Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Potty training update...

Monday was day one...I considered it to be pretty successful for starting out. I was gung-ho and very into it, setting Riley on the potty every 45 minutes. And even asking her in between if she had to go and occasionally she would say yes, and do it! Yesterday (day two) was a lot less promising...but Riley still did use the potty twice I think. I caught Isabelle waking up from her nap again so I put her straight on the potty chair and she not only peed...but pooped too. That's the way to show Riley how it's done! But Riley seems quite unimpressed. She thinks anyone and everyone can use the potty or not, whichever they prefer...and so since diapers are easy, she is fine with it. UGH.
Today, Day 3, I woke at 4 am to the sound of Isabelle fussing. This is normal at least once a night. (In fact, only once a night is a treat!) We have rare nights where she will sleep through the night...but those are few and far between. So at 4 am I went to the kitchen to get Isabelle a bottle to settle her back into slumber. Well I get to the room and she is out cold. Soothed herself somehow...but Riley's eyes popped wide open and she jumped up like it was time to start the day. So I sat and talked to her for a few minutes, hoping I could settle her back in and then she said "potty". She peed...and I gave her a water cup and she fell asleep almost immediately. Well...while I was up I figured I may as well wake and change Isabelle and give her the bottle I had prepared. So I woke her, set her on the potty, and she peed. Nicely done! Then she went right back to sleep as planned. I crawled back into bed at 4:30 feeling quite un-annoyed (amazingly) since both girls had peed in the potty, being up for that half hour was worth it. Izzy hasn't had anymore success yet today...but she is napping, so you can bet I am anxiously listening for her to wake up and go. Riley used the potty to pee as soon as she woke up this morning...but only because I forced her...she didn't ask to go. But a little while ago she said "potty" and so I ran for it. By the time she and the potty were face to face (or something like that...), I could tell she had peed a little in her diaper already...and she was kicking and screaming when I took it off to set her on the seat...but she had asked for it, so I insisted she try. I walked away and less than a minute later...she had pooped! YAY!! Is it normal for me to be so excited?? Doesn't matter...if it's normal or not, I am super happy that we have made as much progress as we have. Unfortunately I am gone from about 6:45 pm-10 so there are a couple hours in there where potty time may be more inconsistent...and I can't blame Travis...it IS sort of a hassle and can be gross, messy, etc. But I want to get at least Riley out of diapers before the end of this month. So I have a little over two weeks. Isabelle could be in diapers another 6-12 months and that would be fine....but it is time for Riley. Any one have tips on how they trained their children? Anything that helped? What didn't help? I am open to suggestions!

5 comments:

Ashleigh said...

Oh man, we were all about the bribery. When seth was training he got a sucker ( a little dumdum) for peeing. For pooping, well he got to pick out a bunch of dollar store toys and he got one every time he pooped. He thought it was great! He would try so hard for those toys. ;-)

With Eden, she was A LOT HARDER!!! I started her around two, we did the same bribery things, but she could have cared less, a lot like Riley. She picked out toys, but didn't really care if she got them or not. She would get a tootsie roll for peeing, but soon discovered she could pee just a little, get a treat and then pee agin in a few minutes..just a little and then get another treat and so on. It drove me nuts so we stopped for a while. I think we stopped and started a few time because she just wasn't ready. I finally realized that she would do it when she decided. One day she got a really bad urinary tract infection( gross I know. Poor girl. It was BAD! She wouldn't even tell me if she was poopy and thats what led to the infection) and I think that sort of made her more aware of her self and what was going on down there, ya know? Plus we told her if she potty trained, it wouldn't happen again. And I had discovered her ultimate bribe. She really wanted a tea set, so she worked really hard for that and finally got trained. But it was only because she decided she wanted to. That was back in September or november I think, and she will be three at the end of this month. Don't be discouraged! It will come, though maybe not on your time table. And don't get mad or make it a negative thing. I think thats what I had the hardest time with. And Travis can SOOOO do it. Who cares if its gross. You tell him to man up, from me ! ;-)

Sorry this got so long! How are you guys? I am a total blog lurker. I read yours all the time but never comment! I am that way with everyone..lame I know!

Good luck!

Brooke said...

Potty training, yuck! Christian who is almost 3 and a half is still working on it. He is pretty much there but we still keep him in pullups just in case. We finally got the point were we told him the diapers were all gone and you have to go on the potty. That is what got him really started going on the potty. But there was a lot talk and trying before that. I think seeing other people go helped too.

801-921-2896 said...

Great job with the training. Just split that last long paragraph up a little and it is a lot easier to follow.

Kimi Jean said...

Well, obviously i've never had to potty train anyone myself, since I don't have kids, but I was nannying for my niece as she was potty-training and the treat thing definitely worked for her.
But since Riley doesn't really care, I heard about this lady who could get your kid potty-trained in just 2 hours!
Apparently, part of it was that she would make the kids clean it up themselves. Like, if they went in their diaper, they had to change it and clean themselves up. I couldn't find out everything that she does to potty train, because it's rather expensive if you want this chick to potty train your kid for you, so her secrets are hidden.
Anyway, that was a big long rant for nothing.
Haha.

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

I don't envy you at all or really have anything to add, but I wanted to say good luck! Hang in there-- Riley will get it I get peed on like 8 times a day if that makes you feel any better! lol!