Advice of the potty sort wanted
Those of you who have never had a toddler, a warning: I will be talking about the potty in this post. Feel free to read no further.
Chickpea is 2 years and 8 months old, and we are in the midst of hard-core potty training. She’s actually shown sides of readiness for about four months, but I delayed the potty training because of all the insane traveling we did this summer. She’s been more than ready, so when we started last Wednesday, it was all I could do to keep her dancing off into the sunset wearing nothing but her My Little Pony underwear and hot pink rain boots.
But here’s the thing – she’s really not grasping the concept of telling me she needs to go, nor of running to the bathroom ahead of time. I make a point to ask her if she needs to go about every 30 minutes, and we go and sit on the potty about every hour. She’s great about going when I put her there. But she’s not so great at pro-actively making the decision that she needs to go in advance. Therein lie the messes on the floor.
Any advice on helping her understand the purpose of running to the potty when she feels like she needs to go?
Right now she gets a gummy bear every times she goes in the potty, plus a sticker on her sticker chart. When the chart is filled, she’ll get to pick a toy from our treasure chest (a box of simple toys we find for cheap here and there). If she goes on the floor, a sticker is taken off the chart.
So… I’m all ears for ideas here!
posted: 07 October 23
under: family
Time. Josh went from going on the floor and barely noticing, to going on the floor and telling me, to going on the floor and running to the bathroom, to telling me in advance. All the while he was going in the potty when I took him. I think she’ll “get it” as you consistently continue to practice. It is a frustrating time, but keep going! We’re 3 months in and Josh still goes on the floor every now and then. I think accidents will remain for awhile. But on the other hand, progress is evident, too.
I agree with Melanie. It’s just a maturity issue. Once she gets to an age where she can “get it”, she’ll get it.
Lots and lots of children take time before they have no more accidents.
BTW, I just looked at your pregnancy ticker and I can’t believe you only have 10 weeks to go!!
Blessings,
Karla
One thing that really helped my son was peer pressure! My niece and nephew visited us for a few days (they were 5 and 3 at the time and both were potty trained) and I’d have my son follow them into the potty whenever they’d go (hopefully you have a friend or family member who won’t mind their kiddos having company in the bathroom!) He really wanted to be a big kid like his cousins so he finally started initiating potty visits.
I agree with the above. It just takes time. Hang in there, and try and remember in the midst of cleaning up the mess for the 5th time that day, that she is small, it’s not a moral issue to be completely potty trained by a certain point, and even if she continues to have accidents for a while, it really is a short time of life, so taking even a year to learn really isn’t that long in the grand scheme of growing up.
In the mean time, windex is great at getting stains/messes out of carpets;)
Love ya!
Kerin
Hi, I ran across your page today. I just thought I would give my two cents here.. My daughter is now 8 but the best way I could get her to understand the need to go to the potty, was to take a day or so when I knew I did not have to go anywhere and let her walk around the house with no diaper on her. (we have hard wood floors) It helped her become aware of the sensations leading up to the actual act. One accident is all it took, she never had another. My sister in law just did the same thing with her son who is 2 1/2 and it only took two accidents. He is now trained.
Good luck!
I ran across your page today too (through Jodi). My daughter was potty trained right around 2. We made a few days of it (in the summer) and she ran around in only her panties. I gave her lots of hot cocoa and other stuff to drink so she would need to go and set the timer for 20-30 minutes and took her and let her sit. Same as above, when she wet on herself it was such a deterrent. Also watch her wiggle cues because she will try to hold it. Good luck!