Anyone else about to embark on the longest week of their lives? (ie. potty training the reluctant)

[BettySpaghetti]

A while ago I decided half term was going to be potty/toilet training DS week. That way I don't have to worry about the school runs, activities we go to etc.

I had visions of sticking him in the garden in pants with a potty nearby and Hey Presto!

Slight problem (or two):

1. weather forecast looks as if its going to rain all week
2. DS (2.11) is reluctant (to put it mildy) to sit on the toilet or potty.
3. DS says it feels nice having a poo in your pants
4. at the end of day 1 I'm exhausted

Anyone out there going through the same this week?

Its going to be a long old week.........

i feel for you betty - my ds will be 3 in aug.he is so frustrating as although he will go to the loo for a wee standing up will flush the loo and wash his hands himself - and he even had a dry night last month when i forgot to put nappy on him.

conversely he also peed all over his train track (wooden) today and wet our bed last week. He refuses to poo on potty and is so unpredictable i feel unsafe taking him out without training pnts on so.... i am constantly 1 step forward 2 steps back ... just keep telling yourself -'he won't leave home wearing nappies' sometime btwn now and 19 they will get the hang of it!!! I have a 1 yo daughter so am reallly looking forward to one less bum to change - stay strong

thank you for those words of encouragement bigmouth (sorry, do you mind being aclled that?)

My DD is 7 now and she was a doddle to train, much earlier too. Or maybe I have my rose tinted specs on....

Yep, potty training here too. Dd2 sits on the potty, does nothing, walks off and floods the floor . And her bladder seems to hold so MUCH

And yes bummer about the weather. Had some success (she almost got to the toilet before wetting the floor this afternoon, which I will count just about). And did get some in the potty too.

Worried like mad about poo though, she suffers with constipation, is on laxatives and hasn't been since Friday, I am worried she will use this as an excuse to hold on again.

Hey ho.

Welcome Zoe!

The poo is a worry isn't it. Luckily the one success we had today was with a poo (phew!). The accidents we had were all wees but as I've got him in pants and trousers the clothes soaked up most of it.

We've also taken up the rugs in the living room for a while so we just have varnished floorboards to deal with -a lot easier to clean after mishaps.

It helps to know there are others spending the week mumbling the "Do you need the potty?" mantra every 5 mins!

don't mind being called bigmouth - - i would love a fastforward button for pottytraining - just so i can get past the smelly annoying bit and et straight to pants and dry mattresses ain't gonna happen so am resigned to slight smell of wee ...

.....not to mention the stench of poo throughout the house!

I don't know if this is what you really wnat to hear but i'll be brave and say it anyway and then go and hide.....

Maybe you might be better just forgetting it for a while. It sounds as though it's going to be no pleasure or fun for either of you and could just make you both fractious etc so maybe just drop it for a while, completely, and try again next month or in the summer holidays.
I feel that i can say this with a bit of authority (not really the right word but couldn't think what was better) as my son was very late in getting out of nappies but once i finally relaxed about it and told myself that as long as he was sorted by the time he went to school it was okay, then the balance of power changed and when we did eventually try again, he cracked it in one day.

My dd has been completely different and was out of nappies much much younger that DS but I guess that's one of the main differences between the sexes - the males are lazy
(Sorry Zoec, that doesn't fit with your situation huh?)

mckenzie -don't feel you have to run and hide.

What you've said has crossed my mind (about an hour after we started TBH )but I feel I need to give it more than a day. I'm going to try not to stress about it though.

Its just that this week is a prime time to try because we can be home based for most of it.

Honestly, I agree with mcKenzie!, I spend a year trying to potty train ds1 who blatantly couldn't be arsed! ( no pun intended!) I was so harrowed by the experience that I left ds2 till he was well over 3 and he got it very quickly!

Zoe speaks sense - at least be mentally prepared for things to take longer - although I have pinned my hopes on ds being pretty much trained by the time he starts plygrp in september - it is all up to him of course. I really hope dd is easier - she does try to wipe herself already so signs are good[blind optimist emoticon]

Me me !!
We started PT on Sat, our 2nd try. Our dd is 2.8y old and I'm 36 weeks pg ! The first 2 days were not too bad, plenty in the potty despite a few accidents. But today she seems to have regressed, pees all over the floor with the potty sitting inches away from her, arrrgh. We went swimming yesterday, she wet her pants while queueing and pooed in the water, a nightmare. It's going to be a loooong week...

on the plus side she's happy enough to sit on the potty when we ask her, she just won't go by herself when she needs to.

mcKenzie, I hate to split hairs, but the reason boys are later to potty train is not laziness, it's a physical difference. Their urethra is different, and they find potty training more difficult. So it's not laziness, he is trying, it's just harder for him.

ooh, and one poo in the potty this morning

I though DD2 was ready about a month ago so had a go and like you, sat on the toilet after having a dribble, didn't do anything, got off toilet and wet the floor. After a couple of days I just gave up and realised she wasn't ready. I'm biding my time until I think she's ready again. Perhaps when DD1 goes to school in September and i've got all day and no distractions.

Well I know some methods say stay at home for the first week but as today is the only dry day forecast for the forseeable future we went out for a walk in the woods and braved a cafe afterwards.

I figured that any accidents outdoors wouldn't be a disaster and it also gave DS the chance for his first Al Fresco wee, which he loved ! Given half a chance I think he'd quite like to do all his wees outside

Not doing too badly today -I think getting out has made it less frustrating so far. Nap-time now so I can relax for an hour.

Colditz - thanks for that info. I'll give my DS the benefit of the doubt then although i still think he's a lazy so and so .

Glad to hear your news BettySpaghetti. Hope things keep getting better and better.

I take your point about waiting completely, it was precisely what I was going to do but dd2 has been taking her nappy off and sitting on the toilet at regular intervals (not actually doing anything though) that I feel I should give her a go if she wants to.

She seems keen, has a tendency to forget and not quite make it on time, but today she did a POO in the POTTY

Will keep going, she is just a bit skitty but I couldn't deny she seemed to want to try, bless her. She is 2 years 2.5 months (which is why I wasn't going to do this until summer) - will see how it goes.

I have been toilet training ds for exactly 2 weeks now.

He didn't like the potty so we've gone straight for the toilet (except for poos unfortunately). He has had about 3 accidents and was asking to go the toilet without prompting after just one week.

The reason it's been pretty successful imo is because he is older - he is 3.3

Still need to work on the poos though!

Good luck everyone!

Can i join too? posted a thread a few weeks back cause my ds1 just didnt seem ready(he's 2.7) but all of a sudden last week he seemed suddenly quite happy to go on the potty! So in theory he's dry but i think its because of my constant encouragement to go on the potty - left to his own devices he'd quite happily wee on the floor! i was even dreaming the other night that the only word i could say was "potty"!!!
But i'm still happy that he's further on than he was a month ago - wish i could fast forward a few months and stop having so much washing!

welcome canella. I too dreamt about toilets and potties for about 3 nights when DD was first out of nappies. Hope your DS continues to enjoy the potty

lol at dreamimg about "potty"

I think I might be dreaming about wet clothes and washing machines tonight.

Its not all down to accidents though, DS just needs to master sitting on the potty/toilet seat with his willy pointing down and not resting on the brim of potty/seat so he soaks everything.

(Oh, and he needs to get to the potty before hes "touching cloth" )

been there and done that bettyspahhetti! Even now though if DS sits to do both at once I have to say "don't forget to push your willy down"
DS, bless him, has a little willy and it was actually quite difficult for him to push it down so he went pretty much straight to the standing position.
He said he "felt more like Daddy" that way too

Well we've made some progress here. She still won't sit before it starts pouring down but at least once she's realised she's peeing she rushes to the potty. Most of it ends up in the potty. I'm trying to stay positive but feeling a bit down already I have to say. I'm looking forward to this afternoon, she's going to nursery, I'll have a few hours to myself to think about other things than PT.
How's it going today so far?

Today dd2 asked to go back into nappies, so back to my original plan of the summer holidays hopefully. She is not one to be persuaded, and I only tried because she kept taking her nappy off to sit on the toilet, so I will wait until she wants to try again.