Thursday, July 30, 2009

Potty Training Report #3

Remember this?
It now looks like this:
Even so...it seems that while Miss Bridget is getting really close to full-blown potty training, this week has been more of a trial run for us.

She is showing so many signs of readiness, but is not yet telling me when she needs to go #1...which means that I have had to follow her around trying to guess when she may need to go. And she is going hours between bathroom stops despite enormous liquid intake. While this seems positive, it's actually been very frustrating since she starts going without warning. I have been on high alert for five days now.

(Now #2 is a different story, she just shouts "POOP!" before she goes--or when anyone else goes, or when she--or anyone else--passes gas. Never think you can get away with quietly ripping one, as the boys say, around Bridget. She will call you out, shouting "POOP!" and pointing right at you. So I'm told...)

I am revising my p.t. plan a little. Bridget seemed like she was getting upset yesterday after I kept asking her to sit on her potty before dinner. (She went all afternoon without going and I didn't want her to have an accident while we were eating and not paying attention.) She cried, got up and threw the little potty chair insert across the hall. She refused to sit on the potty chair for the rest of the evening.

We're so not in a hurry and I don't want to force it on her. I also didn't want to not give her a real chance when she seemed to be really ready. I've learned to never assume anything with Bridget, but rather to give her opportunities to show what she is interested in and ready to do. If I don't give her the chance, I don't know how much she is capable of doing.

I am going to keep taking her into the bathroom with me and talking about potty training in the same terms I've always used with her. I am going to put her on the potty chair first thing in the morning, before her nap, after her nap and before bed as a habit. She will sit on her potty willingly, so hopefully this will be a good way to build a routine and to continue her positive "potty training" experience. We'll keep singing and reading and doing all the fun parts, and I'll keep posting here as we move forward.

Wish us luck, and please, chime in if you have advice or suggestions!

6 comments:

  1. I don't have any suggestions but my oldest used to call out "poop" too when anyone passed gas- too funny! Good luck with Bridget and potty training- sounds like she is doing great and will hopefully get it soon.

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  2. Oh I love the stickers. Good idea.

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  3. I think she's doing great. I say just keep on with it. Kaia went through an "uninterested phase", but I refused to give up (thinking it would be harder to start again later on) and her phase only lasted a day or two. I just kept asking her if she needed to go, or just putting her on anyways and she complied. While she could usually tell me yes or no (accurately) when I asked if she needed to go, she didn't initiate telling me until about 2-3 months later. If she told me no, I just kept reminding her that she needed to tell mommy when she needed to go. And if a long time period went by and she handn't gone, then I would try and get her to go so we wouldn't have any accidents.

    Good luck!

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  4. I've been abstaining from advice but following along with interest. For my daughter it was clear that she just didn't know ahead when she needed to go- that it was physiological and part of her DS. What we did is not push it, I just sat her on the regular toilet (we had a ring for kids) about every 2 hours, praised her when she went. I didn't make a big deal out of it, it was just built into our daily routine (which she's always loved). I would say that she was able to know 98% by age 4-5 and go completely independently, after that the issue of occasional accidents was related to how distracted or the amount of fun she was having. In kindergarten I always encouraged the teacher/aide to have her go before recess since that was often an accident time. Now, she still (at 9) uses a pull up at night since she will not wake up when she pees. I've read that some kids, even neurotypical kids, have nighttime enuresis due to a delay in the development of the "switch" to tell their bladder that it's sleep time and not to pee. Sorry for the lengthy advicetype response- just passing along my experience. I am a rather unambitious parent around potty training I'm afraid so not a great role model- I take a laid back approach that they all do it eventually! Hope that helps!

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  5. Thanks for all the comments and encouragement! I love to hear what other people have experienced, so I hope no one is afraid to comment and give advice. I'll take whatever I can get :)...

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