Potty Training - It Isn't For Whimps

As many of you with children over the age of three or four know, potty training is hard work! It is not something to be taken lightly. It will teach you a lot about your child and yourself. It will definitely keep you on your toes!

I am in the process of potty training Aiden. We originally started back in April, and after a few weeks with no sign of success in sight, I gave up. I convinced myself that he just wasn't ready. Looking back, I think it was me who wasn't ready.

I didn't realize what a responsibility it would be. I helped Jaime potty train Jenny when she was two, but at the time we weren't living together, so it wasn't my responsibility all of the time. My biggest downfall was that I wasn't consistent. I'd put him in underwear and then after he peed in them and I changed him (over and over again), I'd stick him in a Pull-Up and call it a day.

Obviously, we didn't get very far. He would go potty (only #1) when I would take him. But he had more accidents in his underwear than he went in the potty. He would tell me he needed to potty, but he'd wait until after he wet his pants. Of course, none of that is Aiden's fault, and it is a pretty normal part of potty training. I'm not sure what I expected, but potty training doesn't happen over night or even in a few days (or at least in my case it hasn't).

After about a month of giving up on potty training, I decided to start again. Given what I knew from my mistakes the first time, I had a game plan.

We started again about a week ago, and this time I feel like we are making real progress. Aiden is in underwear from the time he gets up until right before he goes to bed. When he sleeps he wears a Pull-Up. I also put a Pull-Up on him if I know we are going to be in the car for a long time, or if we are going somewhere where I won't be able to take him potty every 30 minutes or so.

We started out taking him potty every 30 minutes. He went almost every time, and wasn't having any accidents. After a few days of that, we bumped it up to every 45 minutes to an hour. He was still going almost every time, and only had one accident a day (most days no accidents at all).

A few nights ago, a few minutes after we put Aiden to bed, he got up and told us he needed to potty. We took him and he went, his Pull-Up was also dry. A few minutes after he went back to bed, he again told us he needed to go potty. Obviously he thought going potty was an excuse to get out of bed. Haha!

Other than that one time, he hasn't ever told me he has to go. He also hasn't gone #2 on the potty yet - which are mostly why he has accidents.

I can tell that he is "holding it" longer periods of time and he is starting to show signs of when he needs to go (potty dance, holding himself, etc.). He also tends to "hide" when he has to go #2.

We are only a week in and I think he is making a lot of progress. We aren't finished potty training by any means. In fact, it may be weeks or even months before we are done. I intend on hanging in there this time though. Aiden will be potty trained sooner or later (hopefully sooner), even if it gives me gray hair in the process!

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By the way, I am much too young to have gray hair! :-)

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Potty Training Newsflash!

Just so I will remember this years from now, and to give any of you who are interested an update, I wanted to quickly post about how potty training is going.

We started potty training on April 1st. At first, I started out strong. Aiden wore underwear all day, I took him potty every hour, and diapers were only used at night. After about a week of that, I didn't feel like Aiden was making any progress. Have I ever told y'all that I'm a very impatient person? I wanted Aiden potty trained ASAP, and so after a week with no progress, I slacked off. Aiden wore underwear sometimes, but once he started having accidents, I'd put him back in a diaper.

Fast forward to about a week ago....

I decided to start being more consistent, and to try and be more patient. After all, this is a huge change for Aiden. What seems so simple to me, is a very difficult task for Aiden. So for the past week, I have tried to keep Aiden in underwear as often as possible. I have even taken him to the park in his underwear and let him take naps in it a few times.

Fast forward to today....

Today was what I like to call a "potty training success"! Aiden had 0 accidents in his underwear today!! None! Not one! Zero! Woohoo! Not only that, but TWICE today he said, "I need to go big boy potty". That was the first time he has ever told me he had to go, BEFORE he peed all over himself.

We are definitely making progress! Of course he is still in the beginning stages, and he still has a long way to go, but at least he is making progress!

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Potty Training

Ever since Aiden turned 18 months old I have been thinking about when would be a good time to start potty training him. Since then Jaime and I have really tried to let him go with us when we go to the bathroom - just to show him what it's all about. Initially he didn't really care and had no interest in the potty other than playing with the roll of toilet paper. After about a month though he started showing more interest in it, and we started letting him try to potty too. He never went potty, but he liked being able to sit up there as if he was actually using the potty. We'd always tell him that he did a good job trying, and that we'd try again later.

More recently, he has started telling us that he needs to go potty. The first time he said it I remember I was so excited thinking that he would actually potty this time! He didn't. Ha! At that point I determined that maybe he is ready for some serious training, because to him it probably seemed like a game or something fun to do rather than something he needed to start doing.

So yesterday while Jaime and I were at Walmart I took a little detour over into the baby section of the store, and came back with this....

Isn't it cute? Aiden loves it! It has helped out a lot, because he can sit on the potty on his own, and we don't have to hold him. I think that helps him to feel more comfortable, which will help him to actually use the potty. Can you guess why Aiden likes it so much?? Yep, that's right....Elmo is on it! =)

I've taken him potty and let him use it a few times today, but so far he hasn't gone. We're gonna keep trying though! Right now we're basically still just getting him used to the potty, but after we move I am going to get a lot more serious about it. I feel like if I can get him to actually use it that first time it will help him out a lot. I don't expect that to be all it takes, I know it will take him a while to start going to the potty all the time - but I do think that after the first time he goes that he might start to understand better.

Wish us luck, as I know this will probably be a long process. Maybe we'll be getting somewhere by his 2nd birthday though, or hopefully at least by the end of the year. Ha!