Adventures in Potty Training

Axel just turned two in April, so I have had no plans to potty train him, and thought I wouldn't until he was at least three years old. But since I decided to go back to work, we decided to put him in a preschool near our house that we love. The only stipulation: All kids are required to be potty trained before they start. Yikes! I had a wee bit of hope for Axel, because he has shown some interest, so I figured we should give it a try.

I read a book my friend gave me called Toilet Training in Less Than A Day, by Azrin and Foxx. And they said you know if your child is ready based on these criteria:

1. Child should be at least 20 months old
2. Child should pee at intervals during the day, not be constantly dribbling pee.
3. Child should be able to walk without help and have sufficient hand eye coordination to pick up and carry objects.
4. Should be able to understand and follow your instructions.
5. Finally, my favorite one, in so many words they say your child should not be too stubborn. Ha ha, whose kid isn't?

Here is how our days went:

Day 1: I was very excited because I had high hopes that Axel would meet all of my expectations above and beyond. We started off with a peeing doll. I showed him how the doll drank, then took her to the potty and showed him that she peed. Then I taught him how to empty her pot into the toilet, flush, replace the potty, then he got a treat. He learned this in about 1/2 hour.

Then we said bye bye to the diapers and threw them in the trash. I said it was Axels turn to go potty like the doll. He sat on the potty willingly because I promised him juice and candy. But he never peed. We repeated this every 15 minutes, and towards the end of the day he refused to sit on the potty because he would rather play and pee his pants. He went through about a dozen pairs of underwear and marked about six spots around the house. If he peed his pants I wouldn't scold, I would just tell him that big boys pee in the potty and big boys keep their pants dry, they don't pee in their pants. He didn't seem to care. Meanwhile, I was absolutely exhausted from cleaning up after him and trying to convince him to sit on the potty, and our house was a wreck. I considered aborting the potty mission.

Day 2: We tried again. I put on his training pants, which he wet numerous times. Then we decided to go to the park to meet Nese and Aydin. At the park, I told him he could pee in the bushes. He loved this, and he peed every 15 minutes. Aydin helped too by peeing first to inspire him. Very good morning! He wet himself once. That afternoon at home was still very difficult.

Day 3: Still challenging, he would sit but not pee. However, when Johan got home, I asked Axel if he wanted to try peeing like Pappa, and he stood next to Johan and peed standing up in his potty!! So we realized he wasn't comfortable peeing sitting down. But BIG celebration, pee in the potty!

Days 4, 5: Kept him in training pants, and had to keep reminding him to pee in the potty. Wet his pants several times, but improving. Not always willing to sit on the potty unless we promised him something good. We were running out of things to promise him.

Day 6: Axel and I went over to co-potty train with my friend, Courtney, and her daughter, Malia. I had decided to give Axel a huge incentive for peeing: I had gone and bought a bunch of dollar toys at Target and had wrapped them up as presents. I told him that he would get to open a present every time he went pee. Malia was a huge help in him being willing to go to the bathroom, and he went pee in the potty right away, and did it sitting down! I couldn't believe it. He did this all day long. When he pees, he looks up at me and smiles because he is so proud of himself. When we got home that night, I told Johan how well he did, and Axel then pulled his potty put into the kitchen by himself, sat down, and peed, to show Johan how good he was. He can also take the potty and dump it in the toilet, flush, and wash his hands.

So about six days to get non-reluctant pee in the potty! Granted, he is an extremely active boy, so it was difficult to find something that would draw him away from playing to sit on the potty. The gifts worked like a charm. Now we are one week in, and he still needs to be reminded to go, but sometimes he will also tell me. He has gone in public big toilets also, so that is great! He also doesn't need a present every time he pees, he is so proud of himself that he doesn't seem to care. So, he is not fully potty trained since he needs a little reminding, but he is also only two. And all that matters is that now he can go to preschool!!