So I am now working on round two of potty training on my two year old Annie. She is actually 28 months, and we first tried back in the fall. My second attempt didn’t go over very well. I tried my patented three day nudie method. I took her diaper and pants off. I showed her the potty and handed her a jar full of M&M’s as a bribe.
She was very excited about the chocolate, but she didn’t seem too interested in the potty. Then the phone started ringing. I took my eyes off of Annie for a few minutes. She came running to tell me that she had something to show me. It was not what I was hoping to see, she had an accident in the middle of my kitchen floor. We had another talk about going on the potty. She nodded and said yes. I continued with my plan. Once again the phone rang, and as I was checking in with work, I turned around to find Annie sitting on my bar stool in the kitchen with pee running down the side.
So needless to say, we put a hold on the effort. I quickly realized that each child is different. And although my oldest Zoe did great with the three day boot camp method, Annie is going to ride the Potty Train for a lot longer. We refer to it as the “potty train” because as I was trying to explain to Annie that it was time to potty train her, I realized her excitement was around the fact that she thought she was going to ride an actual train. Not a surprise since she is obsessed with trains.
Two weeks later we are back at it, and she is doing great. She woke up one morning with a dry diaper, so I ran her into the potty and we sat there for about thirty minutes. She finally peed and we danced and sang in the bathroom to celebrate. She has now embraced the idea of giving up diapers. Annie prefers to wear training pants and clothes while potty training – so no naked method for her. I used some 
padded big girl undies. She also prefers the training potty over the big potty – another difference between my two girls. Zoe preferred the big potty, with a training seat on it.
After two days of making Annie sit on the potty even when she didn’t want to, she is now telling us when she has to go to the bathroom and doing great. She even did a number 2, which anyone who has been through potty training before knows that this is big feat. Some kids just refuse to use the potty for number 2. I had one friend whose son would hold it for a full day until his next nap when she would put a Pull-up on him. And then he would do his business. This went on for over a year. So I am thrilled that Annie is not discriminating her potty visits.
Next step will be to ease out of the pull ups at night once we have several nights in a row waking up dry.
Would love to hear from moms who are going through the same thing! What your methods are, and how long you’ve been riding the Potty Train.
16 comments
Jenny, congratulations. I know how frustrated you were when we spoke last. There is nothing better than having a diaper free house!
congrats! This is huge… I hope it continues. We have been potty training forever!!! We have the peeing down but my daughter is one of those who waits til she has a pullup on a nap time/bedtime and then poops. It has been such a long, frustrating process. I would love any advice any one has to give on how to get her to poop in the potty!
Yay for Annie!! Smarties, I need some tips on getting rid of the night-time diapers! My kids have never been good about waking up with a dry diaper. We don't drink after dinner, we go potty before bed, we've tried to wake them up at 11am to pee, but they are just narcaleptic on the potty! So we still have a diaper on at night, even a year and a half after they were day potty-trained. Help!
We are in the middle of potty training my two and a half year old, and all I will say is, God bless her preschool, because they did most of the hard work!!! She prefers the "training potty" over the big one, too, but will actually use public restrooms with no issue. I was amazed at how much we are saving now that we have only ONE kid in diapers!!!!
my little one took a full year-and-a-half to stay dry at night after being fully trained during the day. the good news- you don't have any control over that (and neither do they). so don't worry- it will happen once they're little bodies mature! and if it doesn't and you get concerned as they age, talk to your pediatrician.
Last comment is SO true! When you feel as though you might lose your mind over all the potty misses or little ones still in pull ups, just think about this…How many adults of the non geriatric or post natural childbirth variety do you know who wet the bed or don't make it to the restroom in time? 🙂 Good luck! And keep chugging on that Potty Train! Woo-woo!!!!!
Anyone with LATE potty trainers? My son is 3 1/2 and isn't really showing any signs. We read books, talk about it, encourange him to sit (or stand) at the potty. We let him come in the bathroom with us. Just wondered if anyone has been in our boat 🙂
I have a friend who had a hard time with her little guy at night. I think he slept in pull-ups until he was 4. Her doctor was not concerned.
I have an almost three year old (next month) and he shows NO signs of potty training. Like the other comment stated – we read books, put him on the potty, talk about flushing poopies down the potty, he loves it all…but will he go in the potty? No! I guess we'll just have to wait it out. Truthfully, I am much happier changing diapers than I think I would be cleaning up messes? So we wait.
Day and night potty use are governed by different sides of the brain. You can train kids during the day, but you just have to be patient for that little switch in their brain to deal with the night time. It can take anywhere from one week to one year depending on the kid.
our almost 5 year old still has to wear pull ups at night, sleeps so hard that he just sleeps right though having to pee, not concerned, can go to college in pull ups for all I care, figure it will be good birth control then!
I am so bummed about our progress with the poops. We spent all weekend cleaning up poopy accidents. She is great with pee, but I can't get her to go poop again on the potty. Maybe I jinxed myself – I shouldn't have put it in writing!
My daughter peed very easily on the potty but refused to have a bm. She was so funny, though because whenever she had to go, she would go under a table or behind a chair to do her "business". You could even ask her, right when she went to that spot if she had to go to the bathroom and she would say "no" between grunts. What finally worked for her was getting her pretty "Princess" panties. I explained that doing #2 on the undies would ruin them and we would have to throw them away. She REALLY loved her panties, so pretty quickly decided it was better to go in the potty. Good Luck!
My son is 3.5 and we're still working on the potty training. He is dry most of the time, as long as we put him on the potty every 45 minutes. Since he's got CP, he can't get himself to the bathroom on his own. Most of the time he forgets to tell us he needs to pee because he's so enthralled with whatever he's doing at that moment, like most kids. He wakes up from nap and in the morning with a pee-less diaper, which is awesome. We have had some success with offering him "special chocolate" (Reeses mini cups) as a bribe for telling us he needs to poop and doing so on the potty and not in his diaper. We have had to start some "negative" reinforcement, because he routinely doesn't tell us he needs to poop when he's playing with his Thomas trains, and so we've had to take away his trains for the rest of the day if he doesn't tell us he needs to poop while he's playing with them. I know it's not the best, but it has worked for us in this past week. Best of luck to all of you moms out there in the same boat!
When I read the title "Riding the Potty Train" I thought this would be about the book that my MIL gave us that my son LOVES. It is by a local author and MIL picked it up at the Southern Xmas show.http://www.pottytrainbook.com/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspxAnyway, my son is almost 3 and we are having a hard time potty training–major resistence. It is even harder b/c I also have a 17 month old who loves to run off with the seat, unroll the TP, play in the toilet water (if he gets the chance) etc….no fun at all. I hope no one else is in my boat.:-)
I just bought that book also. I found a free potty chart with a train on it I used it for my three boys and the two children I used to babysit. Now I am going to try to use it with my 27mo old daughter who is really afraid of the potty. I even bought a cute one that sings, She put her dolls on it but when I put her on it she just screams. I put it in storage for now. When I get the book I am going to read it to her for a week or so then get started. I sure hope it works.