Adventures In Parenting
The wonder of watching our son’s development continues, and seems to be taking the expected course, even if it’s just a little ahead of schedule. I’m talking about that thing that every parent must deal with sooner or later: potty training.
We’ve taken a low key approach. Basically, we figured we’d wait for Parker to show us that he’s ready to start down that road. At two years and three months, I think he’s starting to take the first few steps. One of the books he like to have read to him is You Can Go To The Potty, which Parker refers to as the “potty book” when he wants us to read it to him. He asks for it, and we read it. Also a couple of months ago, he moved to the 2-years-and-up room in his daycare, which features what the hubby tells me is a potty with enough bells and whistles to make any child curious. Plus there are kids in his peer group who are potty training.
How do I know Parker is starting to head down that road? Well, last week at day care he grabbed the front of his pants and said “go pee pee” (one of the lines from the book). So, they had him sit on the potty, and nothing happened. Then this week, as we were getting him ready for bed, he announces “I poop.” I checked, and sure enough he had. He used to be oblivious to that, now he announces it. Today I heard he made that same announcment at day care, and the let him sit on the potty again. Somewhere between that and getting him together again (since nothing happened on the potty) he had his first “accident.” Oh well, at least someone else had to clean that one up.
I think we’ll be shopping for a potty of our own this weekend. Still taking the low key approach, but we’ll have it if he wants to use it.
February 10th, 2005 at 11:52 pm
Just a word of wisdom from someone WAY farther down that road. Get a potty where the bowl slides under the seat. Every potty we’ve had that had a drop in style bowl shifted around as the kids sat and wiggled and ended up pinching their tushes. Not a great way to make potty learning fun! The biggest hit in our house was the one (now discontinued) that had litle sensors on the bottom of the bowl and it clapped, laughed and played music when enough moisture hit the contacts. It’s close cousin has a little electric eye that plays a fanfare when the beam is broken but my kids figured that out pretty fast and just waved their hand in the bowl. Again, not exactly a useful potty skill!
February 11th, 2005 at 10:13 am
My approach to potty training is based on laziness: as far as I’m concerned, diapers are easier than accidents. My older daughter still managed to potty train before she was 3 (except for two poop-in-the-panties incidents, and then she was gold). My younger daughter got interested in the potty right around Parker’s age and she actually started using the potty at school some at that time. But I haven’t pursued it until yesterday (she’s now 2 and 8 months) when I sent her to school in panties and let hear wear some later in the day at home. Of course, she was great at school but had 2 accidents with me.
February 11th, 2005 at 10:54 am
Not being a parent myself, the only humbling tidbit I have to share is that I didn’t train until age five. I made up for it by reading at two though.
February 14th, 2005 at 11:32 pm
While I don’t have any actual memories of this, apparently for me, potty training was helped when I decided to be a teacher as well as a student.