Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Potty Talk

For the first time in 8 years of parenting we are preparing ourselves for having 2 in diapers at the same time.  Tyler will be 21 months old when Little Miss arrives at the end of September.  If memory serves me right, neither Dale or Alan were trained by that age.

However... while I am not getting my hopes up, I am keeping in mind that every kid is different and Tyler is his own self.  He has pushed himself to be like and with his brothers in every possible way.  Could I be so lucky as to have potty training fit that pattern also?

Just to hedge my bets, I have been letting him observe his brothers (especially Alan) at business time.  This has actually served two purposes.  I have found myself in a dilemma for months as Tyler has been drawn to the potty as a play thing.  We have resorted to keeping the bathroom door shut most of the time, but I admit there has been a time or two (ahem) we have caught him elbow deep in (clean) potty water, or emerging from the bathroom with toilet cleaning implements.  Ew.  While he has received firm no's and swats for this, I haven't wanted to make the potty a strictly off limits thing.  The logical thing was to teach what it is for.  (And it is not for playing, Mr.)  The easiest way to teach its purpose was to allow demonstrations!

I love seeing how quickly a toddler mind learns and this potty exposure has been no exception.  Recently Tyler stood up in his bath.  Before I could tell him to sit, a look passed over his face like he was about to say something, and both of our attention was diverted by a little stream of ... not water.  As I enthusiastically told him what he had made he grinned and pointed to the toilet saying, "potty!"

I'm not putting up diapers and getting out undies just yet, but it feels good to at least be moving in that direction at 17 months.  And who knows?  Maybe we will get lucky and make it before baby comes!  I'd even settle for Tyler's 2nd birthday. :)

At what age(s) have your little ones mastered all things potty?  Come on now... give me some low numbers!

2 comments:

Karen said...

My girls have all defied the "girls are easier" truism. Not one of them has been trained before two years old and some were (ahem)considerably older before they were...reliable about it.

I'm really hoping Miss Lili is a prodigy in this area! ;)

Michelle said...

Rachel: completely by 19 months (totally on her own...just didn't give her the pullup one day and she never had an accident. Nighttime took a bit longer, like by 23 mos)

Lauren: 2 (but not night time until she was nearly 7...just slept too hard to wake up)

Emilee: girlfriend was 2.5 and she STILL (at 5.5) wears pull ups because when she finally crashes, nothing wakes her up.

My thought is we won't send them to college in pull-ups...I hope!