Beginning of a new Adventure: Potty Training
21July 8, 2012 by CassieCravings
mamacravings
The accidents. The triumphs. The laundry.
Potty training.
I get a lot of sympathetic pats on the backs and “Bless your heart” when I mention that we are knee deep into potty training. And goodness, I need it.
It’s messy and frustrating. It is more time consuming than cluster feeding during a growth spurt. ..and this is only our second day.
Potty training certainly isn’t glamorous.
It is the biggest mountain Eli has yet to climb. We have to persist through frustration. We have to accept mistakes. We have to celebrate every victory.
Yesterday afternoon, He took my face into his baby fingers and said, “P’wease, Mama. P’wease get my biacher.”
I knew he was tired of the timer and of the messes and of the running to the potty just to sit. I was tired of it too. For a moment, I wondered if it was worth it, if we should just wait until he is a bit older.
I sighed and held his hands. His little feet kicked at his Elmo potty chair. He looked defeated. I felt like we were failing.
I waited a moment to speak. I thought of what I really wanted for Eli to gain during potty training. What did I crave for him to seek when he is feeling frustrated and defeated?
I knew a lot of what I would say wouldn’t make sense. But honestly, I was saying it more to remind myself than for him to understand. All I needed him to understand now was that we were going to go through this together.
I sighed again. And I smiled. It was forced and weary.
“Eli, we are going to stick through this. I know it doesn’t seem worth it yet. But it will be. I am so proud of you for being persistent. I am so proud of you for listening to me and trusting me. You are already showing what a great big boy you are by doing these things. Don’t give up on this yet.”
The corners of his lips turned up slightly. “Deal. No more biachers,” he sighed. Sometimes I wonder if he understands everything I say.
Yesterday was tough. Today has been tough. Tomorrow will hopefully be a bit easier. Whether it is or not it is, we will work persistently and pursue our goals diligently.
We’ll conquer this Elmo potty. It’s only the beginning of our new adventure.
Eli playing with his cars while wearing his big boy “un-wears”
mamacravings 
We start potty training tomorrow. Not sure what will happen.
Let’s take a moment to wordpress hug. 🙂
I honestly didn’t expect as many accidents as he has had. But I can already tell progress in his understanding of the concept.
Good luck! You and me, we got this!! 🙂
(brag moment) CJ has been potty trained accident free for two months!!
That being said I read every article, blog, and listened to every piece of advice I could muster up!
And the I took a little bit from the all.
1. If we were outside he potty’d outside
2. Once the diaper came off, besides bedtime it never went back on.
3. He was not supposed to get his underwear wet.
4. His first accident I threw away his big boy underwear. Some people said It would traumatize him, it didn’t but he got the point, potty in pants “they’s goes bye bye” (side note I only threw the first pair away…)
5. … # 4 WORKED like a chair!
6. Boys like to squat… Only the Lord knows why… So I let him do it over his potty
7. Stickers! They work! Oh & giggles, woohoos & high fives!
8. I didn’t have a set time he “had” to go. I
Would just ask every 7-10 minutes if he needed to potty after 2-3 “I no have to potty”‘s we made a trip to the potty.
Obviously what worked for CJ wont work for everyone. We had 2 accidents the first week. None after. We are 2 1/2 months into this!
Fear not it will happen, I did it with a newborn baby so the fact that you only have precious Eli, well I’m a tad bit jealous lol!
Good Luck & you just have to eat cupcakes and drink Dr. Pepper… That’s what got me threw 😉 Go Eli!
I was chatting with Courtney over lunch the other day, and she was bragging about CJ being potty trained. I must say, I am VERY impressed.
I’ve never heard of the throwing away the undies thing, but that certainly makes sense.
One of my dearest friends is potty training her 2 1/2 year-old with an 18 month old and a 3 week old. Y’all are my heroes, by the way! 😀
Thank you so much for your advice and tips. I will certainly try to apply these to little Eli and my process in potty training. 🙂
go for it Eli!
:)) He is a persistent little trooper! I am so proud of him!
Go Eli go!! 🙂 So, I don’t really have any good advice for you considering Ethan isn’t completely potty trained yet either lol. Although I must say that he’s been doing really well with it at school. I know they have a very consistent potty break schedule at school, so that helps. He occasionally goes potty for me at home, but we definitely have a ways to go. I’ll admit I’ve been kinda slacking with the whole thing since Emma was born hehe. I haven’t been pushing him…just kinda following his lead. Sometimes he shows interest, sometimes he could care less lol. Good luck Eli!! Let me know how everything is going!
Well, you kind of have your hands full with Baby Emma! :)) Ethan will get it. He’s more laid back than Eli too. I think that Ethan is a move at his own pace, let me figure it out myself kinda dude. Either way, I’m sure neither will be going to Kindergarten in their diapers. Lol
(pssst! happy birthday eve!)
oooo thanks!! 🙂
[…] mama inspired me to share a […]
Awww! I’m glad to inspire you! We can get through this together 🙂
Potty training at my house too – oh boy, its a lot of work. This is my third of three sons and of course this has been the most difficult! Thinking patient thoughts and about how wonderful it will be to not have to change any more diapers!!
🙂
Oooh! You have a ton of experience with it then.
Good luck to you! My mom’s last set of potty training were twin boys. I know she was ready for the end of diapers too. 🙂
I’m hoping for the end of diapers very soon for you!
I wish I had some stellar advice for you from potty training my older one, but alas, I felt like our experience with him was awful. Mostly due to our own mistakes – we started a couple months before the birth of his little brother, we started too early, we got too frustrated. So now, with kiddo number two, we are willing to wait it out. Yes, I hate diapers; but I hated even more the struggles and the wet underpants, and the frustration. Changing a diaper makes me sigh, the potty training messes made me cringe. I think waiting will work better for everyone at our house!
Hope I didn’t sound too negative and not encouraging! My friend potty trained her son around the same as we were working with Roo and he basically trained himself in a bout a week! Every kid, and every family is different! Hoping for an easy and positive experience for y’all! 🙂
So, I had this really amazing and poignant and perfect response typed out….and it deleted itself. Bummer.
I think our biggest struggle right now is letting him have the reins and leading it while still leading him ourselves… It’s a bit of a balance. He is certainly making progress. And I am proud of him. We still have a ways to go though. Patience in the process is certainly what I’m trying to practice. 🙂
Sounds like you definitely have the patience to find that balance. I, on the other hand, probably pray for patience more than any other virtue! 🙂 I asked Monkey the other day if he wanted to start going on the potty. He shook his head no, so I told him whenever he decided he wanted to, he could let Mommy and Daddy know and we’d work on it. That was our conversation, and I think with him, that’s going to be our approach.
Good job to Eli for working on it and making progress! 🙂
Patience and balance may be a bit of a stretch. 😉 Sometimes I can have patience and balance. Most of the time I’m looking for both of them.
I had to back off of the time the last couple of days. Eli was getting tired of it. So, I’m trying to trust that he will listen to his body. It’s going better than I thought. I still use the timer to remind me to remind him though. 🙂
Here’s what worked for me with toilet training. I wish you the best of luck!
Thank you! And thank you for what worked for you guys! I appreciate it! 🙂
What made you decide now was the time? Is he dry most of the time? Does he need to be potty trained in order to get him into a preschool class….the 2.5 if potty trained thing? It seems each child has their own readiness time.
He is such a little sweetheart, I know it took three attempts to get my grandson trained and he will wear pull ups for as long as he needs to at night, to save the sheet changing trauma. Good luck!
He was staying dry longer, and he kept undressing himself. He would want his diaper off after it was wet or dirty. I tried when he first turned two, and he did pretty well, but he wasn’t into it yet. So, I backed off until now.
His school doesn’t require him to be potty trained by a certain age. He’s in a “one room school room”. He is the youngest in his class, and it goes up to 5 years old.
I personally wanted him potty trained by the time school started, but I didn’t put that time line on him.
Since he was showing so many signs: not liking to be soiled, undressing himself, showing interest and celebrating others going potty, talking about the potty, we tried again. Thankfully, he was fully ready this time.
Thank you so much! I am so proud of him!
We will do pull ups for a while at night too. He stays dry sometimes through the night, but I’m trying to avoid interval sheet washing as well. 🙂