It's Potty Training Time!

I hope everyone is doing well! I spent last week battling a cluster headache that just about did me in. I finally recovered on Sunday and am back at it once again. (To learn more about Cluster Headaches (AKA Suicide Headaches) check out this link.)  

Now that I'm back in the saddle I thought I'd write about a new topic in our household, potty training.

Actually it's not exactly new and that's one of the things I wanted to talk about. We're taking the laid back approach to potty training. That is to say we are not actively potty training in the normal sense of the word. We decided we wanted low key potty training without any pressure on Jack. We thought that if we kind of took the long approach it would behoove us sooner than later. So instead of constantly practicing we just talk about going potty a lot. We'll ask every once in a while, "Do you have to go poop/pee?".  When Jack says yes we ask, "Do you want to use the potty?" If he says no we just let it be. If he says yes we get his pants and diaper off and stick him on his potty seat (get one of those ones that goes right on top of the normal seat. I mean that's where they are going to eventually so don't confuse them with the little one).  

If they do something in there give them a treat (we are an M&M family, it's the same treat he gets when he takes his horrible tasking asthma meds). So far we've had two successful potty runs.  

I know, I know, two successful runs. But the way I look at it that's great! That means he's not afraid of the potty, and he knows when he's going to go. Those are two big victories in this long battle. Remember, it may take a kid a couple of YEARS until they finally are able to go to the bathroom every time without any help or accidents. Heck, I'm sure there are a lot of Moms out there that wonder if boys ever figure it out.

Now that we have some sort of base established we can work slowly from there. While there's no pressure on him, we are trying to work more on poop than pee. The way we figure it if he can poop on the toilet the pee part will be easy or just come along by itself as we work on the pooping. 

Our long term goal is to have Jack going potty on the potty 90% of the time by the end of the summer. We've heard great things happen when you just let them run around naked in the yard. They kind of figure things out a bit on their own.  

So here are some tips/tricks we've picked up so far. Please feel free to add more in the comments, as I'm in need of them!

1. NO PRESSURE
   Put as little pressure on your little one about potty time as you can. Don't be afraid to talk about it, but if your child doesn't want to try don't pressure them into doing it. It'll just create bad associations with the experience and prolong the whole process.
2. GO SLOW
   Be prepared for this to take a while. Since you aren't putting any pressure on your child you have to take it slow. When you first decide to take the plunge bring out his little practice potty. We basically used this to get him comfortable sitting on something without pants on. We also used it to get the concept across. We let him play with it when not in use so he knows it's something not to be scared of. Once we got Jack comfortable enough with it we just moved the seat to the adult toilet. Again just be prepared for your child not use it. We go days without Jack trying the potty, but we are always ready when he is.
3. BE PREPARED
   Be prepared at all times. Have the potty accessible and ready to go when your child is ready to go. It helps if you have a separate bathroom to do potty training in (I so wish we were in a different house. One bathroom is killing us).
4. POTTY TALK
   Don't be afraid to talk about going potty. Like the book says, "Everybody Poops." If you are afraid to talk about it or are grossed out about it your kid is going to feel the same way and it's going to take forever. Roll up your mommy and daddy sleeves, quit being a ninny and get on with it. You're going to have much more uncomfortable topics come up down the road so you might as well get used to talking about the human body and it's functions. It sort of drives me batty with how uncomfortable people are talking about our bodies, we live in them for Pete's sake! Talking about potty is what got Jack to start telling us when he had to go, a key first step in starting potty training. If you don't know when they are going to go, how can you start getting them on the potty?
5. REWARDS
   If you get lucky and your child has a successful potty run reward them with something they really like. We use M&M's in our house. We've been using them since he had to start using asthma medication. He associates them with doing something extra good so he tries his hardest to earn one. 

So that's where we are now. We talk about the potty a lot, he tells us (usually after the fact) that he went and every once in a while we get lucky. We are taking the slow and long approach. This summer should help as we've heard that if you let them run around naked they pick it up faster. Obviously this is going to be an ongoing topic so I look forward to your tips and tricks to try and report back on. Let me know what's worked for you!

JACK'S LAST SUCCESSFUL MEAL
1/4 of a grilled cheese sandwich
About 4 spoonfuls of leftover beans and franks (we use the Oscar-Meyer Angus with no nitrates, super good!)
Pear/apple/carrot puree
Yogurt and berry smoothie

JACK'S CURRENT FAVORITE BOOKS
"Henry and Mudge and the Big Sleepover" by Cynthia Rylant
"Superfriends" by Sholly Fisch (DC Comics)
"Grumpy Bird" by Jeremy Tankard
"Three Little Pigs" by David Wiesner
"Spoon" by Amy Krouse Rosenthal