Monday, September 8, 2008

If We Could Just Be Naked All Of The Time...Need Advice PLEASE!

As some of you may recall we started the potty training process before we moved. I was giving Vin 3-4 hours of "naked" time in the morning where I would sit him on the potty every 40 minutes or so. He loved it because we would read books while he sat there (sometimes in excess of 20 minutes). Yes, he "went" all over the apartment and I spent most of these mornings running around with a bottle of resolve carpet cleaner and a sponge. But occasionally he would "go" on the potty and it was through these times I was able to get him to start recognizing when he was "going" and that "going" in the potty was a good thing. It didn't take him long to get it and then he started telling me when he had to go.

Then we moved and I stopped with the naked times since I was consumed with unpacking and all the stuff that goes along with moving. Two weeks ago I started back up again and Thursday and Friday of last week marked huge victories in our potty training trials. He went accident free all day and told me each time when he had to go and then went in the potty. On Friday he even told me when he had to go when he had a diaper on. He said "Potty PLEASE!" and then stood there wiggling until I put him on the potty. He went and we had a huge celebration. You should have seen his face. He was so proud of himself.

This encouraged me to move on to the next phase of my diabolical (and totally unscientific, I might add) potty training plan. This weekend we started putting him in big boy underpants which have a bit of padding to them and then plastic pants over top. I thought these would be better than traditional pull ups because he could really feel the wetness. This is important because he is already used to feeling wetness since cloth diapers are far less absorbent than disposable diapers. And being a cloth diaperer at heart, I love that they can be washed and reused. Well, it seems when the underwear are on all thoughts of potty go out the window. He treats them like a diaper - "going" at free will without a care in the world. Yuck!

I went back to naked times this morning and he's right back on track with telling me when he has to go and holding it until we get to the potty. So how do I translate the naked training to underpant training?? I'm at a loss here people. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would like to go on record w/ a hearty appreciation of the frustration and effort this costs you Dia. Thank you very much!

Given everyone has a different opinion on when, how and why to lead their kids into all kinds of learning, but in this instance potty learning, I look forward to some valuable - and funny - words of advice, caution or other emotions on this topic that is more controversial then I ever knew.

Angello

Anonymous said...

DON'T do what I did...I trained you kids with cold water...then every time one of you got near water, you would look at me and say, "I have to go pee..." Made trips to the beach impossible...and it got embarassing after y'all entered high school !!! (Jes' kidding, Jason !?)

lisaqshay said...

well let's see here...w/ #1 he was a bit beyond 3 yrs and he FINALLY went. however, he started training with #2. strange huh? But once he did that the first time, it was smooth sailing from then on in. now #2 trained while we were in the midst of moving to NC. he was one month shy of 3 yrs. again, #2 (poop) was the first end to train. he, however, had quite a few messes. i did throw out quite a few pairs of underwear as i didn't have the stomach or desire to wash 'em out. eventually, he got it. then for #3 boy he was right around 3 yrs too. he had much success, not as much as #1 boy but not as bad as #2 boy. again...poop was the training medium. they all learned to poop first on the potty then the other came along shortly after. i did NOT use pullups. my whole goal was to rid the expense of the diapers and move onto material. also...when training for #1 voids we did a little trick. er - uh...i'll say Shawn did the lil trick. it was to place fruit loops or cheerios in the bowl and stand up and aim away at the floating targets! hee hee. also, they were known to go in and have "sword fights". Shawn and the boys, that is. so there you go. perhaps wait until he's 3 or put the brunt of the responsibility on jello. how's that?

Anonymous said...

I was always around little children growing up so, I helped potty train some, even though I did'nt know it. This became a natural for me, except, with my own children. My children also liked the naked method, and yes, there was lots of clean ups, and Dia, you actually potty trained yourself, you tore off your diaper and sat on the potty. I was trying to train Jason. I was shocked! Then again, another example of girls have to take charge or it won't get done!

Lori Mlynarski said...

And what is wrong with just letting him go naked all of the time, huh?? GEEZ Mom, you want it all don't you? Hee hee. Being that I have a girl (everyone say's how different they are) and she was so easy to potty train, I don't know if anything I say will help, but here goes anywho!! Christina has been fully potty trained for about a year now (just after her 2nd birthday) and I have never even had to put her in pull-ups, not even at night (although I did it for a while just to use up what I bought, but they were rarely wet). She's had one accident that was recently, and it's only because her dumb mother forgot to put her on the potty before bed. However, we went straight from diapers to big girl panties 2 months after turning 2. She hated wetting herself, and I think she did it every other day for a couple weeks until she finally got it and went on the potty full-time.

See, don't think that will help, but I wish you the best of luck.

Love Lori

Anonymous said...

Probably doesn't sound much like help, but I'll say it anyway...
Hang in there, Sis! He'll get it:) He's already making HUGE progress, so try to remember that on the messy... or otherwise naked... days.
Love, Your NC Sis who is STILL trying to potty train her 3 year old (definitely feeling your pain!!)