We bought two potty chairs.
We bought lots of pull up diapers.
We
So what's the hold up???
The girls didn't seem interested.
Okay, and well, potty training seemed like a HUGE undertaking to me. HUGE. The girls were (and still are!) young. We both work during the week, and we are busy every single weekend for the next 6, then we only have 3 weekends until little man arrives, so I just figured we wouldn't have the free time necessary to potty train two little ladies right now.
To make myself feel like I was still helping the girls get ready to potty train (and not hinder them any more than I possibly already have - LOL) I bought a Potty Time video off of Babysteals.com two weeks ago. I was interested in seeing if the girls would even watch it.
The girls don't watch TV. They don't have any interest. I was giving them small doses of Sesame Street, and they could make it maybe 5-10 minutes, then they were done. It's probably a good thing really, but I figured that something must be wrong. Who doesn't like Sesame Street after all?! So...I thought I'd go ahead and give the Potty Time video a try. I didn't have anything but my $13.99 + tax to lose.
And?
THEY LOVE IT.
They sit there, mesmorized, staring at the TV and dancing to the music.
They've probably watched the DVD 15-20 times in the past 10 days or so. Note, that is more than once a day. They actually ask to watch it. Bri will bring me the DVD case and sign "please" and Livvy will point at the DVD player and grunt (and sign please) until you turn it on.
And you know what?
I think they might "get it".
Really.
Bri came up to me last night and "told" me that she needed to use the potty. Okay...so I take off her diaper and place her on the potty chair. She sits there contently for about 10 seconds, then gets up and RUNS into her room where she proceeds to pee on the rug.
Oye.
But progress!
I thought she would be the much more difficult of the two to train.
As for Miss Livvy, she told me twice last week that she had to use the potty right before bath time. Both times we took off her diaper and she sat there on the potty chair, probably for a good 30 seconds. Nothing happened. The second I stuck her in the tub, the water gates opened and she peed in the tub. AHHH!!!
We've got a long way to go obviously. But hey, at least they both knew that they had to go. And that's half the battle. Now getting them to go in the right place, and actually relax enough to let it happen...well, that's the other half of the battle I think!
But we are getting there! Go progress!!!!
Where are you guys at in your potty adventures? Have you had any successes yet? Lots of failures? Still waiting to give it a try?
As always I am open to advice and suggestions if you have any! So far what has worked for us is the low-pressure approach...let the girls come to us instead of us asking them 47x a day if they need to go. Not that we won't get there....but for now, this is working, and I like it!
Until next time -
Megan
We are holding off for quite a while. Probably not until about two and a half. I read a great article about the physical damages of doing it too early and how the kids who were "trained" too early now get severe infections because of holding it too long. We have a potty, but Casey shows zero interest.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense! I hadn't heard about physical damages of training too early, just "psychological". Interesting! I think it totally depends on the kiddo too, so until Casey shows interest I wouldn't go there either! Thanks for commenting!
DeleteI'm not sure when we are going to start (my girls are 15 months), so it's great for me to read about your experience in potty training. They aren't showing any readiness but I hope by the time they're 2?
ReplyDeleteI read that same article that PP mentioned and I was surprised to read about the downsides of potty training early especially when in Europe it's normal to be potty trained at 18 months. I plan to ask the pedi about it because I still find it hard to believe we should wait until they are 3.
My girls started showing more interest in about the last 6 weeks or so. Not much at all before that point. I am hoping that they will actually be trained by about the time they are two =). Right now anything that they do or learn is just icing on the cake...I have no expectations...but I love the progress!
DeleteI know!! It's the standard in Europe at 18 months...and in other cultures (China specifically) they train out of the gate - newborn on! They don't use diapers there!!! So...it has got to be okay....
I'm with you...no desire to wait until they are 3!
This post gives me hope. I shall be hunting down that DVD. Spice seemed to be straining yesterday so I put her on the potty and stayed with her and let her play with my ipad. Nothing happened but at least she stayed seated for up to 3 minutes. After a while, she would get up and sit down all by herself.
ReplyDelete3 minutes is AWESOME Olusola! I don't think either of the girls have ever sat there for that long! Granted...there was no bribing with an Ipad - LOL!
DeleteThe girls really like the DVD...I haven't tried any of the others yet, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but the songs are catchy...they are stuck in my head!
Good luck momma! There is always hope!
I saw this post just in time!
ReplyDeleteAssuming everybody is feeling better on Friday, we were going to really get started--I am home for a dew days.
Will be checking out this video...now!
Love the pics of them on the potty...too cute!
You go girl! Friday is the day! YAY! Good luck!
DeleteDefinitely check out this video, and others too. This is the only one we have, but I was thrilled that the girls really liked it. I think there is an Elmo one too, so for some Elmo loving kiddos that one may be better. I'm not sure of the content though =)
Regardless, you go momma! Let me know how it goes! I will send you all of my extra patience for the weekend =). Good luck!
We (read: I) are ready to potty train but we have a huge issue standing in our way. And as horrible as it sounds, that issue is my MIL's impending passing... She is eaten up with cancer and we don't think it will be long. But we've thought that for months. This woman has an AMAZING will to live. Anyway, my thinking is that we are going to be out of town sometime soon for several days and I don't want to be stopping for potty breaks every 30 minutes when we're out of town, trying to go potty in the middle of the funeral etc. When we potty train, I want to be able to stay close to home for awhile until we've really "got" it. So we're waiting a little bit longer. But! We do a LOT of talking about the potty, sitting on the potty, doing the sign for potty, saying "bye bye" to (imaginary) pee-pee and poo-poos. Like you, we have had several incidents of "mommy I need to go potty!" on the carpet!
ReplyDeleteI totally get it. Totally. I know, I too was thinking the other day, well, we are going out of town for Easter and I don't want to be having to stop to potty every 20 minutes and I don't want to have to cart the potty chairs with us (along with all of the other crap we have to have)...then a wedding next weekend...yeah, don't want the girls peeing in their flower girl dresses....so no, I didn't want to do the hard core training either!
DeleteI think it's fine to wait until after she passes....that said...you can be working on little stuff now...sitting on the potty before bath time for example...just to get them in the habit... =)
HA! I'm glad it's not just me who has been cleaning up the carpet =).
So funny... haha! Makes me smile. We have the pink potty chair too... the one that sings when you pee in it... (we've graduated to the big girl toilet now).. anyways... have you seen the 'hottie for the pottie' video.. weird..but my daughter loved it.. good luck! :P
ReplyDelete