Let me first say that I hope everyone is having a more exciting New Year's than I am. While I should be very grateful for this day that Steven is at home along with other family, it has gotten extremely long and BORING! Not that there aren't things around the house I should and could be doing, I just have zero motivation to do them.
Warning: This post will probably be of no interest to anyone without children. If I didn't have children, I really don't know that I would want to read about potty training.
So, here is what's going on. I am about to post a fact that I am a little embarassed about, but really don't know what to do about it and that is partially why I am posting this. Ellie is over 3 1/2. She will be four on April 24. She still wears pull-ups during her nap and at night. She doesn't keep them dry, in fact, they are more wet than Luke's. When Ellie was first potty-trained (around a year ago), she would come and tell me when she had to go. At some point between then and now, she has degressed. It's not that she has accidents (she actually never does), it's just that hours will go by and I will realize she hasn't gone to the bathroom. I know you're thinking "there is your problem." And I have recently realized this and for several days we really worked on it (and are still working on it). Like, I made her go almost every hour. But her pull-up? Still pretty wet! Has something not clicked over in her brain or am I doing something wrong?
As for Luke, I have always heard boys are more difficult to potty-train than girls. But...shortly after he turned two he would go on command when I put him in the tub. So then we started doing it on the potty before his bath and before his nap. No problem! He will almost always go (along with a little help from some running water). Yesterday I bought him some "Cars" underwear and of course he wanted to put them on. It went well until he came to me saying he had a poopy diaper. I said, "okay, Luke, let's go change it". Then I remember he doesn't have on a diaper.
After a second attempt at panties during Ellie's nap yesterday (only to change her sheets for the second day in a row) and after changing another pair of dirty underwear last night, I said that I was done until after this baby came. And then this morning Luke comes running by saying "I have to go potty". So I followed him to the bathroom and take off his diaper (which is dry) and he goes! (#1) We clap, he runs to tell Ellie and Steven what he's done, and he gets the treat. So, I guess we'll just go with it for now. But I cannot change sheets everyday. So-what would you do? About Ellie and/or about Luke? My plan is to keep making Ellie go throughout the day (like set the timer). And with Luke I am not going to stress over it until after the baby comes. But I would love any feedback!
8 comments:
hey girl, i just have to comment on this one because i'm right there with you. mattea was potty trained at 20 months and at 2.5 trained through her naps BUT she will be 4 in feb and still wears a pull up at night. she did good for 8 days without an accident and dave left for travel and she hasnt' done it since. in fact, if we put her pull up on too early at night, she'll just pee in it because she's too lazy to go potty, we've become made, frustrated, annoyed and you know what - none of it works. paloma has even stayed dry some nights(she was potty trained at 22 months) but her sister can't. i give up. they now just share pullups. i figured i can't make her do it. and we've tried rewards. forget it. i figured one pull up per child per day is better than diapers. sometimes it is jsut a battle of wills and mattea sleeps really heavy which is part of the problem. i'd just not worry about it but maybe just maybe stay firm during the day. that's what i had to do. see if it works and remember nobody is judging you (which i thought because i had a 4 year old peeing in pull ups at night) but then i realized - who cares! good luck!
Hey Ann! My oldest son turned 2 in August and he woke up one day and decided to potty train. He does pretty well when he's at home with us, but at school and in the church nursery is another story. I think it's fine to keep Ellie in pull-ups during nap, what else can you do besides put her in panties and change her in the middle of the night. I have heard that nighttiime potty training just takes longer. I agree with taking her to the potty every so often....I have to do that with Bowen even now when I've noticed that he hasn't gone in a while. I'd keep encouraging Luke. We just make a big deal out of it when Bowen goes to the potty and that seems to help. Not sure my comment was much help to you, but thought I'd chime in since Luke and Bowen are about the same age, I think.
maybe some middle ground-- for naps you could put her in cloth trainers with water proof lining- imse vimse makes some... that way she could feel the wet more than in a pull up, but not make the sheets soaking wet. just a thought- we are not there yet... just trying to REALLY encourage waketime potty training before new baby comes.
I think that is the difference in personalities. Micah was well over 2.5 before we potty trained #1 and still refuses to go #2 except in a diaper (really refuses, he held it for 10 days one time because he couldn't go in the potty and wouldn't have an accident.) Owen, on the other hand will be potty trained by 2 I think, at least loosely. I wouldn't worry at all about night time accidents. I don't think it is that big a deal. We still use a diaper at night for Micah. Sometimes it is wet, and sometimes dry. We try to wait until after prayers and night time rituals and take him to the potty before we put the diaper on. But really it is only 20 cents or something and so much better than changing sheets every day. I think she will get it soon. Certainly don't stress about it :) As for Luke, I say keep it up if he's interested. Maybe Ellie will get motivated by her brother's good work. Hope all is well.
Hang in there, Ann. You are doing a good job. Of all the benchmarks through the preschool years, this one made me feel the most insecure. John Campbell was pretty easy to potty train except for pooping and that took us a long time. He was afraid of sitting on the toilet. Just do what feels natural. I don't blame you for waiting until the baby gets here.
Hey, Ann! I haven't had alot of experience in this with my own children (only one is potty trained so far!) but these other ladies are right about different children being very different to train. Ruby went from total diaper-wearing to total panty wearing in 3 weeks, but she was totally self-motivated (she was about 2 1/2 or older) and we literally went from diapers to panties--didn't do the pull-ups for transition. Don't know if that had something to do with her motivation (she really wanted to be a big girl and not wear diapers). I will say, though, that Ruby seems much more distracted now when playing and sometimes waits till the very last minute before noticing she needs to go, and we have to ask her sometimes (when she's doing the potty dance).
Anyway, I am with you on the waiting thing. I've known children to still wear pull-ups at night until 5,6, sometimes older. Ellie will eventually grow out of it. My little girl is older than your Luke and we haven't even started with her yet, for the same reason you're considering. She turned 2 right after we had baby #3 and something has to give, right? I know there are probably mothers out there who do try to do it all, but in my opinion, it really isn't worth it. Hang in there. This, too, shall pass!
Thanks so much for all the encouraging feedback! I think I really did just want to hear a lot of "it's okay, it's normal". Thanks again!
I babysit two little kids next door...the little girl is one and I believe the little boy is 3. And he still wears pull-ups during naps. And underwear other times. So, maybe that would work with Ellie, I don't know.
Hollen
Post a Comment