DD "asked" for potty and used it for wee and poo this morning!!!

[JammyQueenOfTheSewers]

DD, aged almost 23 months, doesn't say very much yet. I think she's showing some of the "signs" of being ready for the potty (going longer with a dry nappy, being aware of when she is pooing) but I haven't really thought about potty training just yet, partly because of the lack of speech. She understands a lot and can carry out simple instructions but doesn't really say much (other than babble) so I wasn't sure she'd be able to tell me when she wanted to go IYSWIM.

But this morning she tugged at her trousers and fetched the potty (we have had it sitting around the living room since January for familiarisation really). So I took her trousers and nappy off and sat her on it and she did a wee and a poo!! We praised her lots and she seemed pretty happy.

Not sure what to do next though. Should I start potty training a bit sooner than I'd expected, or leave it a little longer still?

If I were you I would let her lead for a while and see if she starts to ask more often to sit on the potty.

I started potty training my 2.2 dd last week and did the whole put her in knickers and sit her every 20mins on potty and it was a bloody nightmare! She would run off evey time I asked her to sit on potty so after 3 days stopped altogether, put her back in nappies and kept the potties around. Now she tells me that she needs to do a wee or poo and undresses herself and sits down to do her business...result!!

Waiting till she does it more often then will put her in pull ups.

Sounds like you are nearly there with your dd as she had made the connection with potty.

How about starting with increasing the number of times she sits on the potty during the day, but still using nappies in between. You could introduce hand washing too. Start when she gets up first thing as part of the washing/dressing/breakfast routine, and after meals, before bath, before getting into bed. She can still ask you for the potty at other times. When you are getting a fair number of successful potty uses, you could just go for it with no nappies. You may only need to do this for a few weeks if DD starts asking all the time and keeping her nappy clean.

It's obvious that your DD knows what her potty is for, but sometimes it is less disheartening if you start gently, with nappies as back-up, until you know that she is happy with the potty. Sometimes the novelty wears off after a few days and they go off the idea! It must be a bit overwhelming for a child who hasn't been used to a potty from babyhood to have to cope with a potty and just pants all at once. One minute you are happy for them to eliminate into nappies, and suddenly they have to sit on a hard plastic thing and put up with wee running down their legs when they don't get to it in time. My DS' nursery used the gentle approach before they intensively trained, and it pretty much worked with all the children.

Regarding the speech, I think tugging at her trousers is pretty good as an indicator, some pat their nappy, and some learn to sign with their hands before they speak. chances are she'll suddenly pick up a few words soon, saying potpot or potty loudly to you is enough, and easily understood by anyone else who needs to help her. Good luck!

Thanks.

She tugged at her trousers again this afternoon, but that time after she had had a wee. But I think we are close to being ready. However things have been taken out of my control a little, as I have been asked to go away for work next week (I only work 2 days usually) so it seems madness to think about trying when I'm not even going to be here.