Potty Trained!!!
By Kay on Mon, Jun 16, 2008
We finally did it! Â The boy is potty trained!!!!!!
(Yes, I meant to put all those exclamation points after that sentence. Â That’s how EXCITED I am that he’s finally wearing ‘big boy underwear’. Â If you’ve ever potty trained a boy, you understand my elation. 
)
After months of fighting, pleading, bribing, arguing, and disappointment, I finally found the right combination of things for Ethan to want to potty train.
We had tried bribing him with candy corn (the treat HE picked out at the store for just this purpose) and that wasn’t really working. Â We tried putting him in pull-ups and telling him to let us know when he needed to go – yeah, right. Â Then, one day, I got so tired of it, I just put ‘big boy underwear’ on him and set the timer. Â Every 15-30 minutes the timer would go off and I would say, “Time to go sit on the potty!” Â The first few times he fought me on it and didn’t want to do it. Â It took a few times, too, before anything happened when we were ON the potty. Â When it did, there was HUGE celebration, much clapping and cheering, and candy-giving. Â
The few times that he had an ‘accident’, we went immediately in the bathroom and sat on the potty just to see if there was any pee left. Â A friend of mine said that sometimes when they have an accident, they stop themselves before they’re completely empty. Â This way you have a chance to praise them for going potty in the toilet, even in the midst of an ‘accident’. Â (Thanks for that idea, Shannon!)
We also checked out a book from the library called “Time to Pee”. Â It’s a great little book about potty training that starts off “If you ever get that funny feeling… don’t PANIC!” Â Cracks me up! Â I’m not sure if it was the book, the underwear, some cosmic alignment of the planets, or the combination of things, but suddenly it clicked with him! Â And now, I don’t even know most of the time when he’s going pee, because he just gets up from where he’s playing, goes into the bathroom, and goes potty! Â Yippee!!! Â :)
Now, to work on wiping his own bottom. Â That’s the part that no one talks about! Â :P
How about you? Â What were your tricks that helped get your little on to finally potty train? Â Â
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Tags: parenting-tips
June 16th, 2008 at 8:55 am
Potty training! Ugh! We are not there. Christian is so emotional and holds it cuz it is too traumatic to go. He would rather go to bed at 6:00 then go potty. (And his bedtime is closer to 10). He is not an eater and doesn’t like chocolate and all that wonderful stuff. He is a mystery in this area. When it happens, it will be God!!
June 16th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
YAY! I am so happy for you guys! Will take this advice to heart when it’s our turn…
June 17th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
WOOOHOOOO!!! So happy for you!!!
July 1st, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Congrats! I do know how hard it is to potty train a boy! My son, now at 4 years old, FINALLY uses the potty!
He wanted to try around 1 1/2 – 2, but lost the motivation. Waited a little while and tried again and again. He was trying until after his brother was born and then he didn’t seem to want to. People were saying that he just might not be ready yet.
After not trying anymore, so as to not push him, we started up again. Now he doesn’t even expect a treat!
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:41 am
Kendra,
Just keep offering it to him and eventually, he’ll get it and realize it’s actually better to use the potty than a diaper.
Christian still has time to figure it out. He may not want to do it right now, but, rest assured, he won’t walk across the stage at his high school graduation in diapers!
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:41 am
Alisha,
You’re right about the timing thing. I think it’s even more true of boys than girls, too. It seems that boys are a tad more stubborn about doing it in their own timing no matter what the punishment or the reward. Doesn’t that just make parenting so much more fun???
July 9th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
We got this book for my Bean when we were gearing up for potty training. She’s been trained since the first of the year, but she still loves to read this book. It’s a good one.
July 10th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Kim~
I loved that book, too! So many things to look at in the pictures and the text was so cleverly written, too. Definitely a must-read for that age group!!