Last November, our Little Lovebug went full throttle into the potty for his first time. He has gone several times since, however, nothing consistent. It is now February. Stuck inside after a blizzard for 2 straight days, I figured it's time to kick this potty training into high gear!!!
Especially, since 1. He's 2 and a half, 2. We are enrolled in nursery starting in September (no diapers allowed!), 3. His obsession with only wearing Elmo diapers is a little weird, I mean like really, he ONLY wants Elmo diapers (not the other characters that come in the pack: Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Ernie or Grover.) 4. Diapers? Ain't cheap! 'nuff said!
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| Little Lovebug is absolutely obsessed with these diapers that have Elmo as the main focus. He blatantly refuses to wear any other diaper!!! Which is just ridiculous and totally impractical, so most times we have to change his diaper with him screaming that he wants this diaper! |
Up to now, we've been attempting the potty a bit irregular - a tinkle here, a wee-wee there. We have used an Elmo Potty Training chart, which (again, has been a bit irregular, mainly because of it's shoddy manufacturing - it's small and the stickers keep falling off!)
We got this potty from my Aunt, and I like the fact that the top comes off and attaches to our regular toilet. The bad thing is the plastic leaves a nasty imprint on his behind and when he tinkles, it doesn't really go down into the potty...
Whenever we try to use the potty, we read these following books:
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| I remember this from my childhood! Although back then, they had one generic character! |
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| Yes, Little Lovebug has a slight fixation with the furry, red monster! |
I placed a large order from Kohls a few weeks ago, and since I had a 30% off coupon (yea!!!,) we bought our Little Lovebug a 7 pack of underwear from the Disney Pixar Films (Cars, Toy Story, The Incredibles, Wall-E and Finding Nemo.)
So, we seem to be all set! The following is our wee-wee log:
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2013
Woke up at 7:00am - changed diaper
8:30am - changed diaper again! Had enough of this, so put on a pair of Toy Story underwear instead!
8:35am - Momma kicks into potty training mode - brought potty down to living room for easier access, along with potty books. Put on Elmo's Potty Training DVD for the first time (thanks to a Christmas gift from Mum!)
8:45am - Big Daddy Lovebug comes down the stairs and rolls his eyes at how ambitious I am about having our son "diaper-free" for the day! Concerned about couch.
I continually asked Little Lovebug if he had gone to the potty.(Like excessively, every 2-3 minutes!!!)
9:15am - Agggg! I figured if we started at 8:30, then at 9:30 we'd try on the potty. Obviously, we didn't make it that long and at 9:15 I found myself wishing I bought more Swiffer wipes... :) Moved onto underwear from Cars.
An issue I'm having is teaching Little Lovebug a phrase to say when he needs to go. His speech formation makes it difficult for him to say the "P" sound, so "PeePee" or "Potty" just ends up sounding like "eeeee" (which could be anything from "Mickey" to "Ernie" to our dog, "Elphie," basically any word that has the long e sound at the end of the word. We're trying "Uh-oh, gotta go" while grabbing our crotch, but "Uh-oh" can mean so many things also!
9:50am - Ok, is this kid kidding me? I mean, it's like a half an hour since he went and he still has a full bladder! I mean, it's not even a tinkle! Of course, he went a little on the couch...I just said to Big Daddy Lovebug that it's not even an hour and a half yet and I quit! Of course I was joking, but boy, oh, boy diapers never seemed so practical! Oh, and by the way, we're now watching Elmo's Potty Time for the 3rd time...
Due to playing in our living room fort, playing in the snow and nap time, we resorted to Little Lovebug being in diapers for the next few hours. Then came our "snapping moment:"
5:30pm - Little Lovebug decided that he'd rather take his little potty upstairs again and put it over our regular toilet. He sat and sat and sat, but to no avail. He really wanted to wear his Finding Nemo underwear, but I refused to change him out of his Cars underwear until he went on the potty. He insists that he's done, he's had enough and we go downstairs to have dinner. Not ever kidding - 2 minutes into dinner we hear an unmistakable "splash" on our kitchen tile. We were so mad!!! Not at his accident of course, but at how he obviously had a full bladder, but instead of going in the potty he went our our floor. Half of me even thinks he manipulated us into putting on his Finding Nemo underwear. My argument remained that he's such a smart boy and it's not like he's gone before! Great! Momma Lovebug of the year, right here! *Cries in a corner*
The rest of the day went similarly to that, changing Little Lovebug back into his diaper around 7:30 for nighttime.
9:00pm - While on Pinterest looking for Potty Training tips and ideas, I came across an article that basically called me an idiot from going right from diapers to underwear. So I ordered a case of Pull-Ups from Amazon.com...I mean, I was going to need diapers soon anyway, right?
Day 1: zero pottytimes :(
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013
Woke up at 8:00am - changed diaper
Today was a little more lenient than the day before...chilling in bed all morning, playing in the snow, ridiculously long nap...but then, right before bath time...it happened...
7:15pm - Eating Chinese food (duh - it's Chinese New Year!!!) while watching Toy Story, Little Lovebug starts grunting and groaning. We know it's time, but when we ask if he wants to try to go on the potty - he screams and screams: NOOOOO!!!! Ehhh...he's interrupting dinner, anyway I say...but, as when I go to change his diaper, I realize he hasn't actually gone yet. So, Big Daddy Lovebug and I force (yes, I said force) him onto his potty, while he's screaming and tensing up and pushing and turning red as a tomato. Eventually, his screaming subsides, and he once again become distracted by Toy Story on the television. To quote Once Upon a Potty: "He sat and sat and sat and sat and sat and sat..." for a good half an hour (poor baby) and when he got up he had done both pee-pee and poo-poo in the potty!!! Or Number 1 and 2, or tinkle and doodie...whatever you call it - he did it!!! My heart is swelling with unbelievable pride! You'd think this child won the noble peace prize the way we carried on...And this may be excessively gross, but the size of it? You'd think a fully grown adult male had gone in this tiny potty!!! Nevertheless, we carried it upstairs all the while gagging at the smell and the idea that one of us had to clean this now...dumped it into the regular toilet with a huge PLOP and waved "bye-bye" to it as Little Lovebug flushed it down. Happy Little Lovebug. Check. Flush, Wipe and Wiped Hands. Check. Stickers on Potty Chart. You better believe it - check. Ecstatic parents. *Passes out from excitement*
Day 2: one pottytime :)
So there you have it. Persistence. Frustration. Slacking. Persistence again. Such is a tale of Little Lovebug's potty adventures.
To be continued...