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Wednesday, January 30, 2008

OK, I seriously need some mommy help

I'm at my wits end. I've been trying to potty train Joseph for WEEKS. I will never understand how some moms can get it done in a weekend. I've been doing the take him to potty after certain intervals of time thing, but have come to realize that all that has done is potty train ME to take him.. he has regular accidents and never initiates going. I started potty training him because he actually told me one fateful evening "I need to go poopy." I haven't heard that sentence or anything of the like since.
I've been using Pull-ups (which I've been told is a no-no by some moms, but it was necessary when I was working) and decided today that maybe he wouldn't be so comfortable with accidents if he was wearing big boy pants (undies). Not so. He had 2 back to back accidents in 30 minutes. I'm just about ready to throw in the towel and put him back in diapers. So, PLEASE, if you have any advice that would help, please don't hesitate to share.
Everyone keeps telling me that boys are harder, but this is ridiculous.

Thanks in advance!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Arent' you moving back to Logan this week? If so, wait until you are settled. Once you are settled what I did with all of my boys is bribe them. I bought some m&m's and put them in a clear jar where they could see them but couldn't reach them. At first if they wanted an m&m they had to sit on the potty, after a day or so they actually had to produce something to get one. I gave them one for pee and 2 or 3 for poopies. Do not give him one unless he does uses the potty. Also, don't go back and forth between undies and diapers or pull ups. Once you commit there's no turning back. It confuses them and lets them know that they don't have to go potty in the toilet because if they don't you'll just give them a diaper. Good luck, Julie, I know what a pain it is. Call me if you want to talk about it!
Sandra

Julie said...

Thanks so much! It's so nice to have an experienced mom (with boys!) around! I think I am going to take it easy until we're settled in Logan.. I just want to get this overwith! Something about the fact that he's in Sunbeams now is really pushing me to get it done.

Anonymous said...

I forgot to mention that I trained all my boys to sit every time they use the bathroom so the cheerio trick wouldn't have worked for us. I like that when they're sitting there is way less chance of any splashing or missing the toilet bowl which equals way less pee all over my bathroom. They still almost all sit when they use the bathroom, Sam's the only one that stands every time and he's got good aim. More than you wanted to know but I have sisters and sisters in law that have purely nasty bathrooms from boys with bad aim.
Sandra

Julie said...

Sandra, you're hilarious! :)

Yeah, I've been doing the sitting down training from the beginning for that very reason. Cleaning pee is on the most disgusting list for me (I'd rather deal with throw up).
I've told Steve that he's in charge of teaching him to pee standing up once we've got him actually potty trained.

Robert & Heather Stephenson said...

How old is Joseph? Boys are definetly harder than girls. I potty trained Ellie in about two weeks and only one accident. Micah on the other hand, even after we had him trained to go potty, it was still about 4 months before he didn't have anymore pooping accidents. Definetly wait until you are moved and settled in Logan, then we'll talk.

Julie said...

Joe turned 3 at the end of November.. I wanted to start way earlier, but with a new baby, a big move, another move, mommy going to work, mommy quitting her job and another move, I thought it would be just a little too much for him.. :) So, we've been practicing sitting on the potty since Christmas, and he does awesome at that, just has no motivation to actually initiate the process. The day after the underwear day he wanted nothing to do with it, but is much better now about.. his new thing is walking up to me and putting his back to me and sticking out his butt (sometimes holding on to the wall like I'm going to frisk him) and saying "I have poopies." (it kind of makes me giggle..) So, we're progressing. But, yeah, I'm not going to go fast and furious until we're settled, I decided. Unforunately, this is another temporary move until the summer, when we're able to sell our house in San Antonio and find a permanent place for us in Logan. We're so sick of all of this shuffling around!

Rosanna said...

I just have to say we are in the middle of a very successful potty training effort with Simon and we use the Potty Watch (available at Kid-to-Kid stores for $10) and we also invested in the Peter Potty, because he had no interest at all. To make a long story short, Simon loves the Peter Potty (it's a mini urinal) and he uses the potty every time the watch sings a song to remind him. So far he's only had a coupld accidents in about a week.

Julie said...

OK.. cool! I'll have to look into the watch - it sounds like just the kind of thing that would get Joseph motivated.

By the way, I tried calling you last week, but had problems with your phone number (kept telling me to dial a 1 or 0), so please give me a call this week and we'll definitely get together! We're moving Saturday morning, and I've got most of the cleaning, nonessential packing done, so we should be open for a playdate before the big move. :)