When we first met Emily, we were told she was potty trained (even though they kept her in diapers). Which was great...except she wasn't. She had wet diapers on at least two of our visits and a...uh, stinky...diaper on another occasion. ;) But we were told she knew how to wait to go on the toilet (or the pots that they use for the little ones in Ukraine).
As soon as she was ours, we started in on potty training and we put her on the toilet just like the big kids. She did know what it was for, and would usually go to the bathroom in the toilet--but also in her pullup. And she wouldn't tell us when she needed to go, so if we didn't take her regularly we were guaranteed a soggy pullup. Thankfully, she's only had two actually dirty diapers since coming home and those were both within the first two weeks of being home. She has been asking to go to the bathroom when she needs to poop so that's been great. But really, we would love to get her out of the pullups.
I've tried using training underwear and also plastic-covered cloth underwear (like all-in-ones) and she wet in those just like the pullups. But I was pretty sure she was capable of staying dry and just didn't see the need when she was in pullups or anything that felt like a diaper.
So I ran an experiment. ;)
On Monday afternoon, I let Emily run around with only a shirt on. She stayed dry. Today, she went without a pullup nearly all day and I just put her shorts on. I did put her in a pullup for nap and when we ran an errand. But she stayed dry all day (even during nap!). And when she doesn't have a pullup on, you can tell when she starts needing to go to the bathroom. She gets kind of antsy. When I noticed that, I didn't wait for her to ask to go to the bathroom but just sent her in. Hopefully that will help her association that feeling of needing to go with the action of actually going.
She can go to the bathroom completely independently now, including getting on and off of the toilet (without a stepstool) and flushing, which is her new favorite activity (I have to watch her because she will flush the toilet over and over again!). Hopefully in another couple of months we will be pullup free--at least during the day!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
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4 comments:
Great!!! Sounds like you went with your instincts and it paid off! :o)
This sounds just like Maddie when we brought her home (almost 18 months ago ACK!) They teach them to go on command, and to go on a schedule, but I don't think they teach them to go when they 'feel' the need. It only took Maddie a couple of weeks to really get the hang of it, but we're still paying the price of this kind of teaching. Maddie still has a hard time knowing when its time to go until its too late and so if we aren't paying close attention we'll still get accidents once in awhile. Thankfully they're getting fewer and fewer in between. ;)
going bottomless is my potty training method of choice. Mine all potty trained in a few days that way- at 2.5. It works:).
And your kids sound like mine (your bloody post). They are always covered with band-aids, mosquito bites, scabs, bruises, etc. I like to think it means they are having fun being kids???
At least Emily can do some things without a step stool. I'm kinda jealous! :)
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