Well, she's in the same pants that she put on after she got up (we're going to do diapers/Pull Ups at night for a while, until she's ready to stay dry all night), so we're making progress.
Here's my method. It's not based on any cutting edge research or anything - just on knowing my kid.
I started telling her a couple of weeks ago that it's illegal for kids to wear diapers in the daytime after they're 3. Kids her age tend to be really big into laws and rules and whatnot, so I thought I'd try to use that to my advantage. I made sure that she understood that the day after her party (no bathrooms at the park!) she had to use the big girl potty. We talked about it a lot in the days leading up to the switch.
On Monday she woke up, and we put underwear on her. I've been asking her every hour or so if she needs to go (or when she starts acting like she needs to go). She has also told me, several times, that she needed to go. I'm also praising the heck out of her when she does. I'm not making a big hairy deal about mistakes, but she does have to go upstairs and get her own panties (after the 5th accident last night, I just quit putting new shorts on her) when she has an accident, and she does have to "help" me clean it up if it gets on the floor or the furniture. I've told her that if she can keep her underwear dry for a whole day, she can get some fancy Disney Princess ones from Kohl's.
I'm also reading her books while on the potty to distract her. Reading also makes her stay longer, which is good because then she doesn't have to go as often. We're not going anywhere today, even though she did great while we were out with Grandma and Mimi yesterday, simply because I don't have another adult to help me with Claire today. We're going out for dinner with Grandma Diana, and then BJ and Diana will be there to assist. Until we get this down, we're staying close to a toilet. It just occurred to me, though, that the bathroom for kids at the library is really convenient, so we may go there if we have time after nap.
I think, more than anything, though, that she was just ready to be trained. I did all these things a few months ago, and it didn't work at all.
4 comments:
I laughed out loud about the "illegal" thing! Too funny! Whatever works!
I agree that more than anything she was just ready. She seems excited about it (certainly a function of the high praise you have been giving her) rather than worrying about getting in trouble.
Wait until she sees other kids going to the potty at preschool. That will definitely have a positive influence.
Our monkey was really excited about it for awhile, then decided she was "over it" for a couple of months, and lately she's been takin' care of business without us needing to ask her. It's been great!
Even more exciting is the next big milestone, where the kid starts paying attention to the "other" function - apparently most kids start with just one product going where it belongs, then eventually figure out the second one and start doing that too.
If you're not already doing it, I'd suggest having a potty in whatever room she uses most during the day; we tried to be discreet with Amelia but it turned out that she used it more when she could sit on it and watch TV.
She also thinks that going on the big potties in restaurants and stuff is extremely cool, so maybe that will be incentive for your kid too?
Post a Comment