Landon and I have been doing great with pottying lately! I have been really relaxed and not all that diligent with him thus far. But I'm trying to get more motivated to really make a go of this. I'm trying not to be so lazy. I've been reading Laurie Boucke's book "Infant Potty Training" which is rather textbook-like. Reading things about it keeps me motivated. The biggest thing I've gained from her book so far is a clearer understanding of intuition (she calls it psychic communication, which just sounds so... froofy, but it's really just semantics). I learned how to hone my intuition from her book: to mentally ask the baby (or myself) if he needs to go and act on my first feeling or thought. What is my reflex answer to the question? I've been using that and it helps me to feel less stressed or less conflicted about when to take him. I don't sit there thinking, "Should I take him pee? Or not? What if he doesn't have to go? What if he does?" Now I just think, "Does he have to go?" and if my reflex thought is yes, I take him and if it's no, I don't. I've also been working on taking care of his first poo in the morning. That's been quite successful! As long as I don't wallow in bed for an excessively long time, he'll wait until I get him to the potty. I've been noticing how getting that one regular poop down and responding to just that one consistent need to go has been branching out and creating more and more success. It's like, since we successfully catch that one, he gets what we're trying to do and he'll at least try to go at other times of the day when I take him. Also, if I'm late in getting him to the potty in the morning, he'll just go a little, one little squirt and then wait for me to take him to finish. If I take him to the potty from the get-go, it's all taken care of in one load.
The interesting thing the last day or two though is with peeing. He was a great pee-er when we were first working on this. He'd pee in the pot all the time. I stopped being as diligent with it at some point and now, while he poops in the potty regularly, he'd stopped peeing in the potty. Then a day or two ago, he happened to go poop and pee at one potty trip. When I made the cue sound as he peed and then cheered for him when he was done, it was like a light went on. He smiled really big and since then he's gone pee in the potty several times. It was like he suddenly understood that this was the time and place to pee as well as poop. And he is totally willing to do it. It really is amazing at how well this works. I wish I was more diligent in taking him. Got to work on that dedication.
One thing I learned from Laurie Boucke's book, too, is that to be potty trained in Western cultures is a lot harder and asks a lot more of the child and mother than it is in tribal cultures. People who live in small villages in Africa and Asia just have to take the baby outside to go and they don't have clothes and diapers to remove. And no stairs to climb. The child, when walking, just has to go outside to the edge of the living area and pick a spot. But here, you have to remove all the clothes, go to the bathroom, get on the potty, and get the clothes back on. A lot more steps and a lot more rules for how to go potty.
But, because of how things went with Alaina, I'm motivated to work on it more consistently with Landon since I can see that even a somewhat botched attempt with Alaina yielded results I'm totally happy with. Out of diapers well before 2! I'll take it! And the completion of the training was painless. Also a huge plus and step up from how things went with my first two. Alaina was doing amazing, by the way, and wasn't having any accidents for days on end. Just when I thought we were totally done with all accidents, she started regress and have accidents here and there. Mostly during nap time and now and then during the day. I think that if we just start giving her little potty treats again for a few days she'll get back on track. I think what I'm seeing is that when a child potty trains so young, but also after being in diapers for so long (what I mean is that I don't think you'd encounter this if you trained steadily from infancy and pottying in an appropriate non-diaper spot was always the norm), they need positive reinforcement for a lot longer than, say, a 3 and a half year old would. I have a hard time continually being excited and cheering for her every time she uses the potty at this point, but I think that's what she needs to make it worth it to keep going in the potty. Though, she does dislike being wet a lot more now than she did when we first nixed the diapers. The hardest part right now is in the car. It's hard to know when we should pull over for her and when she'll hold it and when she just doesn't want to be in the car seat anymore. And to be honest, it's a pain in the neck to me to pull over for a potty break. It should be simple but it's just really not. It seems to delay things eternally. Eh, well. I'm really really REALLY happy with how things have gone with her. I'm just ecstatic to see her little bum in unders and not a diaper. I love that I don't have to change a poopy butt. Landon's poopy butt is a totally different sort, and even that is rare since we make it to the potty about half the time anyway.
All in all, I LOVE infant pottying! It is SO the way to go for me!
Okay, I'll stop talking. How is it that when I intend to just write a short little paragraph, I end up writing a 5 page essay? I digress--shutting up and signing off now. Bye!
The interesting thing the last day or two though is with peeing. He was a great pee-er when we were first working on this. He'd pee in the pot all the time. I stopped being as diligent with it at some point and now, while he poops in the potty regularly, he'd stopped peeing in the potty. Then a day or two ago, he happened to go poop and pee at one potty trip. When I made the cue sound as he peed and then cheered for him when he was done, it was like a light went on. He smiled really big and since then he's gone pee in the potty several times. It was like he suddenly understood that this was the time and place to pee as well as poop. And he is totally willing to do it. It really is amazing at how well this works. I wish I was more diligent in taking him. Got to work on that dedication.
One thing I learned from Laurie Boucke's book, too, is that to be potty trained in Western cultures is a lot harder and asks a lot more of the child and mother than it is in tribal cultures. People who live in small villages in Africa and Asia just have to take the baby outside to go and they don't have clothes and diapers to remove. And no stairs to climb. The child, when walking, just has to go outside to the edge of the living area and pick a spot. But here, you have to remove all the clothes, go to the bathroom, get on the potty, and get the clothes back on. A lot more steps and a lot more rules for how to go potty.
But, because of how things went with Alaina, I'm motivated to work on it more consistently with Landon since I can see that even a somewhat botched attempt with Alaina yielded results I'm totally happy with. Out of diapers well before 2! I'll take it! And the completion of the training was painless. Also a huge plus and step up from how things went with my first two. Alaina was doing amazing, by the way, and wasn't having any accidents for days on end. Just when I thought we were totally done with all accidents, she started regress and have accidents here and there. Mostly during nap time and now and then during the day. I think that if we just start giving her little potty treats again for a few days she'll get back on track. I think what I'm seeing is that when a child potty trains so young, but also after being in diapers for so long (what I mean is that I don't think you'd encounter this if you trained steadily from infancy and pottying in an appropriate non-diaper spot was always the norm), they need positive reinforcement for a lot longer than, say, a 3 and a half year old would. I have a hard time continually being excited and cheering for her every time she uses the potty at this point, but I think that's what she needs to make it worth it to keep going in the potty. Though, she does dislike being wet a lot more now than she did when we first nixed the diapers. The hardest part right now is in the car. It's hard to know when we should pull over for her and when she'll hold it and when she just doesn't want to be in the car seat anymore. And to be honest, it's a pain in the neck to me to pull over for a potty break. It should be simple but it's just really not. It seems to delay things eternally. Eh, well. I'm really really REALLY happy with how things have gone with her. I'm just ecstatic to see her little bum in unders and not a diaper. I love that I don't have to change a poopy butt. Landon's poopy butt is a totally different sort, and even that is rare since we make it to the potty about half the time anyway.
All in all, I LOVE infant pottying! It is SO the way to go for me!
Okay, I'll stop talking. How is it that when I intend to just write a short little paragraph, I end up writing a 5 page essay? I digress--shutting up and signing off now. Bye!
