We had a little potty (thanks Tara) for sometime and put it in the kid’s bathroom. Anytime Julia, Charles or I used that bathroom, he would come too and sit on his potty and exclaim his activities “poop, pee, fart.” This went on for months and still Logan seemed to not care if he was wet or poopy. However, we figured his overall interest wouldn’t hurt. We made a decision not to push potty training until much later because we didn’t have any artificial deadlines. We wanted, most importantly, to wait until he noticed or cared that his diaper was poopy or wet and wait until Wyatt was a little older. As he got more interested we decided to get a different kind of a potty (a seat that attaches to our toilet) so that we didn’t have to clean a little potty (not up Charles’ or my alley). He loved it and asked to sit on it once in early January. I think he even peed once and thought it was the coolest sound but never brought it up again. About 4.5 weeks ago, when logan was 25 months old, he started being very communicative about poop. He would poop (it’s always easy to spot when it is happening) and then he would exclaim “I pooped, change diaper” and grab a toy and head into his room for us to change his diaper. About two weeks after that, one morning he said to Julia “I have to poop.” Julia, very smartly said “Would you like to poop on the potty?” and logan said “yes.” They went into the bathroom and Logan pooped on the potty.
Success! I had told logan that if he pooped on the potty he could have a prize so he got a train named “Caitlin” from the Thomas the train set. He was elated. He then continued to poop and pee on the potty regularly and even have dry diapers between trips. We got a sticker system and a chart and hung it in the bathroom. When he gets 35 stickers, he gets a prize. He has already got 2 prizes and is 20 stickers toward his next. At first, the system was 1 sticker for a try/poop/or pee. This worked okay, but after about a week, he started peeing in his diaper again. Poop he always tries for the toilet, but twice in 2.5 weeks he had a tiny bit get out before he could get to the potty. So when he was peeing in his diaper a lot we added a second opportunity for a sticker if he went to t. he bathroom and his diaper was dry. We have been a tiny loose on this because we count “dry” as a tiny dribble before he realizes he has to pee. For now, if he makes the effort to stop, hold it in, find a potty, and do it there, I think that deserves a sticker.
Although most potty training advice is to ask them often if they have to go, this was a real turn off for logan (causing the pee backslide we think). He is always good about telling us, so we don’t ask. Though sometimes he will just randomly mention it amongst other things, so we have to be extra good listeners. We have integrated using the potty into the naptime and bedtime rituals, and he doesn’t protest. He is even great about public bathrooms or other house and as used the potty out of the house at least 10 times! He even does great with big adult sized toilets. He does love his step stool/seat at home, especially the attached step stool that he likes to slam up and down (noisy things are the best).
I am not sure exactly where it will go from here. For now, he is still in normal diapers. He didn’t like the two sample pull ups we had (they didn’t come up far enough on the bum to feel like his normal diaper and he thought they were falling down constantly). He doesn’t really know about underwear as an option, so I think we won’t upsell that until he seems really close. Since he doesn’t seem to need the motivation, we are going to enjoy the lack of messy accidents!
The interesting part about this is that with a small baby, it isn’t the ideal time to be potty training, but it seems to be going well. It leads to some more interesting situations, like I’ll be in the middle of nursing and he’ll announce he has to poop, or I’ll have wyatt in a front pack and it is hard to help in a public bathroom like that. Overall we are making it work and I hope it continues. Hope Wyatt potty trains himself too because I feel like we have no idea what we are doing and just enjoying that logan does!!
