Despite the other, more pressing business the Internet may be in the process of conducting this week, I officially declare this week (cuts ribbon) Potty Week, where I regale you with the excruciating minutia of the eliminatory habits of my three year old, and you shower us with praise, support and clever suggestions. Some day, Tristan will disown me for this.
Day one was not bad over all. He stayed dry most of the day. We made it through a 45 minute ride in the car including a nap, and even scored two potty bowel movements. He had one P accident, which I think an issue of forgetfulness more than anything. (Digression to our topic last week – can I add to my list of lamentations about the challenges of particularly large children the fact that they have a bladder capacity of much larger mammals? When that boy goes, he goes and goes and goes. My poor, ugly carpet.) Much to my astonishment, he had the other kind of accident after bathtime while I was getting his brother’s diaper and jammies on and he was enjoying his usual pre-bed nekkid romp. I can’t remember the last time Tristan had any kind of accident at that time of day, so he might have been holding it from earlier. He told me what he was doing, so I chased him off to finish his business in the potty (which he did, to his credit) and I went off in search of carpet cleaner. Note to self: buy econo-sized bottle of Pro-Solve and jumbo pack of paper towels on way home from work.
This morning, he came downstairs just as I was leaving for work, and I tried to get him hyped about the potty again, but he was pretty blasé about the whole thing. Now that the novelty has worn off, he’s beginning to lose interest in the project. (He’s so much like his mother, my Tristan.) When I asked him if he was ready to go to the potty and get started earning even more stickers for metal Thomas and Annie and Claribel, he replied with a sleep-bleary, “No thanks.” But when I took down the shoebox with his stickers and showed him how many stars he earned yesterday, and how close he was to earning his trains, he perked up a little bit and headed for the bathroom.
The soother thing went this way for us as well, as did CIO. Full of the courage of my convictions, we leap into whatever it is with enthusiasm. But lacking the novelty of day one, day two dawns as a bit of a drudge. “Oh, we’re still doing that? I thought we did that yesterday.”
So, bloggy friends, aren’t you excited about potty week? Now that we’ve arrived, what other sagacious advice do you have for us? How do we keep the dream alive?
And please, for the love of all things decent, can someone recommend a good all-purpose spot remover?
Folex Good stain remover Available at Canadian Tire
white and green bottle.
Morning everyone
usurped by my spouse!
…and keep him outside as much as possible. It is much easier to ‘hose’ away an accident than to have to scrub it.
Good luck! Summer is the best time for this.
We’re an Oxy-Clean family, but yesterday I found this website for a friend who wanted to clean her dog’s vomit off her carpet in the most natural way possible (which, I think, involves letting the dog eat it again but she didn’t want to go there).
http://www.paw-rescue.org/PAW/PETTIPS/DogTip_Cleaning.php#s4
Are you SURE that one morning we won’t just wake up and find that Josephine has potty trained herself?
Here are a few of the times we use to try to avoid accidents. We always ask them to pee:
– as soon as they wake up (no matter if wet diaper or not)
– before getting into tub, and also getting out
– right before jammies go on
– before meals/snacks
– before going out anywhere
Outside is a must – who cares about the grass? sandbox? deck? driveway? BUT let me mention that there can be some excitement to a 3 y.o. boy who gets to pee outside in the bushes.
We have also tried the cheerios in the toilet (target practice) and playing fireman to put out the fire in the toilet.
Here is a semi-miracle from my world (sorry for blog hi-jack Dani) Ben woke up last night at 12:45 and asked to go pee in the toilet – he did, then went back to sleep – holy shit!! Oh, but sadly, the shit part is a completely different thing of which he is still terrified and refuses to do and continues to crap his pants.
THAT being said Dani – I think Tristan is well on his way – you should be most proud!
Wow, four comments before 9 am – great start to the week!! And all my favourite people, too!
YAY Ben! Nancy, that’s terrific and a well-warranted comment hijack!
Marla, I was going to say I hope Josie puts the boys to shame by doing just that, hopping up on the toilet fully trained one day, but I don’t really mean that. Misery loves company! xo
T&Y – does this mean no more dinner invites until we’re through the transitional phase? Hardwood is *so* much easier to clean than carpet!
xo Danigirl
I’m all over potty week. We did the musical potty with calling Daddy for a big YAY! after each go around. This lasted 3 days. We even popped the potty in the trunk the whole first week, just in case! I await potty week with the second child, but I shall live vicariously through you.
Your guy sounds like my 4yo. I finally resorted to just using a timer and the matter-of-fact approach:
“When the timer goes off, it’s time to sit on the potty. After lunch, we sit on the potty. Before/after nap, we sit on the potty.”
If she complained, I’d remind her that she didn’t have to actually go, but I wanted her to sit there. Then we’d sing a song or count slowly to 30, and then she could get up.
Using the timer and the “we always go potty at this time” helped to depersonalize it and make it less of a “Mommy is making me do this at her whim” thing.