Mission Ongoing: Potty Training

Thought I must write a quick update on the potty training efforts as we've had a bit of a breakthrough: Ana poops in her potty now!! (She has been peeing all along successfully, of course)

She is in panties all through the day, asking to pee and poop as needed and using the potty consistently. She still needs pull-ups for nights as she is not quite aware of her potty needs at nights yet... all in good time...

Of course, now that she doesn't want diapers anymore as she is a "big sister" and only babies wear diapers and poop in them, we have to schedule extra time and plan a proper route to get anywhere: the other day I was in a rush to get to the doctor for Baby Oggie's checkup and we were strapped and ready to go, and 10 minutes into the drive (far enough from home, yet not close enough to the doctor's) Ana starts crying that her tummy hurts and she needs to poop "right now" :)

C'est la vie... so, I had to find a fast food place and lug the infant seat and drag Ana in and take them both into the nasty little public restroom so Ana can avoid pooping her panties before we get to the doctor...

Oh the joys of mommyhood :)

potty training enterprise 1

At about 18-20 months we started introducing the potty concept to Ana and bought her a little potty.

She would sit on it with her clothes on. And, I would take her with me when I needed to go and she would sit and pretend to make a deposit, unsuccessfully...

This went on fine for a while and she agreed to go diaper-free most evenings when we get back home. But, she still didn't actually make an effort to deposit.

So, D bought her this Go, Girl, Go Potty! book, which seemed to have some positive influence on her and she immediately caught on about sitting on the potty bare-bottomed and then washing her hands with soap and water afterwards.

Still no consistent deposit even after 2-3 months of cajoling. And, I did not believe in forcing her as she ended up crying a lot and hating the experience... pretty counter-productive!

Then, D rented this Potty Power DVD from Netflix for her. It seemed to have caught her attention. The songs are catchy, the kids were fun and she seemed to get the concept by now. Just not the motivation.

To help with the motivation factor, seeing her sticker fancy, we even set up a system where she gets a sticker to put on her potty when she makes a successful liquid or solid waste deposit.

Which seemed to work for a while - she collected about half a dozen stickers in a row and then not sure what happened, she decided to protest.

She started holding until it was diaper time and no amount of patient encouragement induced her to try peeing/pooping in the potty. The holding got quite extreme that she ended up constipating herself!

Then, we eased up a little, and tried again after a week or so. She would sit on the potty, quite happily, and read her books too, but, would simply hold it in - the stubborn monkey!

If we catch her sneaking off to a corner behind the sofa and grunting and straining, and ask her to come and sit on the potty, she would scream and ask us to go away and start holding it in again... so, we had to really back off for a while.

Anyway, then D kept playing this Japanese video from YouTube for her and she seemed to want to try again and she has been making progress...

It would help if she gets consistent and intensive training, but, daycare doesn't seem to offer that service - with their hands full minding several kids, I am sure the daycare care-givers would groan and protest if parents want to tack on this added responsibility to them.

So, we have been doing what little we can on evenings and weekends...

My contention has been that she will outgrow this diaper phase in her own time (hopefully by age 3) and that I needn't worry about it too much. As an incentive, much against my wish^†, I got her Elmo™ and Hello Kitty™ panties which she seems eager to wear all evening, till bedtime even, most days. My mom doesn't remember really putting much effort into potty training us - when we had to go, we went, and got washed up - so did the floor and what-not.

^†My mom sent about two dozen bloomer-style soft cotton panties from India with generic flower patterns, in pretty colors, sold at about 3 panties per dollar, but, somehow, these character-panties sold at about 3 panties for six dollars seem to have won by sheer Marketing ploy and through extended exposure at daycare.

But, D is convinced that without dedicated training and effort, it will not happen. And, he cannot wait for her to be fully potty trained - he hates buying diapers, but daycare insists on disposable diapers for hygiene and convenience, naturally.

We probably will intensify the approach around Thanksgiving break when we have a few days off and can consistently remind her to go and try...

We'll see how that goes...

can't fool me, Amma

Ana likes to sit on her little potty every time we ask her about it. Or every time I need to use the toilet, she likes to follow me in and ape me.

She giggles excitedly when grabbing a long piece of toilet paper and throwing it in her little potty, which sits next to the big potty.

Then, she likes to pull the flush lever on the big potty when she is done pretending to do her business... she never has actually successfully deposited any droppings in her little potty so far.

All in good time.

What I find cute is, she now knows to pull her pants down and take off her diaper before sitting on her little potty. Hurray to elastic-waist pants. I am waiting for summer when i can let her run around in the buff so potty training will be even easier...

Of course, after declaring she is all done and jiggling the flush lever on the big potty, she wants "dye-po noudh" (diaper newdd, newdd=new in Welsh). She promptly opens the cabinet door under the sink, and throws her old diaper away clearly stating, "taash" (trash).

Perfect so far.

But, even if the diaper is quite unsoiled, and has just been put on her a few seconds before the potty visit, she wants to throw it away.

Being the penny-pinching (environmentally conscious) mom that i am, i tried to save the diaper before she threw it in the trash, in an attempt to use it again. (She does use cloth diapers on and off on weekends when we are at home...)

Anyway, so, I tried to sneak the few-seconds-old, barely-used, potentially-reusable diaper back into one of the closet shelves where we keep her diapering essentials. Well, seriously, it was bone dry, and i had just put it on her a few seconds before she decided to take it off... i wouldn't compromise hygiene, no way!

At diaper change time, I pulled out the barely-used diaper to put on her. She noticed that it was not quite brand new and started kicking up a fuss, repeating: "no, Amma, No. Ana ishio dye-po noudh" until i put on a spanking new one on her. (ishio=eisiau, Welsh for want)

Right after, she picked up the said barely-used one and took it to the diaper-trash-can and threw it in clearly stating, "Amma, ditty dye-po" (dirty diaper).

I laughed and let it go. But, made a mental note to fold and press the barely-used one next time so that it looked more like new. My mommy-brain reasoned that her main objection might have been to the fact that it was a little crumpled and didn't have the brand new look.

So, last evening, I tried the same trick again, when Ana took off her 2-second-old diaper... i folded it flat and brought it out to the changing-mat on the bed where i change her.

Of course, there is no fooling her!

Like she knew what I had been up to, Ana kicked and screamed, wouldn't let me put the barely-used one on, actually supervised me till i threw it away, and got on a brand new one!

She will be two in two months or so. And, I am trying as best as I can to encourage her to get potty trained... At this rate, we might be solely turning a profit for the diaper industry over the next few months...