Friday, April 07, 2006
The Pottytraining Blues
So I've started pottytraining Jonathan, who will be 3 on June 2. You may think this is a bad time to start, having just had a baby, but since my mom is here, it's actually a good time. She can help get him where he needs to be while I'm nursing or whatever. The only problem is that Jonathan didn't get the memo. He has had 2 other times where he has been extremely interested in pottytraining, and he has come to me when he needed to go, even pooping. Unfortunately both of those times were right before big trips (to Colorado in June and to Texas in December), and I just couldn't think about having a newly trained boy on a long car trip filled with rest areas and truck stop bathrooms. Blech. So I let him go, but I didn't do much to encourage him, like put him in underwear or really work with him. Of course, now that I am ready, he is not much interested. Well, that's not completely true. Bob told him he could have a Skittle when he went, so for the past few days he has been motivated to go, just to get a Skittle. Unfortunately, if he is NOT in the mood for a Skittle, or he is involved in something else, then he is not so interested in going. Also, he is not pooping on the potty at all. Wednesday, right before piano lessons, he went in his underwear. Let's just say that was very messy and leave it at that. Also, add in that I wasn't pleased, since he had just peepeed on his potty. Sigh. After that, I was leary of underwear, so I have been putting him in Pull-ups. That was probably a good move, in that he blithely pooped in one this morning. Unfortunately, he has also peed in them a few times today. Grrr. I have never used Pull-ups with the other boys, since I think they feel like diapers, and hence aren't that effective in pottytraining, but I don't want to deal with poopy underwear again. Maybe I was wrong and this isn't a good time! The other boys have all pottytrained very quickly within a month or so of their third birthdays, so maybe I should just hang it all up for another month. Sigh. I hope all the hype I've heard about girls being easier to pottytrain is true.
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4 comments:
Well, I've never had to potty train anyone but I sure have had to clean up a lot of poop. Maybe if I tell you this story, you might feel somewhat better. Then again, maybe not.
I went to visit a patient, of course, to do maintenance on her implanted infusion port. She has MS and was, at that time, almost wheelchair bound. When I got there at 3 in the afternoon....she was covered from chin to ankles in poop smears. So was the toilet, the walls, the sink and her wheelchair. She tried to transfer herself as she had successfully been doing so up till that day. She had experienced a significant decline in strength that day and never recovered. Now, I am a home health nurse. I am supposed to dress professionally in street clothes, which I was. Without going into a great deal of more detail, I spent two hours with her (should've only taken 15mins tops) and went immediately home to shower and change clothes. Poor sweetie. She was such a nice lady.
I only had to do that once. I have cleaned up poop and other body fluids many, many, many a time but not from someone who is trying to learn. That must be so frustrating.
Tell Jonathan, if you think it's appropriate, that if he can get potty trained in one month, I will send him a special present!! Let me know if you do so I can get it out to him and he can get it right away...must have positive reinforcement quickly...yes?
Lots of love, Pam
LOL, Pam--"never compare poop stories with a nurse" is my new motto! You win! : ) I think i'm just going to step back form it for a few days and see what his reaction is. Right now, he is just not self-motivated to stay dry and clean, and it really needs to come from him at least a little! So we'll see. I'll keep you updated . . .
Hey, Claire!
I'm with you on this...I should get more serious about training Arden, who is officially 2 1/2 (or will be on the 18th). He loves to sit on the potty, but so far he has not done anything except for pee in the bathtub when I left him for a moment! I guess because he pees a lot when he steps into the warm water, maybe he thinks that's where he's supposed to go! LOL I'm just dreading the messes, though Tobin was surprisingly easy to train, so I guess I shouldn't assume the worst.
Keep us posted, and let me know if you have any tips for getting Arden interested!
Oh, Claire! Thank you for sharing this. Smidge will be 3 in September, and we've been in the exact spot. He's shown interest a few times and each time all I could think was "I CANNOT GET THIS CHILD TO A TOILET IN TIME!! Not now! Please, not now!" So now... here we are, potty in the lovely new bathroom, and he's rapidly outgrowing the size 6 diapers. And does he care? Nope. I don't know what we're going to do, but I am glad to know I'm not the only one who's done this. :-)
Dy
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