The other week we started to give Little Man and Little Miss their baths in the main bathroom instead of our ensuite. We’d been doing that since they were tiny, simply because it was next to our bedroom where they slept at the time, but it had just carried on. Now, we have our ensuite back (hooray, a grown-up space once more!!), but we’ve also set up a little ‘potty station’ with their potties sitting on a bath mat in their new bathroom. And you wouldn’t believe it, but Little Man has started to use his potty! I’m sure it’s because it looks so much more inviting – it’s more obvious that they’re there to be used for a specific purpose, and they’re an important part of the bathroom furniture.
He is hilarious with it though – he is insistent on squeezing out ‘a puddle’ (we have been reading this book quite a bit since receiving it as a Christmas present), even if he doesn’t need to go. He stands there, squeezing with all his might, until a little bit dribbles out. Yes, I said ‘stands’. Whether it’s because that’s how daddy does it, or because he can watch what’s happening I have no idea – but quite how we’re going to transition to the toilet I have no clue!!
It also means that Little Miss has decided to join in. Of course she has tried to do it standing up a few times too. To begin with she would just sit there and pretend to do something, then go and tip her invisible ‘wee’ down the toilet, just like Little Man. Then all of a sudden she did a real one! I have to say I ran up and down the landing, screaming silently in glee, not wanting to make too big a deal of it in front of her. We’re trying to keep it fairly low key to keep the pressure off after last time. She has done more wees on the potty in a couple of days than she did in a week and a half of ‘potty training’ last time.
Here’s what we’re doing at the moment:
- both are wearing disposable pull ups during the day. I haven’t transitioned to reuseable training pants yet – that’s the next stage!
- they have a go on their potties first thing in the morning, before and after their lunchtime nap, and before they have a bath. I also offer them whenever they have their pull ups changed.
- pull up changes involve a whole toileting routine. First we go to the bathroom, they take off their trousers and wet pull up, and have a go on the potty (if they want to, which they do more often than not). Then they flush the toilet themselves (if they have produced something on the potty), put their own dry pull up on, and wash their hands.
I’m hoping that by putting a toileting routine in place that things will happen gradually and naturally. It seems to be working so far!
I was just reading your other post, about your first experience with Little Miss, it really made me smile and brought back some memories. It sounded a lot like the experience I had with my eldest daughter, (she’s now 9). It started well, but got worse over the week after she didn’t quite make it to the potty and became quite distressed. I tried to keep it low key, be really positive etc etc, but it all came to a head a few days later, in a book shop in town. She needed a wee, refused to go on the toilet, held it, becoming more and more upset, I put a nappy on her and told her it was ok to wee in the nappy, but she wouldn’t. we waited around in the book shop for about an hour, hoping she would give in soon. In the end, we decided it was time to go home, knowing she would go eventually. I was queueing to pay for some books, holding her crying, on my hip, when she could hold out no longer. There was so much, it was running down my legs onto the floor, I was completetly soaked from my chest to my feet, so was she, the nappy never stood a chance! But, I remained positive, smiling and reasurred that she’d done well.
Potty training was put on hold for a few months, and when we tried again, at a slower pace, it went well. I learned my lesson too, not to stress too much about it or put too much pressure on them, and let them do it when they are ready. Daughter number two kind of potty trained herself and we shall see how easy it is with daughter number three, (about another year yet).
Oh gosh, what a nightmare! I think slow and steady is definitely the way to go…
Pingback: Toilet Learning: Using Training Pants | Two of Everything