I’m wrung-out, strung-out, “busted flat in Baton Rouge, waitin’ for a train, feelin’ near as faded as my jeans,” etc, etc. Potty training is KILLING ME. It sucks. Hard. I have no eloquence on the subject- it just plain sucks. I’m ready to throw the towel in right now, but I’m going to give it a few more days, because I’m already so damn invested.
We have read the potty-training in one day book. We followed the rules to the letter, we threw the big old potty party, complete with the doll that wets, the new potty, the potty books, the videos, the sugary treats, the big girl underwear, the wrapped gifts, the games, the singing. Our picture windows are festooned with pink streamers and balloons; so is the hallway, so is the bathroom.
And it’s not working. Maybe it’s because Mumu hates dolls (ironically, they are the one girly thing she doesn’t covet), she doesn’t like sugary things, and she’s not much into gifts. She likes the attention, the books, the streamers, the festive mood, but she’s not really playing ball. It’s day 3, and we’ve had one success. One. Too many accidents to count. I now think all the accidents may have been intentional, and the one success, an accident. Maybe she’s just too young, despite all the signs she’s been showing. The book we’ve been studying so diligently said not to even bother trying to potty-train a child under 2.5. We followed all the other advice, maybe we should have followed that bit. One reason we didn’t is that people on this island potty-train really, really early. Our Pediatrician remarked on this at the last checkup and said we shouldn’t feel any pressure to follow suit, that the starting age here is unusual. Why so early? It probably has something to do with the fact that the island chain I live in is the most remote land mass in the world. Yea, the freakin world. So diapers are really expensive. Not to mention, the native islanders for the most part live in very large families- grandparents, parents, kids, aunts, uncles, all together, and with that many people helping out, it’s probably easier to tackle potty-training. They probably don’t even need pink streamers and a freaky doll. But at my house, now that the weekend’s over, it’s just me, no Bobby McGee, and I am failing miserably. Both sets of grandparents have offered to train the girls for us, but as one set is 5,000 miles and the other, about 10,000 miles away, that won’t be happening any time soon. My MIL said the other day that it took about a year to train each of her boys. I just about passed out. I am so not doing this for a year. I think I should hang up the panties if there are no encouraging signs in the next few days. Maybe try again in a few months. What do you think?
Oh, so exhausting. If you feel like you’re being as consistent and attentive as possible and are really seeing zero signs of progress in the next two days, I’d hang it up and try again later. They may simply not be ready. If one of them seems to be catching on, focus on that one.
Otherwise, I’d say they’re definitely young enough that, if they’re not into it, don’t push it. Sometimes they just need to be in the right mood, sometimes it’s a question of finding the right currency or figuring out a way to get them to have some initial success such that they want to do it again. But don’t beat yourself up. It’s a marathon, man.
Perhaps this isn’t what you need, but my girls have taught me that parents don’t potty train. Mine informed me when they were ready to start wearing panties, and that’s when we started in earnest and with any degree of success. They were over three at the time. They’ll be four in a week and a half, and the last accident was almost 2 months ago. Neither has ever had a nighttime accident. EVER.
never. You know what I meant.
Hang in there. I was so sure you would post and say they were done in a day because they sounded so ready the last time you talked about it. At one point I thought my girls were ready so I tried for about a week… and then put it on hold for a few months. You’ll figure out what’s right for you (which is easy for ME to say now that all four of mine are finally potty trained!)
Sorry to hear it’s not going so well. We had a ridiculously easy time potty training our daughter, but it has been a completely different ball game with our son. I know some say once you ditch the diapers, you have to just keep plugging away, but I disagree. If she’s really not having much success and you’re feeling frustrated, I think it’s fine to go back to diapers and try again later. Without the kid being on board, there’s only so much you can do.
It takes time! But all of a sudden the accidents are fewer and far between and then lo and behold you are potty trained… well your child is LOL. My son wee wee easily but it took forever to do that Number 2 in the potty he preferred behind the couch. So not cool. And my daughter was the reverse she would do number 2 in the potty but just could nt read the wee wee LOL.
Keep putting her on after she drinks or eats something so it becomes a habit. Also it helps to put her on every half hour if you can remember and until she gets a hang of it.
that being said so not looking forward to potty training my girls. Sigh
Good luck with it all.
If you’ve given it three days and still no success, then I’d try again later. We had five booty camps for Alex before he was finally ready. The first booty camp was hilarious (in hindsight) as he had 12 accidents in a four hour time period in the morning. YET WE PUSHED ON.
But hey, now you know why I used a million exclamation points when both my boys were finally potty trained.
I’m with Sadie – I’m not training until they are ready. But I do know that Penny would totally go for stickers. I have no idea what Ned would go for – that one is stubborn and mischevious and a BOY.
I should clarify – I’ll train them when they ask to be trained (that’s what I define as ready). I do agree your girls showed some signs and you are doing the right think to give it a monumental effort (no point in half-assing it), but it’s also okay to decide that they aren’t ready despite the signs.
Oh Gosh… we’re in the same potty-training thing right now. Not the “in a day” potty training… but PT just the same. Every time one girl says she has to go, suddenly the other also has to go! And it’s always when I’ve JUST sat down or JUST stuck my food in the microwave or JUST got the baby to latch on. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s driving me crazy. We started about ten months ago but were not pushy about it. We just made the froggy potty available. HOWEVER, we got a potty seat that attaches to the big potty about three weeks ago and I will say that their interests in going on the potty has peaked now that they can sit on the big potty.
Hang in there! And Good Luck! They won’t be in diapers forever!!
Oh gosh, I’m feeling your pain. I don’t recall potty training being this tough with my 1st set of twins. But Garrett and Landon are turning my world upside down. Garrett will pee on the potty but only when I remind him, like every 30 minutes. No poop on the potty under any circumstance. And Landon? He’s happy to run around here in diapers, even though he’s already busting out of the size 6 and I refuse to buy the size 7 diapers for a 3-year old who announces proudly “I just peed” every time he pisses in his diaper.
So you hang in there…if either set of grandparents were willing to potty training my boys, I’d be shipping them off in a heartbeat!
I agree that potty training takes time and persistence, even when they don’t seem so interested. Remember, in the long run, they aren’t the only ones who benefit from being trained. Maybe you can try some different tactics. Don’t follow the book to a T and you might have better success.
One thing that helped with my son was constantly reminding him to tell me when he needed to go. That took some time to sink in but it has paid off. He will now tell me 99% of the time when he needs to go. He is now 2 1/2 and still has the occasional accident but I couldn’t imagine having him in diapers during the day.
Now if only I had this confidence for nighttime training.