Do you think I've got too many?
Day Four in the Potty-Training House…
… and I'm going slightly mad! When hubby comes home from work, I will be like the flash to get in the car and out to Starbucks. Even The Boy recognises my need to freedom, "We go Starbooks mummy. You need a caramel coffee frappucino. I need one too!" See? Potty-training is hard on everyone.
So far today, I have come downstairs for breakfast to the sound of "it's ok, daddy get the wipes STAND STILL!", which I looked at and walked away from. Nowt in my stomach means I can't deal with poo first thing. Daddy learnt the harsh way that you do not leave a potty-training toddler unattended. When he buggered off to work, life became a lot easier all of a sudden!
Today I've lengthened the intervals to, on average, 45 minutes between visiting the magic blue pot, although mid-morning he did manage well over an hour. I've also tried to stop helping him so much. I'm asking him if he needs to go, then asking him to sit on the potty and do a wee, then I give him reminders of what to do: pull your pants down, sit down, no don't flick them in the air over by the piano or you won't be able to put them back on again after, wipe, pull your pants up, tuck your willy in, what a clever boy now wash your hands. It's tiring and relentless, but it's starting to pay off and he's getting there by himself. Earlier I asked him to go to the potty and he walked over and toileted himself: I was so proud of him!
He's just woken up from a mammoth nap, well over two and a half hours, and his nappy was quite dry! Then he held his bladder until he went on the potty three minutes later. Hoorah, small steps but I think we might be getting there.
Last night I started reading Gina Ford's Potty Training in a Week, which I know bearing in mind I'm halfway through the week is a bit late, but what the hey? Some of it I didn't get, like for example; day 1 you put them on the potty every 15 minutes and get them to sit there for 5-10 minutes. Quite frankly, that's ridiculous! If The Boy hasn't gone within 15 seconds, he ain't going to go. I really don't think they should be encourage to just sit there until they go; that's catching not training! On day 2 you should go from reminding him to go to asking him, which makes sense, but I'd say we did that yesterday on day 3. On day 3, Gina says you should leave the house for a short visit to a nearby friend's house. WHAT? Are you mental woman?
Then we come to days 4-7 where apparently your child is trained. Um… what? When did that happen? The advice that you should move the potty closer to the bathroom makes sense, but as hubby pointed out in our house that's moving it up the steps one at a time and we're not sure of the safety of him weeing on the stairs. Apparently by the end of the first week, the potty should be in the bathroom and your toddler will be dry for several hours. Is she having a laugh?
Anyway, the one thing in the book that I did think was useful was the following ten signs of your toddler being ready to potty-train:
- He is over 18 months old.
- His nappy is frequently dry when you get him up from daytime naps. A dry nappy a couple of hours since his last nappy change would also be an indication that he is getting some bladder control.
- He is aware when he is doing a poo, i.e. going very quiet and showing signs of concentration, or points to his nappy and says poo or pee pee when he has done one.
- He can understand and follow simple instructions, i.e. go and fetch your red ball or put your toy in the box.
- He is eager to participate in taking of his own clothes, i.e. shoes, socks and shorts, and understands what pulling his shorts up and down mean.
- Can point to the different parts of his body when you name them, for example "where's your tummy button?" or "where's your nose?" etc.
- He has the ability to sit still and occupy himself or concentrate for five to ten minutes with a toy, book or watching a video.
Oh, that's seven not ten. There you go proof if ever was needed that I am losing it.
In about five minutes time my husband is going to be walking through the door and I will be pushing him out the way to see the outside world! I've not been out of this house, apart from to the washing line, since Friday evening and I am going stir-crazy. The Boy has benefitted from this focused potty-training but I'm going mental! I will be getting one of each of the following items:
and 
Wee Will Get There!
Yes, it's another potty training post.
Yesterday we lengthened the time between potty-pit-stops to 20-25 minutes and it went well. We had three little accidents but each time he knew what he was doing, said "I doing a wee-wee" and then sat himself down on the potty! We were over the moon, surely that's progress?
Later in the afternoon we had the event that we were crapping ourselves about, because we were hoping that he wouldn't! Turns out daddy caught him just in time as he started to squat, and then I heard a measured, but slightly frantic bellow. I rushed in with nappy-sacks and toilet wipes and rescued both of them. What was amazing for both of us was the curiosity on The Boy's face. This is where I realised why emptying the nappy out down the toilet in front of The Boy might have been useful, because I don't think he's ever seen his own nappy contents before!
So today was day three of the wee-wee fest! We lengthened it to 30 minute intervals and there were times when he went 45 minutes in between pit-stops. Once he even went over an hour! There was only minor accident when he started to spot, he looked down, Grandad asked him if he needed the potty and he took himself over to it. I was so impressed with him, such a big boy. Then mid-afternoon, it happened; the bit I'd been dreading and because I had taken my eyes off him for one minute I missed it. I managed to catch him halfway through a deposit and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! Bless his heart, he even said to me "Mummy, please change my pants?"
Tomorrow we're going for a scheduled 40 minutes and I will be asking him a lot more rather than just sitting him on it.
Wish me luck!
Sunday 14th August 2011
Wee-Wee Watch!
After putting it off from the original start day of Thursday due to a stressful last week or so, today was PT Day. That's right Potty Training Day!
As hubby was around today, I decided that there was safety in numbers and that we were going to go for it! It's one of the things on my 'Things to do this Summer' list, so I have to crack on. I want to potty-train my child, not have my mum do it when I'm back in work. Those words might come back to haunt me if he doesn't settle down to it soon. I can see me on the first day of school passing over three potties, 40 pants and The Boy and begging her to do it! No, I mustn't concede defeat so quickly!
I downloaded a couple of apps for the iPod, as I thought it might help to have a way of recording the times he went in order to create a prediction chart. Surely that's fairly simple? Apparently not. Out of the three that I downloaded (Huggies Potty Trainer, I Love Potty and Potty Predict) none of them did what I wanted them to do. I Love Potty only allows your child to record 8 visits and an additional 4 deposits. Yeah right! Huggies Potty Trainer will allow you to set a reminder for every 30 minutes to tell the child to 'go' but no smaller an interval of time. It also allows the parent to record if the child went, tried or didn't attempt, but not if they had an accident! Potty Predict appears to be quite good as it allows you to record drinks, successes and accidents, but doesn't reset to the main menu easily. We ended up with a hand-drawn chart to record times, successes and accidents.
The day went quite well I think; 3 accidents and 24 successes. The first accident happened after the first hour when he was concentrating on television and didn't even realise what was happening. The second was about an hour later and he didn't know he needed to go, the third was 20 minutes after dinner and hubby had lost track of time so forgot to ask him if he needed to go. The progress was interesting, first one he was completely oblivious and looked at his wet pants in bemusement; by the third he actually watched it happen a little shocked. He's starting to realise that he's wetting. Next step is prevention!
I know 24 successes sound like a lot, but we were sitting him on the potty every 15 minutes or so because at the moment any longer and he has an accident.
We've also not left his tippy cup out for him to have ready access to which I'd read somewhere else, he had a big drink at specific times and then went on the potty 15-20 minutes later.
What will Day Two bring? Hopefully less accidents, but a deposit is on the cards. Yuck!
This blog has some great tips.
Listography: Five Things I Want To Do This Summer
Kate's a bit busy this week setting up the marvellous Parent Blogger Network on Netmums, so our apprentice Listographer extraordinaire Keith is hosting the Listography for her. Not content with running such a tight-ship as he does, he has decided to set himself five challenges for the Summer holidays with his children.
I have been counting down the days 'til the Summer holidays start since Easter. It's now only three more weeks to go (or six days in school, one on a course and one as INSET. See told you I'd been counting them down. Do you want it in minutes?) until I get to have six fantabulous weeks with my gorgeous bundle of mischief and I can't wait. We have a few necessary items to do and some fun things as well.
Here goes:
- Potty-train The Boy.
I know! I'm a bit worried about this, and also thinking 'ewww' a lot. Guess I'm going to be getting very familiar with poo over the next few months hey?
- Tidy the spare bedroom.
It is an abyss of detritus. I now open the door, stand in the two square foot that are clear because the door pushes the stuff out of the way, and sigh. Then I close the door and declare to hubby that we need to tidy it soon. It is horrendous. There is a computer in the corner that we don't use anymore because we have the laptop. It's only use is as a print server and storage device for some photos. There is a bed-settee covered in The Boy's outgrown clothes that need to be boxed and put in the attic. A step-machine and abdominal roll doo-dah, both pointless and serving as a clothes rail at the moment. Countless cardboard boxes that are either from The Boy's toys (keep the boxes, the toys sell for more at a nearly new sale in the original packaging!) or from review items (they might come in useful!) and jiffy bags. Plus a gigantic wooden bowl that's about three foot across which my dad made, but now I have a baby it is impractical to keep on the dining table or it gets covered in playdough, paint and Dairylea. The room needs sorting out for God's sake!
- Make a start on losing some weight.
I'm contemplating the possibility of a sibling for The Boy at some point. I was fortunate not to gain any weight (at all!) with The Boy, but I can't be so certain next time around. I want four stone gone by November 24th (my 10th wedding anniversay). Or else!
- Family Time
I do not want the weeks to whizz by and not have done anything in them. Weekends will be spent doing things as a family unit. Week days will hopefully be filled with socialisation (for him and me), craft activities and playing in the garden.
- Retrain our sleep habits
We are rubbish at going to bed before midnight and our son wakes up at half past six. It is impossible to survive on that, it needs to stop now! Along with this, we need to get The Boy off the habit of being cuddled to sleep. I think I've built it up into a bigger thing than it is, but he will learn how to go down by himself. Won't he?
Potty-talk!
I've mentioned before that I think that The Boy is pretty much ready to start potty-training. All the tell-tale signs are there; he tells us when he has soiled, or recently just before he is about to, the nappies are more and more dry in between changes, he is very happy to always perform one way or another on the potty. However, as unfair as it sounds; he's just going to have to wait for various reasons. Mainly I want to try and get it done in a week, and the best time for me to do that is in the summer holidays straight after we've come back from a week away.
We've already got one 'throne' style potty, and a travel potty but not a 'traditional' style potty. This is mainly because I am sceptical of them; I think that they are better suited to girls rather than boys. However, the lovely mummies that are Jenny and Emma asked me to review that very style of potty for them for their fabulous 'Going Potty' potty-training carnival. Now who am I to refuse such lovely ladies, so of course I accepted.
Last week, I received a Pourty Potty through the post and I'll be honest, my scepticism remained intact. My theory behind the uncertainty of them lay with the fact that I didn't think that there would be very much room for a little boy's 'equipment' when actually in use, and that he may have had difficulty balancing on it, as he had with another potty. I was quite stubborn in my view.
That is until The Boy sat down on it.
The Pourty stands higher than the average 'traditional' style potty, and has quite a large 'seat' area. The back comes up to allow a rest for the child, which The Boy found really comfortable and the splash-guard at the front is quite high in order to prevent accidental tinkles. So, that's put pay to my first concern about the potty. In fact, there is loads of space which enabled The Boy to actually check what he was doing. Because the Pourty is slightly higher, he sits really well with his knees bent comfortably and at a good angle to help him to balance.
Scepticism squashed.
Now this is what is the big difference with a Pourty, and the reason for its name. It has a channel cut out of the back to enable you to pour the contents down the toilet. And, because we don't want to get icky hands whilst doing this, they have put a handle at the front underneath the splash-guard. Seriously, how clever it that?
The only thing that I would say about the potty is, and this is what The Boy does, not all children may do the same, he has a tendency to hold on to the splash-guard as he thinks it's a handle. I need to keep reminding him at the moment, it is early days after all, to put his hands on his knees. Like I said, it's a minor thing and that's my child, not all children.
I was very pleasantly surprised by the Pourty potty, and am very happy to have my mind changed for me by an innovative potty. Such simple alterations make all the difference to the world of a toddler who is undergoing a massive task. This is why the Pourty has won Best New Product 2010/11 from Practical Parenting Magazine and is currently one of the best selling potties on Amazon!
The best judge of it though is The Boy: he has now abandoned his throne potty for this one! When given a choice, he sits on it every time before his other one, even when he's still got his nappy on!
Review: MyCarryPotty
I'm putting it off, I really am.
It might not be fair, some might call me cruel but I consider it more unfair to him to start and stop and for it to go wrong. And you know what they say; once you start there is no going back!
I am talking about potty-training. I blogged about it last weekend, discussing how I know he's ready. A further development to that is the utter struggle that my mum is having when it comes to getting a nappy back on him. He's also mucking around for hubby. I give him the iPod to distract him because I'm cleverer than those two. However, I know that the refusal to have a nappy on is the classic symptom of being ready for potty-training.
We have been using a potty with him in between changes for the past few months, and so far he has always performed on it, but only when he wants to pass water. He's never tried for the other one.
That was until I was recently sent a MyCarryPotty to review. He is obsessed with it, he absolutely adores it and will always 'perform' on it. He's even chosen to do a number two on it, something which is yet to happen with his static potty.
I've seen people using travel potty before and have been distinctly unimpressed. They seem to need a lot of assembly for what is often drastically urgent use. This is not something that is needed with MyCarryPotty because when you remove the outer packaging that's it; it's ready for use straight away.
And if you are in a position where you're not able to dispose of the contents straightaway then you need not worry because MyCarryPotty is fitted with a clever rubber seal and a clip shut lid. So flip the lid back over and you've got a completely leak and odour-proof container, so wherever your little one is caught short you can be in total control. It's a marvellous idea for unisex use, however you do have to be more careful with little boys that they don't end up spraying everywhere!
The Boy really does love his MyCarryPotty, and I think one of those reasons is because it's bright and attractive with a little handle that means that he can carry it himself. He's quite possessive of it in fact and will strip all his clothes and nappy off when he sees it so that he can use it. I know that when I actually take the plunge in the summer holidays then it is going to be made a lot easier by having a potty that he has ownership of and enjoys using.
For more information on MyCarryPotty visit their Facebook page or twitter stream. You can buy a MyCarryPotty here where they retail for £24.99.
I was sent a MyCarryPotty for review purposes. My opinion is, as always, honest and without prejudice.
And he went "wee, wee, wee" all the way (to the potty).
Sorry, but I have a feeling that this blog is about to take a downwards spiral into the porcelain world of toilet humour. I'm not about to join Ade and Rik in the sphere of poo jokes and fluff gags, but we are venturing firmly into the world of potty training. It happens to us all so don't grimace! You had to do it once (unless you're 37 and still wearing nappies) and if you've got children then it has either happened or is going to happen to them too.
A few months ago I decided that it was time to get down the potty that has been stored in the attic for the past year. It's a Fisher Price Throne potty that my sister passed onto me, no don't worry it wasn't hers; her children used it. It does mean that it's seven years old but then it's moulded plastic so is going to be fine for the next 500 years really isn't it? This potty has a removable tray for easy cleaning and a 'red-eye' beam which triggers a cheer when something breaks it. Upon my sister's recommendations, it doesn't have batteries in at the moment otherwise he might follow his cousin and stick his hand in the potty (and urine or worse) to hear the cheer.
I explained once to The Boy that you sit on it to do a wee-wee and he had a little practise getting on and off it in the kitchen (fully-clothed). We then took him upstairs to bed and he had his first 'go' on it. He performed! We clapped and cheered him feeling immensely proud. Then we did the recommended thing of getting him to wave goodbye to it down the loo, flush, wash hands etc. At which point he went back on it and went again. In total he went five times! FIVE! On his first go! Wahay The Boy!
We've been taking it really slowly with him, knowing how important potty-training is and not wanting to get it wrong. For the time being we put him on the potty when we change his nappy and he always, always performs. Sometimes he's even attempted more than just a number one, thank God hubby dealt with that one! However I'm beginning to think that the time has come to progress onto it properly, but I'm hoping to put it off until the summer holidays for various reasons; he's my child and I don't want my mum doing this with him, I need a good week or two (or six) to devote to this important procedure, and it's easier in the summer because of drying clothes. On my part, it's also to deal with nappies on holidays than a recently trained toddler. Lazy, I know.
What makes me think that I'm being unfair in making him wait is this:
On Wednesday evening, he went upstairs to get ready for bed. He took his trousers and body off, pulled his nappy down, put it in the bin, sat on the potty, did a wee and then went and washed his hands. All by himself!
We stood open-mouthed! When did my baby get to be so grown-up?
