Because I figure you're all dying to know about the poop situation...
I realized that it's been a while since I mentioned the whole potty training thing. This is definitely a case of no news is good news. Since I know I have at least one reader who was viewing my experience as a likely window into what was in store for her, I wanted to pass along the reassurance that it does get better.
Our son now stays dry all day long--no accidents even during nap time. He even takes the initiative, so that we don't have to keep our eyes on the clock and ask him if he needs to pee every 45 to 60 minutes.
Pooping has improved as well. We still have skidmark issues, but he gets to the potty as quickly as he can. Again, it's all of his own initiative.
How did we get to this point? Shameless bribery.
We had stocked up on potty presents, with the original intent of giving him one for every day he stayed dry with an additional one for any poops. One day, however, when my wife was fed up after the third accident of the day, she told him he could have a present every time he used the potty. Not an ideal set up, especially a week or so in when he realized that the more frequently he went, the more presents he would get. So we spent a few weeks picking up cheap little cars and plastic animals, anything he might like that would not cost too much.
Now he has a couple bins full of the cheap toys, but we've hit a sort of equilibrium. He doesn't like to take a lot of time out from playing, so he doesn't go more often than he really needs. And we've mostly switched over to stickers for peeing with the occasional car for a poop.
I can't say I'm particularly proud of going the bribery route, but it sure has made our lives easier. He's still in diapers (or Cars Pull-Ups to be exact) at night, but that seems reasonable. One step at a time!
3 comments:
Hey, whatever works. I'm sure I will follow your footsteps. Lucky for me, I have a value village around the corner.
I know 5 and 6 year olds who are still in Cars pull ups at night so you are doin well!
This is totally a case of following what works now and dealing with the fallout later. And, as I said, we've been able to scale back gradually on the goodies.
And I'm not surprised, but also glad, to know of older kids in pull ups. All night is a long time, heck I often get up during the night, so the next step can wait for a while!
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