before we leave the house... I ask them if they need to go potty before we leave the car and upon returning to the car... sometimes we have to leave where we are to go potty in the car and then return to our business. I feel like a familiar potty at first helps.

My niece and nephew weren't pottied trained (and no attempt was made prior ) until they were 5 and 6... my daughter was pottied trained before them... at 26 Months. These kids supposedly got into the gifted and talented program at school...

One of my best friends whose daughter is the same age as mine ( 3 1/2) is just starting the process now after seeing that Flintsy is doing it...

Every kid is different... having the time to dedicate to it for about a week solid and sticking to it makes a huge difference. The structure and development of a potty routine are really helpful for any child... some take longer... some get it the first day... some don't fully until they are old enough to wash their own sheets.

My kids got a sticker every time they were successful... the house was covered in them, but they both trained easily at 2.

I know what you mean Squirl... I've learned with my daughter that it is less about them and more about the parent. You have to watch for those cues and remind them to go sometimes. Morgi has been potty trained for over a year now and I still catch her doing the pee pee dance because she doesn't want to stop playing.

I'm glad to hear it Jinx. I've gotten some critisism from friends because they've thought my kids were too young. Morgi was 2 and Flintsy is 2... well almost 2 1/2. I think it depends entirely on the kid... verbal skills are huge plus.

I don't see any positives to staying in diapers... too young for what? I've heard that too and I don't get it.
And they're not as easily bribed when they get older...

Too young? WTF is up with that? I mean, the sooner they use the potty, the sooner you stop having to buy expensive diapers, right? I don't understand that. Besides, doesn't every kid have their own "ready" time?

My sentiments exactly!

My older boys were both potty trained really early. Somewhere between 18 months and 2 years. The main reason was the Aden wanted to be like his dad, so he just copied, and of course, Mav wanted to do what Aden did. I have a feeling Max wont be quite so easy, but I guess time will tell. I'll probably start trying with him when he's about 18 months. I hate cleaning up shitty nappies. I can't imagine why it'd be a bad idea for the kid too.

With regard to kids psyche and potty training, it is one of their cognitive milestones. It's all about the creation factor, so making a big deal over what they 'create' is really just the best way to go about it.

It's all cultural. 2 is late in the UK -14-18 months -as they start walking- would be more the norm, some cultures don't do d.apers at all and "train" from birth.

Creation? Really? :eyebrow: You've been at them Eucalyptus leaves again. [/anally expulsive moment] :lol:

Nope...it's true. :) Check it out if you don't believe me.

I did.

great story! I'm happy for you :) and the kids too. They feel so big.

Look up Freud's Anal stage. That should help. :)

:eyebrow:

Srsly? You're into Freud as a model of child development? He never even studied children.

Nah...not in particular. It's just something they tried to teach us in Uni about child development.

I actually have never really set much store in any of the popular child psych teachings. I think common sense and compassion make for better parenting than pretty much anything else. That's just my opinion, but it's worked pretty well for me so far.

Actually I learned that in college too, though not from Freud specifically. During the unit on potty training they even discussed how some kids will hide it from you as an act of independence. AKA...this is MINE and I made it, not to be thrown away by you (or flushed, as the case may be)

I definitely don't regret that $20,000...at least it was terribly interesting

Oh lordy. Some kids. The not normal ones. In my -by now fairly extensive- experience, most could give a flying fuck what happens to it. Which is why they don't see any benefit of wasting all that time using the potty when they can just do it where they are in what they're wearing :lol: In fact one of the most succesful methods among my peers in the UK was leave 'em nekkid. Many kids don't like the feeling of it trickling/falling down their legs, so if the potty is the only alternative to that they will use it. But put underwear or diapers on and there's a barrier to "soften the blow" to they go in what they're wearing. But there seems to be a much bigger taboo here about having kids run around butt-nekkid -especially outside, so that may not be such an easy option. I guess the yards aren't so private and the tempertaures less nekkid-friendly for longer periods.

Which reminds me there is a turd in the back yard I forgot to collect.
I wonder if the dung beetles have hatched yet?

Yeah...leaving clothes off (or pants at least) was how we trained ours. It's pretty common over here, and the weather permits nakedness almost all year round where I live. I plan on doing the same thing with Max.

I tried the naked route, but Flintsy just peed all over the floor. Once I started putting the "Big Boy" underpants on him he recognized he was wet and had peed. So far the onely accident we've had in the past 2 says has been a poop yesterday.

In the shop I worked in we found that babies in non-disposable (terry) nappies toilet-trained far earlier. They were subjected to far more unpleasant sensations re sitting in their own waste than babies in modern nappies.

Anecdotal evidence also suggested less nappy rash, because babies protested earlier once they'd soiled their nappies.

I know that there is no universal approach though.
I copied my sister and hit all development targets early because of it.
My bro had no near example and given the same approach left round poo like Maltesers all over the house for far too long.

Yet he's a successful IT Manager these days. And I live in the same house he laid his round poops in.

Both of ours were really easy to train early. LiL Lookout was horrified with being dirty when he was little so he took to the toilet by 18 months. 2.0 doesn't mind being dirty but hates being taken away from play time for baths so he was good to go by 20 months. 2.0 still wears a pull up at night because being in the desert we slam massive amounts of liquid into him right up until bedtime. It is really just insurance though, since it is dry pretty much every day.

Flintsy is super proud... he has produced two rather large poops... in the potty today... so far no accidents... IF we make it through to bedtime like this I'll be taking him to the movie store after my hair apt on Friday to pick out a movie... as was our arrangement when we started the process.

We make it a point to celebrate with great fanfare profound poops. It is shocking what some people are able to expel.

Keep in mind how much more work cloth diapers are than disposables too - a motivated parent makes for a motivated child.

Oh of course - we were a responsible shop and ran through all the positives and negatives. After all we sold eco-nappies (part recycled biodegradable diapers) as well. The owners were parents and I went by their experiences as well as those of customers AND reading round the subject. I was also aware that despite the green-appeal of non-disposables, the energy use of washing and drying "real" nappies did not make them a straightforward choice.

People often thought I was the owner of the shop (who was a mother and ex-midwife). Which might make people on here laugh, but despite the fact it was a weekend job I did take it very seriously.

I think Jinx was more getting at the idea that because it's harder work, parents are motivated to train earlier and that rubs off on the child ...rather than the environmental aspect?