Potty Training - Day 2

Today was at least a little better than Day 1.5 - although I've decided to take it a little slower, mostly because Vincente is still very VERY nervous of the potty chair. I haven't been able to determine why he's so nervous of it, but I've decided that the only way we're going to get over this is to practice practice practice. But I don't really have the energy to do it all day every day, so I've decided on a new routine for potty training:

When Vincente wakes up, I'll have him sit on the potty (hopefully pee) and then put on some underwear. All morning, from breakfast until lunchtime, I'll make him sit on the potty every 15 minutes for about 5 minutes (what Azrin and Foxx suggest after they've successfully peed in the potty). If he has an accident, I just have him clean up the mess, sit on the potty, and put on clean underwear. He's so afraid of the potty chair that I think having him do the practice trials that Azrin and Foxx suggest would be more damaging than anything, plus, he cries when he pees his pants anyway. I figure he understands that wet undies are not as desireable as dry undies. 

Just before lunch I am going to have him sit on the potty one last time, and then put a pull up on him for the rest of the day. I'll ask him all the time if he needs to go potty, and make sure he sits on the potty at least once every 30 minutes, and still make a big deal out of having wet undies, but I just don't have the energy to do the potty every 15 minutes ALL day long, especially because it's still a little stressful to get him to actually SIT on the potty. Seriously, once he's there, he doesn't mind being there, and during today's training he peed in the potty almost every single time he sat down, so it seems like he's not damaged by being nervous, he's just nervous. Maybe it's like riding a bike...

Anyway, then I'll diaper him at naptime (because he's still really little and pees a LOT in his sleep - in fact, I'd previously noticed that he pees more in his sleep than he does during any other 2 hour period of time), and then depending on how much energy I have for the afternoon (and if we have to go out - to a Dr's appt, etc) I'll either put a pull up on him, and continue the 30 minute potty time intervals, and keep asking him if he needs to go potty; or I'll just diaper him and give myself a little break from potty training for a few hours. 

I'm going to have him sit on the potty before we change for bed, and then diaper him at night.

Then it will start over again in the morning.

I've decided that it is useless to wear myself out every day, day after day (being 7 1/2 mos pregnant isn't exactly the best shape to be in when you potty train ... emotions run high, your body aches anyway, and you have absolutely NO energy... and you can't move very quickly, so a little toddler in underwear around your rugs and furniture is like a disaster waiting to happen). It's useless because although we're making some progress, Vincente is still nervous of the potty, and since the whole goal of potty training is to have your kid go to the potty on their own and sit down on it, we're not going to make any more progress until he stops fighting the sitting down on the potty chair part. 

The odd part about Vince's discomfort with the potty chair is that he will gladly sit on the chair fully clothed. Bare-bummed, he starts turning around and acting like he's going to sit on it, but keeps changing his mind at the last second. So I decided that instead of trying to get him to sit on the chair every 15 minutes and having to fight his nerves every 15 minutes, we'd do a quick multiple repititions all at once deal. I told Vincente, to prepare him, "Vince, we're going to practice the act of sitting on the potty. You can either do it all by yourself, I will help you, or I will make you sit on the potty chair." So, I removed his undies, and we started. Each time I would ask him if he wanted to do it himself. If he hesitated, I picked him up and sat him on the potty chair. The first time, that's what I did. The second time, he started doing it on his own, but then I tried to help him, and he freaked out on me. So then the next twenty times, I had to pick him up and sit him on the potty. But then, HE DID IT! He sat down on the potty all by himself. It was great progress. After that, he still showed signs of being nervous at our 15 minutes potty trials, but it wasn't nearly as bad, and occaisionally, he sat down on his own (with a little bit of help).

It was an exhausting day 2, and I like my new plan better, especially since we're running into a few obstacles with Vince. He's doing a really good job, though - he is really smart, and he understands everything that is going on (so far). He understands that he pees, he understands HOW to pee (sit down, relax, pee comes out), and he understands how to empty his potty chair.

The next obstacles we face (in order of importance - to me, at least) are being comfortable sitting down on the potty chair on his own, understanding when he has the urge to pee (which includes learning how to hold his pee in until he sits on the potty chair), and then going potty by himself. Oh, and then there's getting him to pull down his undies by himself, but I figure since he's still so little, and he's only recently had the experience of wearing undies, it might take a while for that one to come. He knows how to take his pants off, I know, because he's done it before.

I think we probably have at least a few more weeks of training to go before he starts pottying himself successfully. Hopefully I last that long. Otherwise I might have to hire someone to finish the job. But at least we've made a good start... I just didn't expect it to take this long. I thought maybe a few days. He's just soooo nervous about the potty chair - and that's going to take a little while to get over.