Potty ‘Til the Break o’ Dawn November 14, 2012

Our kids have both had potty break-thrus over the last few weeks.  We’ve had so much trouble with Hayden holding in his BMs for the last… well, forever it seems.  We’ve had him on a stool softener for a long time (his Dr said that is ok as it’s not absorbed into the blood stream) so we know it’s not that he’s constipated, and I think his problem was psychological after a BM which hurt from being constipated 2 or 3 years ago.  Whatever the reason, he was reluctant to go (and I am really being conservative there).  We had a “trick” to help him when he was younger where we would pretend we were pushing on his belly to help him go.  That worked for a while but after all this time it was his crutch and he really thought he couldn’t go unless we pushed on him.  Since he’s five and he was getting more and more reluctant to go (and as such we would spend DAYS trying to get him to go), we really had to break him of the habit.  John was finally able to get it into his head that he could do it on his own and he really stood his ground that he would absolutely not help him (we had both tried this before but eventually gave in in favor of just getting on with it).  He eventually went on his own and has been doing EXCELLENT in going more frequently and always on his own.  This is such wonderful news in our house, because when he had to really go but wouldn’t it was hard on everyone and even made it hard to do things sometimes because he was so focused on doing nothing but holding it in.

Layla has been potty training for the last couple of weeks, and she is doing fantastic.  We were having her “practice” potty training here and there – if I knew we’d be home for a while I’d put her in underwear, but if we were leaving the house I’d put her back in a diaper/pull up.  She was doing a pretty good job when she had underwear on, so finally I decided to bite the  bullet and dive full-fledged into potty training to try to avoid giving mixed signals about when she needed to use the potty and when she didn’t.  So last week I sent her to day care with underwear on instead of diapers (and a bag full of pants, underwear, and socks).  I thought that would be a good place to properly start since so many in her class are potty trained and they have scheduled bathroom breaks where she knows it’s just time to go.  (She doesn’t respond well to me asking her every 15 minutes if she needs to go.)  She’s done really wonderfully, particularly at day care.  Every time I’ve picked her up she’s been wearing the same pants/underwear/socks!  She does great when we are out and about, too.  We went to the children’s museum yesterday, and again I brought a bag full of backup clothes, and she was dry the whole time!  She really only has accidents at home, and I’m not sure exactly why that is but she is so new at it I couldn’t be happier with her progress.

I remember feeling the same way when it was time to potty train Hayden – a day just came that I hadn’t planned for when it just seemed like a good time to plant a flag in the ground and say (with some internal surprise and reluctance), “From this day forth, there shall be no diapers during waking hours,” and off we went.  With Hayden, it was a really long process with many steps and victories, and with Layla she seems to be getting it in a more all-at-once fashion.  Of course, she wears a diaper while she sleeps, but even with that she is dry when she wakes up many times (at least from naps – it takes her a long time to agree to get dressed in the morning which includes getting out of her diaper, so she could be waking up dry but not letting me take her diaper off until too late).

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Poop May 26, 2011

Kara refused to write this post so I thought it was my duty as a father to do this. Ever since Hayden starting pooping on the big toilet he has been fascinated with the shapes of is poops. He always wants to take a look and comment on them. Typically they are snakes, sometimes mummy and daddy snakes, sometimes a grown up snake and little one. More recently they have become dragons! And often big dragons.

Another funny thing in this regard, the other day he knew the cleaners were coming and also Kara was trying to get him to poop. He told that he didn’t want to do it because he was worried the cleaners would smell it! He never extends me that curtsey!

I gather this week (and Nanny is here right now) that Hayden needed to poop, Nanny offered to take him and turned and told her “it’s going to stink!”

LONG overdue! December 6, 2010

Just like a certain “tractor” library book I never found (any guesses as to who that was checked out for?), this blog is long overdue!  My friend Faith called me out on my blog slacking yesterday – thank you, Faith, for keeping me honest!  Between work, the kids, and the biggest thing to blame the last couple of weeks – the holidays – I have not found the time to do a posting.  I feel a little swamped right now, mainly just because of the holidays.  I don’t think I should really complain about it, though, because the things that are keeping us so busy are mostly really fun things that we are fortunate to be able to do.  For instance, this weekend was our neighborhood’s Cookies With Santa, where Hayden (and Layla) got to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what he wanted for Christmas (plus did I mention there were cookies?).  After that we went to Chuck E Cheese (don’t think they have those in the UK – it’s a pizza place with tons of arcade-style games for young kids) to celebrate Hayden FINALLY doing his number 2’s in the potty.  Chuck E Cheese was the first incentive that really seemed to spark his interest in this particular area, so I’m hoping we have turned a corner now – he’s done it three times in a row now as of this morning.  I know I am truly in Mommyland when I find this so elating, so please forgive me.  Then yesterday we went to the Colts game.  And between all this fun stuff every moment is stuffed with something – getting Christmas cards designed, printed (I had to go to three different places before I could get them right – can you believe it!), buying envelopes and stamps, stuffing, stamping, etc, buying presents, wrapping presents… ok I’m starting to get ahead of myself because I haven’t gotten that far yet, but it’s on my radar!  The trouble with the wrapping is that Hayden doesn’t nap anymore, so the only chance I have to wrap his presents is after he’s asleep, and after a long day of work or running around with a 3 year old and a 6 month old I haven’t yet mustered up the energy to tackle that.  But it will happen – it’s crazy busy for everyone this time of year and we all find time to get everything done (or at least all the must-dos – I’m starting to realize some things just won’t get done, like taking Hayden to see Polar Express which I was hoping we could do this year).  We still have to come Christmas parties and events, a Chris Isaacs’ concert, a Christmas symphony, and what’s that, Work?  You want me to work the Sat before Christmas?  Oh goodness, it would simply be my pleasure!  😉

Does this even count as a blog post?  Let me start another one and see if I can stay on topic.  The kids, right!  The kids.

Mission accomplished (mostly) July 31, 2010

So Monday began what I have been calling full court press potty training. As mentioned in a previous post, we have been working on potty training for some time with pull ups. Monday I decided I was going to keep him in big boy underwear all day, no matter how many accidents. Surprisingly we got through that day with just 2 accidents, and they were back-to-back at the very end of the day, so it seemed like we almost went the whole day with no accidents. Tuesday as I already posted was great, zero accidents. Wednesday we just had one. Thursday there was just one, too, right before dinner after being at the pool. He had come back from the pool with John and I wonder if he was doing a little testing. He had been doing so well all day and I was not having him go quite so frequently anymore because he was so good at going when I asked and I was getting better at judging when he needed to go. We had even gone downtown to have lunch with grandma and he had had had quite a bit to drink while we were out. I had him potty a couple of times before we headed home, and I started to put a pull up on him for the ride back because I had a feeling he would fall asleep. He refused the pull up (even though I didn’t ask him, I was just trying to get it on him) and I didn’t push it because I felt that was a great sign. He did fall asleep on the way hole and stayed asleep for about 2 1/2 hours. When we got home I put him on the couch with a blanket under him, presuming he would have an accident, but he stayed dry with all that he had drunk! So when he had the accident later it seemed like he might have done it maybe to test the waters to see if he had to do the potty thing when daddy was on duty as well. Friday and so far today he has had zero accidents! I also feel now like I can relax a little bit. The beginning of the week I was feeling like I was constantly worried about how long it bad been since he drank and how much he had had to try to catch him before he had an accident. As he’s gotten so much better over the week I have more confidence that he will be able to hold it. He never tells me he needs to go and if he’s asked if he needs to he never admits he does, but it’s been working well for me to just tell him its time to go when I judge it to be so.

So all this potty success has been on his little plastic potties. He’s had no interest in the big potty, so that’s the next thing to tackle. Luckily it’s summer right now because the only way we’ve been able to go out anywhere is by having a little potty in the van so we can go when we’re out, which he is surprisingly ok with. Yesterday I started getting him to go in the big potty by putting one of those child seats on it that makes the seat smaller. Previously he did not like this thing but luckily when I suggested it yesterday he was ok with it. We call it his Elmo potty since it’s a sesame street seat. Hopefully it will be a small leap from that to using the regular potty because it will be great when I feel like he can completely use available facilities when we are out! But for now I am so happy with his progress and am very, very proud of him!

Successful Potty Day! July 28, 2010

It’s almost bedtime but I just had to squeeze in a quick blog because I’m so excited!  Hayden had a completely dry day today!  We have been working on potty training for a while, and it’s been pretty hard going.  Hayden has just not been terribly interested in it.  We have tried a lot of techniques – rewards, sticker charts, potty timer, etc.  Yesterday I decided to just put regular underwear on him (instead of a pull up) and see how we go.  I have tried before to just let him be in regular underwear and let him feel the yuckiness of having an accident (some camps believe potty training has become harder as diapers have become more absorbant because they can’t feel the wetness very easily), but he never has had a big problem with the feeling of having an accident with underwear.  In fact, once when I tried it a couple of weeks ago he had about three accidents in 20 minutes – it seemed like he was trying to have accidents for some reason.

As I mentioned, we have done a lot of rewarding.  We have done a lot of reminding about rewards that he can earn if he’s dry, and those do work but it seems like after a while they lose their magic and eventually if we have talked a lot about a certain small toy he will get if he’s dry (like a matchbox car) he will be excited to begin with but after a while he won’t care enough to want to get on the potty.

Yesterday he had underpants on all day and he was really good for almost the whole day until right before John came home.  Then he had an accident which lead to another accident about 10 minutes later.  I think he was doing it on purpose for some reason – attention maybe because I was getting dinner ready at the time, I don’t know.  So we ended on a sour note yesterday after him being dry the whole time before that.

Today he was again in underpants all day, but he did stay dry the whole day!  I am so proud of him.  We even went to the Fishers outdoor concert tonight and I put a pull up on him because I knew we wouldn’t have a good scenario for potty training (he is only going in the plastic potties right now and has no interest in the regular ones), so I put on a pull up and told him I was putting one on but I would be really happy if he still held his pee pees.  I was so happy when we got home and he was dry!  He had had a whole juice and some water at the concert and still held it.  What a good boy!  I hope we have turned a corner.  Watch this space!

Potty Update April 3, 2010

Pretty boring topic but thought I’d provide a quick update….  Hayden can pretty much pee on demand (of course he knows he gets a skittle for it!).   He loves hanging out on the potty as he gets to read his race car books which he is willing to do all day.

Often we are on the potty before bath so after a while I’ll want to get him in the bath and I’ll ask him if he’s been already.  He’ll normally tell me that Pee Pees are coming.  Once he’s done with his book I check if he’s been and if he hasn’t (which is normal) I’ll tell him that he needs need to do Pee Pees now.   Now he’ll stand up, bend over and look back between his legs and start peeing and proceed to give me commentary on what is happening.  Very funny, but a little bit too much like a girl!   I guess the alternative is I start teaching him to pee standing up and I clean up the mess!

Next step is to get him telling us every time he needs to go.  I’ll think we’ll need to up the bribes from a skittle to get there!

We have pee pees!!! January 3, 2010

It’s been a few months since we introduced Hayden to the potty. He’s shown a general interest in it, but never really hung around long enough to do anything in it.  We introduced bribes originally to sit on it, and then later to put “his pee-pees in the potty”.  Kara bought a toy ambulance a few months back and we put it in the drawer in the bathroom to give him incentive to pee in the potty.  Every time he sits on the potty he would get up (without doing anything) and say “get ambulance now”… we would explain that no pee-pees means no ambulance and he would just carry on with his day without much bother.

We’ve never really put much pressure on him and as a result he hasn’t really progressed on his potty training.  We figure no big rush.  However, his favorite trick would be to sit on the potty before bath time, once the bath is ready and he would stand up and just before we got time to pick him up and put him in the bath he would pee all over the floor or the bath mat…so close but so far..

Having time off over Christmas presented an opportunity to spend a little more time trying to encourage him.   I had the brainwave to borrow a couple of huge F1 (race car) books from the library.  He is obsessed by race cars and will happily page through all 200 pages, so we only let him look at these books while he’s on the potty.    Now he will ask us if he can sit on the potty so he can go through the books!  This morning he sat on the potty for about 45 minutes reading (looking at all the pictures of race cars) through the books, but still no pee pees!!

Before bath tonight we thought let’s keeping trying, plonked him on the potty, gave him his ferrari book and sat back for 10 minutes… then i told him to get in the bath and i saw a little puddle of yellow liquid in the potty!!  WE HAVE PEE PEES!!    We celebrated like we had won the world cup, he got his ambulance which he will not want to leave his site for about a week, and potty training is moving forward!