potty training 2.0
we are 12 days into potty training ashford, so i wanted to write about our experience this time. mostly so i can remember. and i know the grandparents like reading this stuff. probably no one else does, though. ha!
you'll remember we first tried back in january, when he was newly 3. in my eyes we had waited until the "right" time. azalea was potty trained pretty quickly at 2 years, 10 months. i had always heard boys can be harder, so i didn't even attempt it until he turned 3. that first morning in january, he put on undies and a short while later, happily peed in the potty. this is going to be easy! i thought to myself. famous last words right? starting that afternoon, he adamantly refused to sit on the potty. and on the rare occasion we got him to sit, he refused to go. this was the case for a couple days. i tried to work through it, but he held his waste in for 7, 10, even 15 hours at a time (even when we put him in a diaper again out of desperation). he could not have cared less about the sticker chart, or getting treats for going. the same week he had his 3 year check up and i explained our situation to the doctor and he said "yeahhh...sounds like he is not ready. you should put him back in diapers, get him going regularly in those again and try the potty again in a couple months." sighhh. not what i wanted to hear, but he was right. a couple more days went by and he was still holding his pee (even though he was back in diapers) and eventually gave himself a uti. it was horribly painful for him and horrible to watch him go through it. it took a while for things to go back to normal. and i was scared to try the potty again.
you'll remember we first tried back in january, when he was newly 3. in my eyes we had waited until the "right" time. azalea was potty trained pretty quickly at 2 years, 10 months. i had always heard boys can be harder, so i didn't even attempt it until he turned 3. that first morning in january, he put on undies and a short while later, happily peed in the potty. this is going to be easy! i thought to myself. famous last words right? starting that afternoon, he adamantly refused to sit on the potty. and on the rare occasion we got him to sit, he refused to go. this was the case for a couple days. i tried to work through it, but he held his waste in for 7, 10, even 15 hours at a time (even when we put him in a diaper again out of desperation). he could not have cared less about the sticker chart, or getting treats for going. the same week he had his 3 year check up and i explained our situation to the doctor and he said "yeahhh...sounds like he is not ready. you should put him back in diapers, get him going regularly in those again and try the potty again in a couple months." sighhh. not what i wanted to hear, but he was right. a couple more days went by and he was still holding his pee (even though he was back in diapers) and eventually gave himself a uti. it was horribly painful for him and horrible to watch him go through it. it took a while for things to go back to normal. and i was scared to try the potty again.
two months went by and everything had been back to business as usual for a while. the end of march and felt like the right time to try again. on a saturday afternoon we took him to the toy store and let him pick out 3 vehicles and explained that they were going to be special toys that he could have if he did a good job on the potty. that monday morning i printed a new sticker chart, showed him the container of chocolate chips, reminded him about the toys, and put him on the potty. and he went pee right away! we all clapped and cheered and this time he was excited to do the sticker chart and have his chocolate chips (score!). he peed a number of times that day (no accidents), and i though this is going to be so much easier this time, this is why we waited. tuesday was another great day. no accidents and he even peed in a kid potty at the mall (after I promised him mike and ikes from the quarter machine). i was starting to wonder when #2 was going to happen, but i wasn't too worried. wednesday afternoon was when things started getting dicey. all i can think is that the novelty wore off. we started to experience strong refusals to sit on the potty again, he started holding it for hours and hours on end (18 hours from wednesday to thursday!), and accidents started happening. that was the way thursday, friday, and saturday went as well. i was getting really discouraged, but didn't want to stop the process again because overall it was going better than last time. i was so confused how we started off so strong and it was quickly derailing again. any time i asked him why he wouldn't go on the potty, he would answer "because i don't." okayy then!
on sunday he woke up and it was like something "clicked" in his brain and he started going like a pro again. he went when we asked him to (with little to no resistance), held it when we went out (no accidents), and even went #2 on the potty for the first time! i was worried it was too good to be true, but monday was the same story. and every day since has been as well. it's been 5 great days now and i think we have officially turned the corner. i am so happy! he still is not a fan of public restrooms, and only wants to use his little potty at home, so those are things we will need to work on. but for now, we are in a great place of only wearing a diaper at night (he wakes up dry 90% of the time too!). i'm so proud of my boy!
on sunday he woke up and it was like something "clicked" in his brain and he started going like a pro again. he went when we asked him to (with little to no resistance), held it when we went out (no accidents), and even went #2 on the potty for the first time! i was worried it was too good to be true, but monday was the same story. and every day since has been as well. it's been 5 great days now and i think we have officially turned the corner. i am so happy! he still is not a fan of public restrooms, and only wants to use his little potty at home, so those are things we will need to work on. but for now, we are in a great place of only wearing a diaper at night (he wakes up dry 90% of the time too!). i'm so proud of my boy!
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