4 posts tagged “potty training”
He did it! He did it! He did it he did it he DID it!!!
In case you missed the big announcement on Facebook yesterday (as many of you may well have, since I'm not FB friends with many of my Vox neighbors):
THE BOY SAT ON - AND PEED IN - THE POTTY!!!
(Pause for Happy Dance.)
It happened at school, so now we need to witness it at home. And, given the option, he's prefer to wear diapers over training pants, but that's okay. My baby peed in the potty! It's such a HUGE deal!!!
That concludes this major announcement. We now return to your regularly scheduled programming.
It seems like just last week I was mulling over the idea of switching, at least part-time, to cloth diapers. In reality, it's been closer to 14 months since I actually broke down and bought a few BumGenius 3.0 diapers to test. After being so incredibly pleased with the three that I initially ordered, I bought another 12, and we've been using them ever since. I have to admit there are times I wish I had put him in a disposable diaper (gigantic poops and toddler tummy among them), but for the most part, I'm actually used to using them. We've already recouped the cost in savings (including any fluctuations in utilities - which have all gone down over the previous year) and are doing our part to save the planet. Moreover, I really like them!
But diapers (thankfully) are only needed for so long, and The Boy is now at a stage where I really ought to have the option of training pants available to him. Oh, sure, I bought him some Thomas the Tank Engine underpants a few weeks ago, but he's not remotely interested in them - nor should he be because, well, he's not even interested in sitting on the potty! But I've seen him in the mornings, when he's anxious to get into the shower, tugging at the waistband of his diapers, almost in a vain attempt to remove them. (He has also voiced displeasure at having his pants or shorts removed unless he decides it's time for a wardrobe change.)
I spoke to his teacher this morning about pull-up training pants to see what she found to be the easiest to use. (The morning drop-offs got a little bit easier each day, but we'll see what happens on Monday.) Much to my surprise (and to show you how little attention I've paid to disposable training pants), there's a very big difference between Pampers Easy-Ups and Huggies Pull-Ups. While both are equally easy for kids to put on and take off, only Huggies has the easy-off velcro sides to make it easy to clean up accidents (especially the poopy variety). I'm very glad I asked, or else I would have invested a small fortune in the wrong disposable training pants!
Now, in a perfect world, The Boy would train himself in a day and I would only need to buy one package of disposable training pants before he moved on to his Big Boy underpants. Just as ideally, he wouldn't need training pants at all at home and would never need to get up in the middle of the night to use the facilities. However, I am all too well aware that we don't live in that perfect world (I don't, anyway) and, as bright as The Boy is, he's not going to potty train himself overnight. Moreover, he's still likely to have accidents at night once he is trained during the day.
I just don't want to give Kimberly Clark or Proctor & Gamble all my money! (They each get plenty as it is.)
Enter Antsy Pants. Have you heard of them? These are the coolest-looking training pants! They're stuffable, so I can use my existing BumGenius inserts at night (multi-tasking is a must). They have snaps on the sides for easy accident clean up. The sides are elastic garters, just like the disposable kind, so he can step into them like regular underpants. And though they are absorbent, they also leave just enough of a wet feeling so that The Boy will know when he's just peed. (I think he already knows this to some degree.)
Anyway, I just sent in my order for six (they call that a one-day supply, but since I only want to use it at home, it should be plenty, right?) and should receive it sometime next week. I'll write a comprehensive review after we've used them for a while. My initial plan is to give The Boy options - does he want to wear a diaper or Big Boy pants? - and go with whatever he says. I still need to make it clear, of course, that he can only wear his Big Boy pants if he agrees to sit on the potty, but if he doesn't, that's okay, too.
He's showing a little more interest in the potty, but he doesn't seem ready just yet. I'm hoping with some options, though, it will help him feel a little more comfortable about the idea of sitting on the potty with a bare bum.
The Boy is turning two in less than four weeks. With a new number comes a new class, new teachers, and new benchmarks to hit. At this time last year, I was starting to get a little stressed because he wasn't walking and wasn't consistent with using his sippy cup. Now that he happily runs around the house (sometimes literally) and clearly gets enough fluids drinking from his sippy cups, I realize that my anxiety wasn't completely necessary. All the same, the proactive steps I took did ease him into the next classroom, so I spoke with a teacher today from the two-year-old class to identify what skillsets The Boy ought to have before he transitions.
And this is when I learned the big thing in the two-year-old class is potty training.
[sigh]
About five months ago, when The Boy was 18 months old, his teachers asked if I wanted to get him started on potty training. I declined, reasoning that if he wasn't remotely interested in undressing himself, he clearly wasn't interested in using the potty. Fast forward a few months and he's starting to show some interest in removing his clothing, but only when the bathtub is filling or I've dressed him in a shirt or pants that he doesn't want to wear. All the same, as much as he likes playing with toilet paper and flushing the toilet (not simultaneously, thank goodness), he hasn't shown a whole lot of interest in really, um, interacting with it.
So I asked Chris today to swing by Target and pick up a little potty chair. I brought home the seat that fits onto the big toilet, but The Boy seems overwhelmed by the idea of sitting on the big commode. I can't blame him, really. I'm a little leery of things that are three-quarters my height, too.
I'm elated that his teachers at school are going to be working with him on potty training during the day, which will make the whole process go so much faster, especially when The Boy see his classmates going into the bathroom and using the toilet instead of pooping and peeing in their diapers. After all, peer pressure can be a good thing. I just don't know that he's ready, and I really don't want him to get so anxious that it becomes a prolonged (translation: year-long) process.
Of course, he could very well be ready and I just don't recognize any of the signs. Either way, it appears potty training is coming to my house sooner than I expected.
Wish me luck. I think I'm going to need it.
...but this has got to be the greatest thing ever!
I'm a little curious about how it installs, but I think we could put it in our powder room until Baby C is old enough to use the toilet (or I might have to have a urinal installed in the powder room later - that's the only bathroom that could accomodate one).
How great is this?
