Potty Training - Take 2.

Earlier this year I talked about beginning potty training with John. It was something I didn't think we'd even be considering for another year or so yet but John took the lead so we went with it. And in good spirit of taking the lead, he also took it upon himself to decide when he'd had enough. Within days of me last posting about the start of potty training, he was back in nappies full time, point blank refusing to even entertain the idea of using the potty.

So that was that. The beginning & abrupt end of potty training. Until last week, when on a whim I asked him whilst getting dressed if he wanted to wear a nappy or pants and he chose pants. That day wasn't great. He didn't want to use his potty, nor the toilet training seat, instead he just held it in until he went for his nap and then woke up soaked.

Fresh pair of pants on and later that afternoon he started telling me he needed to pee. I asked if he wanted the potty or toilet and he said toilet. I took him through, put the toilet training seat on and he said "no", so I took it off, held him on the toilet and off he went. A round of a applause, a sticker for a very happy boy, lots of praise from a very proud Mummy, and we've not looked back since!

It's been a week now and I've lost track of the amount of wet pants we've had but one thing is for sure, it's no where near as many as I thought we'd have had by now. And it's getting to be less each day. He's also done two full days at nursery in pants, as well as dry car, bus & train journeys.

Like our first potty training experience, poops are still not happening. At the moment he's doing them in his pants and I'm trying to catch him to sit him onto the toilet (which usually leads to stage fright & stopping in his tracks...) but often he'll sneak away and only tell me once he's done. If he does manage to sneak off, we'll then pop him onto the toilet anyway and tip the poop in, followed by the usual praise of, "Oh, look! A poop in the toilet!" in hope that he'll soon put two & two together and realise that's where it's meant to go. Although I'm trying not to stress about the whole poop thing as everyone I talk to says it can take a while for wee ones to master that part of potty training.

So, providing he doesn't have another change of heart, it'd appear that the first hurdle of potty training is now cleared. And honestly, it's not been as traumatic & messy as I'd always anticipated (please don't jinx it...) Here's to having only one kid in nappies!

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