Thursday, July 9, 2009

Potty Progress


I started potty training the boys almost three weeks ago. Here's how it's going...


I started out with all three boys in underwear, but it wasn't long before I moved Zachary into Pull-ups. He just has zero interest in the potty. He also doesn't care one bit if he has an accident. I would discover a pee puddle in the floor and ask everyone, "who had an accident?" All children would respond, "not me!" so I'd go around feeling for wet underpants and it was always Zachary! he just didn't care and he didn't want to sit on the potty when everyone else did, so I have moved him to the back burner and given my attention to Jonathan and Thomas. I continue to put Zachary in Pull-ups for ease of use on the rare occasions he does want to sit on the potty, but he has yet to do anything.


Jonathan and Thomas, on the other hand, are doing great! They caught on much faster than Reagan did back when I started her! I made potty pages for the boys just like I did for Reagan and used the same reward system. It wasn't long before they were almost always doing #1 in the potty. They would have whole days with no accidents, as long as they didn't poop all day.


Pooping has been our issue. Jonathan always did his in his pants, and Thomas just wouldn't do it at all, until maybe at night in his diaper, and then he'd lose his mind needing to be changed. But we're starting to turn the corner there too as both boys have pooped in the potty in the last two days.


Overall, I have to say Jonathan and Thomas have been much easier than Reagan, but that probably has a lot to do with age since the kids just turned three. (I started Reagan back in March) It also helps that Reagan is already using the potty and almost never has an accident anymore. The boys wanted to be "big like Reagan." So cute!

Still, my potty journey isn't over yet. I still have Zachary to tackle. I don't know what I'm going to do about him yet. I tried to entice him with the option of peeing outside on a tree, but he wasn't interested in that either. Jonathan thought it was fun though! (Thanks, Jennifer!) So the Zachary chapter has yet to be written. I don't want to push him too much and make it impossibly hard on both of us. He's a pretty stubborn kid! I just keep reminding myself that nobody starts kindergarten in diapers. At least, that's what everyone keeps telling me! I'll keep you posted!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just e-mailed you a copy of an article from today's CA. I don't agree with everything in the article, but it did make me think of Z & some of it may be worth a try with him. You've done a super job with the other 3 & I know Z's time will come bf too much longer!

Love, Mom

Anonymous said...

When I had trouble with Andy I totally stepped back and made him do everything himself from pulling down the pants to getting on the potty etc. Once I was out of the picture it was literally one day. Also, maybe giving him the incentive of school starting in the fall...don't know if he's excited about that but that might work. Good luck! I don't know how you are doin git with four. I'm working on Katie and remembering how much I dislike this part....but like you said no one goes to kindergarten in diapers:)

Michele:)

Judah and Michelle said...

Those look like scrapbookable pages to me :)

Candace said...

I am potty training my 3 year old(he turned 3 in May) for about week now. He has now come around to the idea. His dr told us to just back off and he will do when he is ready(he is stubborn as well) and we did. last Sunday he came to us and said he wanted to use the potty. We are still having 1-2 accident per day but he is getting it..Good luck!