Day 2 started off a bit better than Day 1, mainly because I was feeling a little more confident in what to expect for the day.
My sister and her kids came over for the morning, which was a great distraction. In fact it was TOO good a distraction. Jack managed to stay dry through the morning, but once he got playing with Lexi and Nate, he was totally unaware of when he needed to go. So the next three hours or so he had a few accidents, but at least it wore him out for the nap that afternoon!! Plus, seeing Lexi and Nate use the bathroom was good motivation for him.
During his nap, I managed to create a basic chart for him so he could put stickers up every time he was successful in using the potty. I quickly realized M&M's were going to be too much sugar, especially if he did it before naptime or bedtime, so my mom mentioned a chart and then letting him pick a toy out from the dollar store once he got enough stickers (I set the limit at 10). I thought that sounded like a good idea, so we did that! He liked getting to pick out the stickers to put on the chart...it doesn't take much to motivate this child :)
We had some more successes that afternoon after his cousins left, so I continued to feel pretty good about his progress! I still hadn't ventured out for more than 30 minutes yet so that we wouldn't be far from a bathroom, that outing was coming up for Wednesday...
Monday, July 27, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
PTC: Day 1
As I mentioned in the previous post, I woke up Monday morning really dreading this whole week (I know, I know, my attitude wasn't good) of being stuck inside the house. But, at least I had a game plan after talking to my sister and some other mom friends about what they did to potty train their kids. Jack seemed to be willing to at least try, so I figured I would give it a full-throttle effort this week and then re-evaluate after 7 days to see if I should keep going or stop and pick it up again at a later date.
Mistake #1 was using up all the coffee the day before and not buying anymore at the store before this week started. I pretty much need at least one cup of coffee before you can ask me a question and expect to get a response (two cups to get a coherent response), let alone have the mental clarity and patience to put a toddler on a potty multiple times a day. I was not a happy camper to open up my kitchen cabinet and realize there would be no cup-o-joe early that morning, and since I was going to potty train Jack in underwear, I REALLY didn't want to risk running to the store to get more.
My sister mentioned she thought that taking the plunge into underwear was the way to go so that the potty training wasn't prolonged with pull-ups, so that's what we did (mistake #2). I washed all of his underwear the day before and as soon as he got up that morning we put him in underwear. We had breakfast, I waited about 30 minutes and then put him on the potty upstairs. He was able to go, so I had my first taste of success. That eased my concerns that maybe this wasn't going to be so bad...
...until 5 minutes later when then first accident happened, so I changed his clothes and underwear, cleaned the carpet, and let him try to go again with no luck. Then another accident happened again about 10 minutes later downstairs in the laundry room followed by a repeat of the steps above. By this time I was starting to get a little worried that I was going to be cleaning up accidents every 15 minutes for the rest of the day and that maybe he really wasn't ready to do this just yet. The thought depressed me because I had mentally adjusted to the thought of only one child in diapers...I didn't want to go back to two in diapers!!
After climbing back upstairs, I tried him again on the potty, he went, and we headed downstairs for a snack. Then another accident happened. Uggggg. After three accidents in about an hour and a half, I needed some words of encouragment to keep going, so I called my husband and my mom, who both said something along the lines of "Use the pull-ups!!" Hmmm, now why didn't I think of that??
After switching Jack into a pull-up, the day went along a lot smoother. At least I wasn't anxious the entire time waiting for him to have an accident, so we could go a little longer between bathroom trips (which was getting exhausting to walk up and down the stairs...more on this later). I also asked my dear mother if she could bring a cup of coffee over to me, which she graciously did. She also hung around through lunch for moral support and offered some suggestions for rewards for Jack. I had M&M's, but that was quickly going to get to be too much sugar, so I switched to stickers and a chart instead. After 10 stickers, I planned to let him go to the dollar store to pick out of toy. That got him pretty excited!!
Now about the stairs...I started potty training him upstairs because we have a bathroom right by the game room, and I figured I could keep Anna penned up in there while I took Jack to the potty every 30 minutes. At this point he was only going on the little stand-alone potty and wouldn't go on the portable ones that just fit into a regular toilet seat (which we had for the bathrooms downstairs), so every time he needed to go I rushed upstairs with him (and Anna!). Yeah, that got old really fast. While I was cringing at the thought of spending money for a second potty, I finally broke down and asked my mom if she could grab another stand-alone one for me that I could put downstairs. This turned out to the best decision I had made thus far (after switching to the pull-ups)!
Bob finally made it home from work later that afternoon, which helped so that I didn't have to keep an eye on both Anna and Jack. Jack was still getting used to sitting on his potty and had some more successes, though he was still having accidents in his pull-ups between trips. Overall I was slowly feeling a little bit better about how things were going, at least enough to keep with it for a week.
So here's what I learned from day one:
1) Don't forget the coffee!!
2) What works for some moms doesn't work for every mom (duh)....My sister had quick success with underwear with her son , who is only a few days older than Jack, because his temperament is much different and he was a lot more ready to train (being the second child and watching his sister go). And when I say different...Nate is two and a half and can already make it in the potty standing up without, ummm, hitting the seat.....amazing!! I needed to try a different route with Jack because he's very different than Nate, and that's ok!
3) Call friends, family, whoever for moral support if you need some encouragement.
4) Relax your standards...at least for my perfectionist self, I had to give up on the idea that Jack would be perfectly potty trained in a week. Instead, I made it my goal to 1) just get him used to this new process, and 2) to begin to recognize when he feels like he needs to go.
Next up, Day 2....
Mistake #1 was using up all the coffee the day before and not buying anymore at the store before this week started. I pretty much need at least one cup of coffee before you can ask me a question and expect to get a response (two cups to get a coherent response), let alone have the mental clarity and patience to put a toddler on a potty multiple times a day. I was not a happy camper to open up my kitchen cabinet and realize there would be no cup-o-joe early that morning, and since I was going to potty train Jack in underwear, I REALLY didn't want to risk running to the store to get more.
My sister mentioned she thought that taking the plunge into underwear was the way to go so that the potty training wasn't prolonged with pull-ups, so that's what we did (mistake #2). I washed all of his underwear the day before and as soon as he got up that morning we put him in underwear. We had breakfast, I waited about 30 minutes and then put him on the potty upstairs. He was able to go, so I had my first taste of success. That eased my concerns that maybe this wasn't going to be so bad...
...until 5 minutes later when then first accident happened, so I changed his clothes and underwear, cleaned the carpet, and let him try to go again with no luck. Then another accident happened again about 10 minutes later downstairs in the laundry room followed by a repeat of the steps above. By this time I was starting to get a little worried that I was going to be cleaning up accidents every 15 minutes for the rest of the day and that maybe he really wasn't ready to do this just yet. The thought depressed me because I had mentally adjusted to the thought of only one child in diapers...I didn't want to go back to two in diapers!!
After climbing back upstairs, I tried him again on the potty, he went, and we headed downstairs for a snack. Then another accident happened. Uggggg. After three accidents in about an hour and a half, I needed some words of encouragment to keep going, so I called my husband and my mom, who both said something along the lines of "Use the pull-ups!!" Hmmm, now why didn't I think of that??
After switching Jack into a pull-up, the day went along a lot smoother. At least I wasn't anxious the entire time waiting for him to have an accident, so we could go a little longer between bathroom trips (which was getting exhausting to walk up and down the stairs...more on this later). I also asked my dear mother if she could bring a cup of coffee over to me, which she graciously did. She also hung around through lunch for moral support and offered some suggestions for rewards for Jack. I had M&M's, but that was quickly going to get to be too much sugar, so I switched to stickers and a chart instead. After 10 stickers, I planned to let him go to the dollar store to pick out of toy. That got him pretty excited!!
Now about the stairs...I started potty training him upstairs because we have a bathroom right by the game room, and I figured I could keep Anna penned up in there while I took Jack to the potty every 30 minutes. At this point he was only going on the little stand-alone potty and wouldn't go on the portable ones that just fit into a regular toilet seat (which we had for the bathrooms downstairs), so every time he needed to go I rushed upstairs with him (and Anna!). Yeah, that got old really fast. While I was cringing at the thought of spending money for a second potty, I finally broke down and asked my mom if she could grab another stand-alone one for me that I could put downstairs. This turned out to the best decision I had made thus far (after switching to the pull-ups)!
Bob finally made it home from work later that afternoon, which helped so that I didn't have to keep an eye on both Anna and Jack. Jack was still getting used to sitting on his potty and had some more successes, though he was still having accidents in his pull-ups between trips. Overall I was slowly feeling a little bit better about how things were going, at least enough to keep with it for a week.
So here's what I learned from day one:
1) Don't forget the coffee!!
2) What works for some moms doesn't work for every mom (duh)....My sister had quick success with underwear with her son , who is only a few days older than Jack, because his temperament is much different and he was a lot more ready to train (being the second child and watching his sister go). And when I say different...Nate is two and a half and can already make it in the potty standing up without, ummm, hitting the seat.....amazing!! I needed to try a different route with Jack because he's very different than Nate, and that's ok!
3) Call friends, family, whoever for moral support if you need some encouragement.
4) Relax your standards...at least for my perfectionist self, I had to give up on the idea that Jack would be perfectly potty trained in a week. Instead, I made it my goal to 1) just get him used to this new process, and 2) to begin to recognize when he feels like he needs to go.
Next up, Day 2....
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Potty Training Chronicles
So I thought I would chronicle my first week of trying to potty train Jack this week, hitting the highs and lows each day. I realize I'm writing on a Thursday about what happened on a Monday (and before), but I've just been so tired each evening I haven't wanted to sit down and think enough to blog!! So, without further adieu...
Pre-potty training: Bob and I had been trying Jack on the "big boy" potty every once in a while over the last few weeks to see how he did and whether he was really ready to try. I think that question was the hardest for me to answer...How do you know when your child is ready? Jack certainly wasn't resistive to sitting on the potty, and had begun to tell me when he needed a diaper change, but still didn't really seem to recognize the feeling of needing to "go". I guess that realization develops sooner for some kids than others. Jack doesn't miss a beat in the world around him, but when it comes to his own body, he's not super interested in it just yet!
The first time we had success on the potty was about a week ago at my parents house. He managed to go, and we made a HUGE deal out of it. He was beaming from ear to ear, and I think that REALLY got him excited about this "big boy" potty. Of course, his Grammie and Paw-Paw giving him high fives went a long way...oh, and the sprinkles he got for a treat. Yes, he loves sprinkles, just like his mom :)
So that made me think that maybe I had a fighting chance to get this show on the road and really start making an effort to get him consistently on the potty. We've got 6 weeks before mother's day out starts up again and I had a week free of major commitments this week, so I figured it was as good a time as any to at least start trying and really see if he was interested.
In preparation, my mom and I ran to Target to grab some essentials...M&M's and stickers for rewards, a little potty for him to sit on, pull-ups, and of course the big boy underwear!! At this point I had decided to just take the plunge and put him in underwear since my sister mentioned she thought pull-ups prolonged the process (more on whether this was a good idea in the next installment). Anyway, I figured if I could find him some Lightning McQueen underwear that it would seal the deal for him since he just loves Cars.
Sure enough, I found Cars, Sesame Street, and Mickey Mouse, and boy was he excited when I got home. I also pulled out the little potty I bought for him, which he proceeded to drag all over the house with a smile on his face. So far, so good...he was excited!!
I, on the other hand, was positively dreading this week. In fact I don't recall dreading something so much in a long time. I think it was because I knew I would be pretty confined to the house for a week, which is tough for me because I try to find something each day to do to get us OUT of the house! Plus sitting in the bathroom multiple times a day trying to keep him, ummm, aimed in the potty while Anna is crawling all over me just didn't sound like fun.
We put him in a pull-up Sunday night and I mentally prepared myself for this upcoming week....stay tuned for Day #1 coming soon!
Pre-potty training: Bob and I had been trying Jack on the "big boy" potty every once in a while over the last few weeks to see how he did and whether he was really ready to try. I think that question was the hardest for me to answer...How do you know when your child is ready? Jack certainly wasn't resistive to sitting on the potty, and had begun to tell me when he needed a diaper change, but still didn't really seem to recognize the feeling of needing to "go". I guess that realization develops sooner for some kids than others. Jack doesn't miss a beat in the world around him, but when it comes to his own body, he's not super interested in it just yet!
The first time we had success on the potty was about a week ago at my parents house. He managed to go, and we made a HUGE deal out of it. He was beaming from ear to ear, and I think that REALLY got him excited about this "big boy" potty. Of course, his Grammie and Paw-Paw giving him high fives went a long way...oh, and the sprinkles he got for a treat. Yes, he loves sprinkles, just like his mom :)
So that made me think that maybe I had a fighting chance to get this show on the road and really start making an effort to get him consistently on the potty. We've got 6 weeks before mother's day out starts up again and I had a week free of major commitments this week, so I figured it was as good a time as any to at least start trying and really see if he was interested.
In preparation, my mom and I ran to Target to grab some essentials...M&M's and stickers for rewards, a little potty for him to sit on, pull-ups, and of course the big boy underwear!! At this point I had decided to just take the plunge and put him in underwear since my sister mentioned she thought pull-ups prolonged the process (more on whether this was a good idea in the next installment). Anyway, I figured if I could find him some Lightning McQueen underwear that it would seal the deal for him since he just loves Cars.
Sure enough, I found Cars, Sesame Street, and Mickey Mouse, and boy was he excited when I got home. I also pulled out the little potty I bought for him, which he proceeded to drag all over the house with a smile on his face. So far, so good...he was excited!!
I, on the other hand, was positively dreading this week. In fact I don't recall dreading something so much in a long time. I think it was because I knew I would be pretty confined to the house for a week, which is tough for me because I try to find something each day to do to get us OUT of the house! Plus sitting in the bathroom multiple times a day trying to keep him, ummm, aimed in the potty while Anna is crawling all over me just didn't sound like fun.
We put him in a pull-up Sunday night and I mentally prepared myself for this upcoming week....stay tuned for Day #1 coming soon!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Fun on the Fourth
Hope everyone had an enjoyable Fourth of July without any fireworks starting a fire in your yard (at least for my Houston friends enduring this hot and dry summer)....we had a lot of fun!Well, the day didn't start off fun...you know you're in for a long day with a two-year-old when the first time-out is at 6:30AM!! But it definitely got better from there...we ran to Wally World by 7:30AM to grab some decorations for the kids' wagon before our neighborhood Fourth of July parade. Next it was on to Kroger at 8AM to grab a few things for dessert for the evening (more on that later). By 9:30AM we had made it home and decorated the wagon for the kids before heading up to our neighborhood clubhouse to wait for the parade to start. We basically walked about halfway down the main drag of the subdivision and back along with about 200 other parents and their kids.
The funniest thing was watching this little boy who was probably 4 or 5 trying to steer his motorized Escalade down the street...he kept ramming into another little girl in her motorized car before panicked parents would finally pull them apart, only to have the same thing happen all over again. Bob made a good point that he hoped their parents had charged the batteries on those cars before letting the kids drive them...they would've been really heavy to carry all the way back to the clubhouse with a dead battery (and most likely a crying child).By 10:30AM we had worked up a good sweat and it was time to head home. We had some lunch, let the kids nap, and then headed to Grammie and Paw-Paw's for some good eats and swimming (in 90 degree water)...oh, and the Wii. Dinner was fabulous...the smoked brisket from HEB was delicious and mom made her potato salad, deviled eggs, and homemade BBQ sauce. I grabbed some corn and we had a Fourth of July feast. Dessert was a recipe from my mother-in-law called "All Seasons Lemon Trifle". YUM-O. It's basically layers of angel food cake, fresh fruit, and lemon yogurt/cool whip. Oh yeah....and that's all topped with toasted coconut. That and some Mario Kart sessions on the Wii left us all in a mighty good mood. Well, at least until our neighbors set off an obnoxious amount of fireworks in the street behind us. And no, I'm not a ba-hum-bug when it comes to fireworks, I just have two young children now that I want to STAY asleep. Thankfully, they did. Bob and I on the other hand didn't get to bed until pretty late. Oh well.
All in all, a great day!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
