Phase 1 of Potty Training
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
WARNING: This post contains comments that may be offensive to people who like to go into the bathroom, shut the door, turn on the water to drown out noise, come out, and never again talk about what happened in there. Don't worry, I'll be gentle with you.
This week we started Phase 1 of potty training which consists of Hadley coming into the bathroom everytime I go in, pulling down her pants and sitting on her potty next to me. But she's only 15 months, you say? I know, I know, but it is stress free with no expectations. It really has all started because our neighbor gave us a hand-me-down potty last week. I was going to store it in the garage, but then it ended up in the bathroom and I figured, I might as well start with the positive reinforcement now. It's all about repetition and comfort.
For example, I started teaching her to brush her teeth when she was 12 months. Once or twice a day we would go into the bathroom and go through the ritual of brushing our teeth. I would wet her toothbrush and hand it to her and then sing the Raffi song and she would watch me brush. About two weeks in, she finally put the tooth brush in her mouth. Now I have to limit tooth brushing to twice a day. She would live with that toothbrush in her mouth if I let her.
And no, I don't think she's going to be peeing in a toilet any time soon. Realistically, I don't expect this to happen until after she is two. Her head barely comes up to the toilet as it is. I'm just starting now with the fun part. Watching her sit on her potty with her pants around her ankles listening to hear me tinkle is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen. Well, next to her asking for her ducks, or doing Ring Around the Rosie, pretend peeing comes in a close third.
But what do I know about potty training? Nothing. I don't even have a book for that yet. When did you start potty training your kids?
By AllBeehive Tuesday, March 24, 2009
4 Comments:
We did exactly what you're doing now (except that my daughter also got good at grabbing a book or a magazine while sitting on her potty. HA!) and we just let that happen for months. Then we graduated to letting her sit on the potty without a diaper while she watched tv.
In the end that potty was never ONCE soiled. On the morning after her 3rd birthday she woke up and said "Three year olds don't wear diapers." and that was that. She had two accidents that first week and has been dry, both day and night, ever since.
See? You're on the PERFECT track!
You are doing great! Just positively reinforcing her interest, role modeling the desired behavior, and letting her take the reins! Congrats, keep us posted on how it goes. (Oh, and if you want to check out a good potty training book, try mine: Stress-Free Potty Training, available on Amazon.)
Sara Au
My son was about two-and-a-half when he potty trained. I didn't really do much of anything LOL I was a single mom, living with my mother and two sisters, and he was constantly in and out of the bathroom watching us go.
One day, he developed a horrid diaper rash, and the ointment was not helping. I took his diaper off and let him run around a bit to air out. Suddenly, he looked at me, said, "Potty," ran to the bathroom, and used the toilet. He's been diaper free ever since!
No pushing, just natural, him deciding that it was what he was ready to do.
Thanks for visiting for potty talk! I love how 2 of you have said you took the diaper off and that was it, no going back. I can only hope for such a smooth transition.
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