My son A has just turned three and has been potty trained for around three months.
He had three very minor accidents and the whole process has been a doddle - ish. Considering I had no clue where to start, it was nowhere near as hard as I thought it would be and for me, leaving it later worked wonders.
Firstly, I'll tell you I'm not one for studying books, especially on parenting. I'll Google for blogs and forums but mostly just wing it and go with the flow. Nothing ever truly goes to plan - does it? I joked that I would leave A until he was old enough to potty train himself and I guess in a way, I did.
I first got him a potty when he was around 18 months old. He would sit and do a wee, we'd all clap, put his nappy back on and off we went. All a bit pointless I thought. It was too early to properly train so the potty just hung around in the bathroom until after he was Two when he would wee on it every night before bed but we didn't attempt anything more or push it too much.
I then became pregnant with his sister, baby S. With a new baby coming along, everyone informed me that it would be the worst time to potty train and that he would regress when she came along and make it harder work. The thought of a screaming newborn combined with toddler wee everywhere (or worse) was enough to put me off.
I felt a bit panicked though - a few months after I was due to have baby S, A would turn three and that's old to wear nappies, isn't it? I've no idea really, as the only people that really discuss it are those that like to show off how early they did it and everyone else just seems a little ashamed, though I have no idea why! I guess its another one of those competitive mum things. In reality all kids and Mums are different and you just need to do what is right for you and not care what people do or think, something I have become very good at.
We tried to get pants on him a couple of times and we had the world war 3 of tantrums so I abandoned it, despite about a year of making him wear cool pants over his nappy. We kept the nappies, I had a stress free pregnancy and everyone was happy. Hoorah!
That was until baby S came along and Bean had the mother of all growth spurts going from a 4+ nappy to a 6+ in a matter of weeks, if not days! I began to panic, if he grew anymore what would we do!? To save the poor boy a fate of starting school sporting Tena lady pads, I thought we had best get things moving and so we went pant shopping again. He was not happy pant shopping. I forced him in a pair the next day, he forced out a wee and insisted I took them off. Baby was crying, the house was a mess, the dog stuck up a tree (or something like that), so back in the nappies we went. As a wise woman once said, 'Ain't nobody got time fo' dat'.
I couldn't face cleaning up toilet mess whilst keeping him busy and looking after the baby.
With the Tena lady pads on stand by, I went into A's room one Monday morning and he announced that he was now a big boy and would be wearing pants that day. Whatttt!? I went with his lead and off we went to playgroup, wearing pants (me and him) and jeans armed with lots of spares. I resisted temptation and left the nappies at home.
Playing too hard meant he had two tiny accidents, but still stopped himself before full flooding occurred. Brilliant!
The second day was a sensory play group and just one tiny accident again.
The second day was a sensory play group and just one tiny accident again.
Day three was preschool and they were happy to carry on asking him if he needed to go and when I collected him he'd had no accidents and used the mini toilets three times on his own. Proud!
Arriving home however, A was busy having his lunch when he announced that "uh oh" he had forgotten he had pants on and he had done both a '1' and a '2' and then sat in it all. One of those lovely mummy moments.
I changed him quickly and my god, how can anything so cute smell so bad! It was everywhere. I have a weak stomach. Bleh.
That was his last accident though and he is now just a keen pants wearer! He's even a bit obsessed and has a list of pants he now wants, Spider man, angry pants, furry pants etc etc.
We are yet to brave night time but I have no doubt he would be absolutely fine now, but as his sister is mid growth spurt/teething/something clingy, we will do that once we are getting some sleep again as I'm sure he will wake us to let us know when he has been, regularly!
