After working with two boys and one girl on mastering the art of using a big person party, I feel almost like a veteran. I have laughed and cried and raged and chanted "Poo poo pee pee go in the potty" I have cleaned poop and pee from the carpet from my kids. I have thrown away many pairs of undies. I have carried three extra outfits with me only to end up with no extra outfits at the end of the day.
Potty chair #1 was a throne, a cute little chair that made a royal sound when poop or pee landed in it. Unfortunately its sounds were far more fascinating to my oldest than actually sitting on it. Potty chair #1 met its demise in a bathtub.
Potty chair #2 was the Cars theme. My middle child picked it out at the store. As we are shopping I begin to explain to him how this is where he will being going potty, he pushed it out of the buggy. In the end he only used the part that attached to the big toilet.
Potty chair #3 is a little princess throne. So far it has only been useful outside on our balcony.
We have now moved the insert part to our big potty in hopes that our daughter will use the potty more regular.
This is the story of my three very different children resulting in three very different experiences.
My oldest son was three years and three months old by the time he was finally potty trained. I did not have the pleasure of seeing this to the end. I tried all of the potty training tricks for boys. He was a very resistant young man. When he turned two I bought the little throne potty chair. I was so proud of it and I just knew it was going to work like a charm. It did not. My son loved it, he played with it all the time, unless it meant that he actually had to sit on it. I sat him on it every thirty minutes or so, but nothing was happening. Then he threw the part that made noise into the bathtub. My son loves water, and he always wanted his favorite toys in the bathtub, this is how that fun potty chair met its fun end. So now he had a cute potty chair that did not make noise. I tried the no underwear trick and he did not care, he would just carry on as poop or pee came out and went everywhere. I tried throwing cheerios into the toilet and that sent him into hysterics because they were to eat not go in the toilet. I tried the big boy underwear and the results were not good. Finally an Aunt offered to take him on a little trip over a weekend. I agreed as I was a single mom at the time and I often worked on Saturdays. She picked him up on Friday. A sweet little boy who still wore diapers. She brought him back on Monday night fully potty trained. I tell my son that if it wasn't for her he would probably not be potty trained at all.
My middle son was a little easier in some ways and harder in others. This time I had the help of my husband and we had a goal. He needed to be potty trained before our daughter was born, this would keep us from having two kids in diapers at the same time. Our son picked up the peeing part much easier than my oldest. He had a lot of accidents, but for the most part he got it quickly. He was potty trained just after turning three. It took much longer for him to fully get going poop in the potty. I think a lot of this was his fear of different bathrooms. Even now I will pick him up from school only to find out that he needs to pee in the worst way because he didn't go all day long. He was nearly four by the time he was pooping the majority of the time in the potty. Occasionally he would have poop accidents at school, and this mostly happened when my husband wasn't at home. We carried that toilet attachment with us for what seemed like ages. Now he does very well, not accidents at night.
It is my daughter who has been by far the most challenging to potty train. Around 18 months old she decided that she no longer wanted to wear a diaper. It was a constant battle to keep her in a diaper or even panties. I felt like she might have the concept but her body wasn't quite there. So for a very long time, we would go from panties to pull ups and back again. We moved from an apartment to a townhouse during this time. I also had a surgery that put my normal mobility at an all time low. So through the holidays and a little beyond we really didn't push the issue. But then it is Spring and Summer before she turns three and we begin to get antsy. There were so many good moments and so many times that I was basically following her with a mop in hand. It was so frustrating and even more so when my husband failed to understand the long days and endless laundry. She could go places and not accidents, she could go all day downstairs and not have accidents. Then there was the poop. It was everywhere! We moved yet again and pull ups were the go to. It was months before I felt like she was really ready. Too many accidents in between and with the stress of the husband away, it was too much. Maybe my husband was right when he said that I was the lazy one. But one day she just woke up and it clicked. We are now mostly in panties even when we go places. Overnights she wears a pull up and when we go on long trips sometimes it is a pull up.
My advice to new parents is that you should wait on your child to show the signs they are ready. I had one potty trained at three years and three months, one just shy of three and one at three years and four months. Don't rush it the minute they turn two.
March 23, 2016
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