Friday, November 9, 2007

Potty Training!

I went to BJ’s one day during my lunch (BJ’s is one of those warehouse stores like Costco and Sam’s Club) to buy my monthly supply of diapers. On this particular occasion, I also needed to buy wipes. $90 later, I was convinced that I couldn’t afford to buy diapers for a toddler and an infant. So I made the decision that we ((I)) needed to potty train my 2 ½ year old. There are people out there that think that Timmy isn’t ready for potty training. This is based on books that give you a checklist of things to look for before beginning potty training. When I hear this, I think about my Mom and her mom and her mom – pretty sure they didn’t use books when they decided enough is a enough and had all of their kids potty trained by 2. Have the experts that have written these books considered that kids aren’t ready because the diapers are so darn absorbent now that kids have no idea they are wet? Maybe if we went back to cloth diapers, we would see a trend towards potty training as early as 18 months instead of at 3.5-4. Do ya think? I don’t know. What I do know is that I am the adult in the relationship and I am done changing diapers.

At daycare the afternoon after spending way too much money on diapers, I asked his teacher about it. I figured she must be an expert, since she has been providing services as a day care teacher for over 10 years. I was right; she has been assisting (taking the lead, really) in the potty training process for a long time. She confirmed that she thinks he is ready and gave me suggestions on how to get started. She is the biggest part of his day, so of course I wanted to follow her instructions. She didn’t want any part of pull-ups – thank goodness; those little gems are expensive! Not only that but I bought the cool alerts a few months ago – If it felt cool to Timmy when he went pee, he didn’t let on. Then again, it was summer, so maybe that cool sensation was refreshing??? I have to say, the commercial for these cool alert pull-ups is so stinking cute – that little boy who so clumsily states, “my pull-ups felt cool” made me buy them. What a waste of money! If you have had a different experience with them, please, by all means, post a comment and let me know.

The teacher requested 6-7 pairs of underwear and just as many changes of pants. It took me a couple of weeks to collect the items (hey, I’m on a budget and undies are not cheap – tell me why wal-mart sells a package of 10 undies for girls and only a 4 pack for boys. Where is the fairness in this?) On October 15 we entered the wonderful world of potty training. Day 1 – I called daycare around 3:00 – not a single accident all day! Granted, they put him on the pot every 15 minutes, but still - no accidents! He’s a pottying genius. Not really, that was just day 1. Day 2 had me pulling over 15 minutes into the ride to work and changing wet pants – thank you K-Mart for allowing me to use your parking lot. That was followed by pulling into daycare only to realize he wasn’t done with his pee and he was wet all over again! Day 2 was the worst day thus far!

He still doesn’t ask to go on his own, but we are getting there. Rumor has it, he has asked his teachers a few times to use the potty, but I have not heard it. We fly to Calif in a couple of weeks – will he be asking by then? Who knows. My plan for that trip is to put him in pull-ups and continue to drag his little tushie to the toilet every 45 minutes to an hour. At least with pull-ups an accident won’t mean wet pants too. Part of me wonders, however, if I will be doing harm to this terribly long process by putting pull-ups on him. We are also going to Disneyland while there, so again I wonder if I should use pull-ups or just take a lot of clothes with me.

Every night, when saying our evening prayers, we thank God for all of our blessings and for helping him be a good boy. We also ask Jesus to give us a good night’s sleep and to be a good boy again tomorrow. Recently we have added that Jesus help us learn to use the big boy potty quickly – is that okay?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am so with you on not buying diapers for two kids! But Peaches is only 20-months. I think she could potty train (because she announces what she's doing while she's doing it) but she's reluctant to actually take her diaper off and do something in the potty. She'll sit on it fully dressed but dear heavens not with the diaper off. Oy. I think we may be a little ways off potty training.

You are right on with not using the pull-ups. They are the worst for trying to potty train! They were a dismal failure for my son, but I did get some for Peaches just to see if the novelty would get her using the potty, but no dice. Just going to have to get her regular undies when it's time.

On the plane and going around Disney, I would definintely do the pull-ups. I don't think a week or so using the pull-ups in between potty trips will set him back - it will just save you a lot of headache on your vacation.

Good luck!!

Queen of the Mayhem said...

Potty training was a complete nightmare with Junior Mayhem! It already sounds like things are going better for you.

As for the trip...that is a tough call...it might upset him to put him back in a pull up...but I certainly see your point of not wanting wet pants.

I would wait until right before you leave to decide...he may be a lot further along that you think, by then.

Good luck!

(If I'm honest...I would probably but mine in pull ups for the convenience factor!)

Pregnantly Plump said...

We are nowhere near the potty-training discussion yet, Little Elvis is almost 9 months. But I have never really thought about why kids are potty training later, and your point makes a whole lot of sense (and cents!) Thanks for visiting my blog. Since my last post he has gotten another goose egg on the top of his head -- silly table.

Valley Girl said...

Good luck with potty training! I can't even potty train my dogs! =(

Tiffany said...

Wow - you are brave to jump full force into the potty training. I started potty training my daughter at 2. It was May so we just let her run around the house without pants (on the weekends only since she is in daycare and I knew daycare would have a big problem if I asked them to potty train her.) She caught on pretty quickly when she was naked or wearing a skirt. It took her a little longer to move to pants, and the we were finally able to move to wearing panties and pants (good thing because winter is here!) She is now 2 1/2 and the only place she has an accident is at daycare - but they are watching 4-6 other kids at the same time so it makes sense. She does wear a diaper for nap time and bedtime. I agree with you pullups are the biggest rip off known to man. To her it was a diaper.