Let’s Talk Potty Training, Shall We.

Alternative title....If you Have to Go Potty, Stop and Go Right Away! (Thank you Daniel Tiger.  This song really does help Henry but now I sing it when I have to go *eyeroll*)

So when Henry was around 18-20 months old he started taking an interest in the potty.  He wanted to sit on it, because well we sat on it and Henry likes to do EVERYTHING we do.  He wanted to “go pee” which normally meant he would sit there and play with toilet paper.  We thought 20 months seemed a little early to take interest in the toilet and potty training, so we kept it casual and kept emphasizing how cool the potty was and if he wanted to try to go we let him and got excited for him, but all without pushing anything.

We got a built in child seat that just folds up into our toilet seat and he loved it.  HERE. Shortly after his second birthday he was going more and more on the potty and we started talking to the teachers about potty training.  He would yell “pee coming, pee coming; poop coming poop coming” while running to the bathroom and loved to go and was starting to make it every single time to the potty!  Again, this was all because HE wanted to do it and not pushed by us.  (Our child is VERY strong willed and does things on his “own” terms.) 

We actually bought underwear and thought….dang, at this rate he will be potty trained by the first of the year!!

Yeah...silly first time parents.

And then Henry started getting sick more and was basically sick on and off from Halloween through the end of the year.  When he was sick he wouldn’t always want to use the potty so we didn’t push anything.  (Perhaps our mistake?!) When he started feeling better during that time we got back into our routine, not anticipating he would be sick again a week or two later.  Well after his sickness was over after the first of the year we and the school got back into potty training.  Diaper only at night and underwear the rest of the time with the occasional pull-ups on..

At school Henry is better about going to the potty, though there is a #2 issue.  But I think he is on a set schedule and other kids go and he wants to do what other kids do and he is just use to going at school.  So he will have an accident maybe one of the three days at school, but does really well there.

At home, well Henry has all of a sudden taken an aversion to going at home.  He will be grabbing like he has to go and we will ask and he says “NO” and when we take him in to try he usually fights and screams it the entire way.  It is SO weird, because he use to want to spend 30 minutes in the bathroom and now we can barely get him in there for 1 minute to pee. 

Now, I get that it is still on the earlier side for potty training as he is 28 months.  But I feel now that we have started and he does so well at school we are kind of in it.  I don’t want to go back because he IS doing a great job most of the time.  But this new found aversion to going at home is just odd to me and we are not sure what to do next.

I talked to his teacher and we have their “potty schedule” and try to stay consistent with that at home and make him go at those times.  But again, he just doesn’t want to do it or will say NO and fight it when you can see full well he has to go!!  Again, he is stubborn.  He will also wait until he is about to pee and then say he needs to potty and then pees right there because he waited too long.  And as for pooping….he loved to poop on the potty a couple months ago.  He would read his “mag” and thought it was funny to flush his poop.  We would spend 30 minutes in there!! (Typical man) But the past week we will take him in and make him pee and ask if he has to poop and he says NO and literally in the time it takes for him to wash his hands and go into the living room we catch him pooping in his underwear. DUDE!  We were just in the bathroom!! Sigh.

This week it happened once at school (he hates pooping at school anyways) and twice at home.  Last night alone it happened and then a little later I saw him make the face and got him into the bathroom with a hanger…but had I not ran in there with him, he would have done it twice yesterday evening.

Now, in regards to accidents we are calm.  No yelling or getting mad. (we have plenty of other things he does to get mad and yell at him for!)  We just explain the importance of going to the potty IN the potty and that he is a big boy now, blah blah, blah….

And then this week we have resorted to bribing with M&M’s. (I KNOW, DON’T JUDGE!)  We were giving him stickers after he peed to put on a potty chart and he loved that but I think he is a bit over it so now he gets one M&M if he pees and two if he, well #2’s :-) Note: My parenting book will be out this fall with many other amazing tips and ways to bribe your kids to do stuff. It is called..."Go Fetch; Now Here's Your Treat" which is the sister book to "My Son, The Man Servant".  

I digress.

We are also wondering if we need to get him his own small potty, though I would prefer him going in the BIG potty as I really really do not want to clean out the small one.  YUCK.

So let me ask, how do YOU potty train your kids?  I get that every kid is different, but I am curious what has worked/not worked for you.  Did your kid ever revert back a bit or get tired of going in the potty?  What motivation did you use?  Did you use pull-ups?  Was your kid stubborn and wanting to do it all on their own terms?!

Talk to me!!