Adventures in potty training
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March 24th, 2006
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We are at the stage in Daniel's life when it's time to start thinking a bit more about poop. You would think that's impossible with a two year old that poops three times a day, but it's not. The diaper stage has been going very well except that my lovely wife can't stand the smell and wants to barf each time she changes her son's diapers. That's right, a mother that can't stand poop. Don't worry, I make fun of it on a regular basis. Sandra has had a very bad cold the past few weeks and her sensitivity to poop has increased exponentially. It probably has something to do with her pregnancy as well but she's more sensitive than ever. And now it's time for the potty stage.
I've read that the potty stage can be traumatic for some but I hope we don't run into problems. Obviously there will be some (many?) "accidents" with poop and pee in the clothing but that's part of life. My understanding is that the parents should offer plenty of encouragement and try not to force the issue. So that's what we're doing. We're starting slow and just trying get Daniel used to the concept of poop without a diaper. And so far it's working surprisingly well.
Daniel's group at kindergarten includes some kids three years of age and most of them haven't used diapers for a while. This seems to be a huge advantage for us. Every day Daniel can see how his friends go to the bathroom, pull down their pants, and proceed to pee or poop without diapers. When we got back from our long trip to Mexico a few weeks ago we were positively surprised that Daniel started using the potty at school. Mostly for peeing but it felt like a promising start. The teachers at school were so excited and impressed by our potty training. We had to tell them they deserved all the credit which made them feel great.
We've started to have some success at home as well even though we could do a better job. Many times we simply forget to ask Daniel if he needs to use the potty so he uses the diaper instead. The other night I was putting him to sleep and after some välling and reading it was time to sleep. But he kept telling me he needed to pee which I didn't believe. This has previously been a known stall tactic. He's got lots of energy and occasionally would rather stay up a little longer with us so he tries to use his imagination to prolong the inevitable. Naturally I thought he was stalling when he suddenly sat down on the potty and proceeded to take the largest dump I have ever seen. We were both surprised and looked at each other with a huge smile as he got up and I saw the large German sausage laying there. It must sound silly to be proud over a large poop but it was one proud father congratulating Daniel on his success. It feels like we're moving towards no diapers at the right pace so we'll keep this up to see how it works.
Now over to the tricky question where I rely on advice from you experienced parents. How am I supposed to clean out the potty after it's been used? What's the best (read least messy) way of doing this? Empty it all in the toilet and rinse it out? Rinse it in the shower? Let Daniel be involved in the cleaning? Please keep in mind my wife is hyper sensitive to poop smell and I would rather avoid cleaning up both poop and puke at the same time:-))
Well, we haven’t been so lucky as to have a poo yet….just pee in the potty (and the girl goes thru on again/off again stages of using it). We have a second bathroom with a utility sink right beside it, so we can do a dump of the offending stuff down the toilet, give the potty a quick rinse in the sink and off we go. One thing we have found that has reduced our cleanup workload is that we also have a trainer seat that goes over the regular toilet seat in addition to her potty. Sometimes the girl likes to use that instead of her potty. I guess it makes her feel a bit more like a big kid. For us, it means no mess to clean up.
Yeah, the trasition to ‘the big potty’ is the ultimate, but in the meantime, it helps to leave some water in the potty prior to any business being done. Also, don’t hesitate to offer rewards for proper potty use.
Definitely encourage sitting up on the “big potty” asap. They get a kick out of flushing the nastiness away–perhaps reward for the big potty. We did 3 M&Ms or chocolate chips for a poop and 1 for a pee. Eventually, my daughter would forget to ask for the treats.
Also, don’t be surprised or discouraged if your son has a setback when the baby is born. Our daughter was well on her way to being potty trained when her baby sister arrived. Everything stopped for SIX MONTHS!
Mate, we are just getting into potty land aswel, so I know what you’re talking about. No poo yet…..just lots of sitting on it and saying ‘peas’ ‘pooooos’ and ‘arts’
Urine is sterile when it’s fresh. We have the kids (nearly three; boy/girl twins) dump their own pee and poop from the potty into the toilet (our potty chairs have a removable container that makes this possible). We just give the container a quick rinse with hot water and have the kids put the container back where it belongs. For poop, yes, dump it in the toilet; then use your toilet brush and whatever cleaner you’d normally use in the toilet to clean the potty.
Enjoy your adventure!
For more adventures in pitty training see:
http://pottytrainingsite.blogspot.com
Apr 7th, 2006 at 3:06 pm
[…] A couple of weeks ago I posted about the early stages of our potty training adventure. At that time Daniel used the potty a little bit at kindergarten but rarely at home. Since then we've made some great progress. We feel like potty professionals here at Casa AdventureDad. Daniel is now sitting down on the potty first thing in the morning and at night as well. Not only is he sitting down but he's getting stuff done as well. Both large and small stuff if you know what I mean. We have had a few "incidents" and the potty performances have been hit or miss but the last few days Daniel is even telling us what he wants to do. And he's telling us before anything happens which is a making things much easier for us. […]
Dec 5th, 2006 at 2:06 pm
[…] There are a few different posts about the whole process here, here, and here. Friends and all articles and forums on the Internet mentioned the danger of possibly traumatizing the child. A stressed out parent bitching to a child about having to clean up poop can quickly lead to bad confidence I imagine. What worked best for us was to keep it simple and cheerful. It's important that the potty is a fun place for your child. That might mean a nice Winnie the Pooh potty or perhaps an adapter so your child can use the regular toilet. Whatever it takes, make sure it's a fun place. We were never big believers in awards for a job well done but have always offered lots of encouragement. Even when things didn't go so well. […]