During his last week he wore only undies, even to church! I took the potty with him to his class, because it's busy in there and I didn't want the workers to have to leave the whole class every 20 minutes to take him to the restroom down the hall. They said he went twice in the hour, wahoo!! And they appreciated that I brought the potty, as I was concerned they'd think I was a nut!
Every day he progresses a little more. Most days we make it through with no accidents. About 1 out of 5 times he tells us he has to potty, otherwise we ask him about every half hour. If he has an accident, it is our fault because we forgot to ask. He has stopped holding his poo for crib time. I have to watch for signs of when he has to go to help him make it to the potty. He has gone in his undies a couple times and as soon as he goes he rubs his belly "potty". So my hope for his next steps is to tell us when he has to go and start having dry diapers at bed and nap.
When we go to stores, I have him go in the potty in the van before and after the store. A few places that have big carts, like Target and Wal-Mart, I take the potty in with us, and just stick it on the bottom. We still go to the restroom to potty, but I take it in because the potty seat that you put on big potties is a pain. He gets really distracted if he is sitting on the big potty by the flush handle, trying to touch the toilet seat, grabbing the toilet paper; all of which GROSSES ME OUT!!!!! One time I didn't have anything (because he had just went in the car and I knew we wouldn't be long in the store), well he signed "potty". GREAT! So I put toilet paper on the seat, which he kept trying to grab off, he wouldn't look at me to focus, just trying to grab everything around him, and there was a lady next to us stinkin' up the place. I was grossed out to the max! And he would not focus to go potty!!! Finally the lady in the next stall started peeing, so I told Beck "shhhhhh, listen, potty! go potty!" It worked! Thanks stinky lady!! The sound of her peeing helped him focus and go. Haha!!
So this whole potty training in public has brought up a few conversations at our house. First, like I said, I sometimes take the potty into the store with me. Would you bust out the potty right there in the aisle and let your child pee? Not in the food section!!! The other predicament I've found myself in is, what do I do with my cart full of our personal belongings (my purse and his bag) and all my merchandise (sometimes it's after I've checked out)? Do I take the cart into the bathroom and/or stall with me? Do I just grab our belongings and hope no one steals all my groceries that I've paid for? And the last one. What do you do with the pee, or more importantly poo, after he goes in his potty in the back of the van!? So if you have any opinions, either because you've done one of these things or witnessed it, or if you have successfully managed to accomplish one of these tasks in a public friendly way, please pass on your wisdom!!
As for me, I've not let him pee in the aisle, although I've been very tempted for fear of "we're all the way across the store and he needs to go potty, would I rather have to clean up an accident or have someone maybe walk by and see him peeing?" I have taken the cart into the stall with me, yes the stall, not just the restroom; once at Target in the family restroom and once at Wal-Mart in the handicap stall. People, you don't think these things through until they are happening and I don't do well under pressure of a possible embarrassing accident. And I've never had him poo in the back of the van, only pee, and I just dump it under the car. I still don't know what I'd do if he pooed. Bag it??
I take Tenley sitting in the cart (in her grocery cart cover) all into the handicap stall with me at the grocery store, and that's just for me to pee! Sure, I do it at the beginning when I have no merchandise, but when a pregnant lady has to pee, she has to pee. I do it because I am totally grossed out too, so I don't want to hold her or sit her down and risk her touching anything in there. I'd do the same thing if I was potty training her!
ReplyDeleteI have always had them use the toilets in the stores. They pee forward like boys and I just hold them up to shoot. I started this very early as I got tired of emptying the little potty. Since I hold them up, when they were too little to stand that is, they don't touch anything. For pooping we have a potty that sits on the big potty. For a long while if we didn't have the elmo potty out in public Easton would not go. I think it is so much better than a potty seat to take in because it is flat like a minature toilet seat and I just wipe it off with a sanitizing wipe when he is done. It can even fit in my bag if I have a big one. That being said, since I don't carry a potty with me in the stores we don't go in the aisle. It is called trucking it as fast as you can to the bathroom. I leave the cart outside with my stuff, just not my purse. If I have paid for it I take the stuff in with me. I have never had to take a big load in though. I usually have them go before I pay if I know we need to go before I leave. I did have a little potty in the car for awhile for emergencies, but we don't now. Also, I never used it if a bathroom in a store was around because I hate cleaning that thing. The one time we had to was at a park and I had a plastic bag with me I dumped it in and we went straight home. It is so great that he is doing this well and is pretty much there, but since the boys were older they seemed to have a lot of control once they got it and could go a long time. If I had them go before we left they would be good for a couple of hours. This helped me to not deal with this too much except the very beginning of potty training. Maybe some of this helped and he just keeps getting better and better. Or you may still be grossed out by the bathrooms and want to avoid them. I would try the shooting thing though. Get a step stool and practice at home. That is the easiest with boys because then when they are with dad they want to go with him.
ReplyDeleteI wondered when the peeing standing up started?! Good to know! We'll try it out!
ReplyDeleteI never used a little potty with Zion, he was PTed before 2 and because he was so little and I was so grossed out with him sitting on the potty I started having him stand on the toilet seat... shoes and all!! I would just take his pants and undies off, leave his shoes on and hold onto him as he stood there, no aiming required, so no touching anything yucky!
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