Adventures in Potty Training!

My baby is growing up. It is bittersweet...We are starting to get rid of the baby things like sippy cups (yeah!), she's been in a toddler bed for about a year (hooray!), she sits in a booster seat at the dinner table (for over a year now!) She is quite the talker, and says LOTS of words that crack me up, which I talk about in this post. She has learned her colors in the past few months, and she is starting to count to 10 pretty well too!  Within the past month, we've been working on POTTY training! Or "teaching"-- as this blog likes to call it- which I like, and her approach to potty teaching. We had tried potty training a few months ago, and I decided she wasn't ready yet. We gave it up, waited a few months and tried again...

Here are some pics of our recent "work":

Using the potty seat while writing on the chalkboard wall and using magnets!

Reading one of the "Pookie" books by Sandra Boynton...

I've tried several approaches to potty training, since this is my 4th child. I've bought several books. For my first child, this book is the one I used...

Toilet Training in Less Than A Day, by Nathan Azrin and Richard Foxx. It was a very concentrated, stay-at-home and feed the child lots of fluids approach. There were pros and cons to this book, and it really didn't work well with my stubborn 3 year old son. He was the toughest one. My cousin had recommended this book to me, but she didn't have any boys! (I also loaned this book to a friend & never got it back...) So back to the bookstore...

Toilet Training without Tears by Charles E. Schaefer and Theresa Foy DiGeronimo has a more relaxed approach, and tips on how to train a resistant child-- which described my boy well! They had a good list of clues that show when your child is ready for toilet training. They also talked about figuring out when your child urinates and try to use the toilet with them near then. (That's ok if you have one or two children, but really?!) There are even helpful charts in the book! There were some good things that I did enjoy about this book and I did find it helpful overall.

Potty Training 1-2-3 by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam was another book that I've used and liked, since I enjoyed and implemented their child-rearing approach. They talked about different approaches to potty training and benefits/ negatives about each one. I appreciated that a lot in this book. (They even discussed Toilet Training In Less Than A Day!)  The authors recommend getting your child into an activity- a puzzle, book, etc., to get them relaxed enough to go (elimination, they discussed here mainly). I know my children trained for urination and elimination at the same time. Actually, I think it was easier for me to tell when they were pooping, I could see the signs- face working, stopping what they're doing, and grunting. Oftentimes, I never knew when they peed! They discuss the use of a doll to teach the child what they need to do, which was also talked about in Toilet Training in Less than A Day. This is a great book for a first-time trainer, and also has lots of good tips and ideas.


This time I was at the library and happened to see this book...

Mommy! I Have to Go Potty! by Jan Faull, Helen F. Neville...So I checked it out. I liked it because it had a relaxed but consistent approach (I returned it already though...). The authors recommended having your child sit on the toilet every day even if they choose to wear diapers, just to be consistent about trying to learn using the toilet. I liked this idea rather than going off and on the potty train. 

A friend had also recommended to me that the Farmer's Almanac lists the best days in each month when it will be good to toilet train! I thought this was interesting, and found the information online here. I thought it was a little odd, but thought it couldn't hurt! The first day in July that we tried it was on "their" schedule (July 13) and my daughter was quite agreeable! Hmm... maybe there is something to it! We kept on, and she fell into her normal two-year-old independent stage quickly! We are STILL working on it, I hope she begins to be more independent about it soon. She does well once we get her there in time...

Here is my conclusion: Even if my daughter is not very consistent at hitting the toilet on her own every time, it is ok for me to get her there. She still will pee for me on the toilet almost every time we set her there. I think that is good, and I am ok with helping her for a while until she gets it on her own. I liked mothermode's idea (see link above) not to punish the child for accidents, which is also in the book above. When she misses, we tell her "Bummer, I bet you'll make it next time." We'll keep on trying, and I may update you again in another month or so. (This is just for day-time training, my older kids didn't stay dry at night until age 4-5, for the girls.)

Here is my SIL's approach that she used with her daughter recently:
http://snapshots-morgan.blogspot.com/2011/01/operation-potty-pro.html

What ideas or things have you tried about potty training your child? Any ideas to help?