Potty Training

So, now I'm refreshing my skills with my 2- and 3-year-olds -- or really learning anew since Kaylen was partly/mostly potty trained when she came to live with us at age 3.

Since Elijah was in the toddler room at the orphanage, he was already partially potty-trained - and had been the last time we visited him in Haiti in March of 2009. He will go #1 every time we sit him on the toilet, and #2 if he needs to. He won't tell us when he has to go, so I'm now keeping him in a pull-up. I didn't worry too much about it for several weeks and actually kept him in a diaper most of the time then. Jock would sometimes put him on the potty after supper, but during the day I had other things I wanted to work with him on - normal adjustment & bonding stuff, language learning, etc. Then I'd planned to do it one week but came down with a nasty cold, so it was all I could do to keep up with their normal playing, fighting, eating, etc.

A week or two ago, I started in on it again. He did OK, but then we got thrown off during the busy-ness of spring break. So now this week I've re-started, with having him go every hour. At first it wasn't enough, so it moved it back to every half-hour - although sometimes we'd get busy, I'd forget, or if we have to go somewhere, he doesn't always have a chance to go, and he wets his pull-up, which is OK with me for now. However, I noticed because of those, that he is holding it longer, so I'm having him go about every hour again. I do still sometimes forget, and it seems he is holding it even longer. I've noticed at naptime that he sometimes wakes up dry, so I take him in right away when he gets up. We're having more and more dry times, so that's very nice. He's also going #2 very rarely in his pull-up anymore, which is very nice as well. I can usually spot quite easily when he needs to do that though, and take him in immediately and avoid a dirty pull-up. However, most of the time now, he's already had a chance and done it on his #1 trips to the bathroom.

To try to get Elijah to tell me he has to go potty, I started announcing really loudly when I have to go, or when it's time for him to go, I make him repeat back to me, "Potty Mommy." (I've tried, "I have to go potty, Mommy", but he can't string that many words together and have them come out with any clarity, so I've abbreviated it.) Then I say, "OK, I'll take you to go Potty" and we go on into the bathroom. We'll see how it works - no success so far. I'd like to get that down before he starts daycare full-time, but we'll see. I'm working pretty hard on it now.

Josephine is quite another story. I don't think they had even started potty-training her at the orphanage, as she was still in the older baby room. Many days, her diaper stays dry from in the morning when I get her dressed until naptime. Then she wets it during her nap (sometimes), and then is dry most of the afternoon, until dinnertime or even sometimes until bedtime. Then when she gets up in the morning, she's completely soaked - even sometimes thru her overnight diaper and her PJs. (Makes for lots of laundry when I have to wash her sheet, mattress pad and blanket too!) That is becoming less common now, but she must have an enormous bladder! With her holding it that long, I thought maybe she was ready to potty train, so I started sitting her on the toilet.

She was very afraid the first few times I sat her on the toilet, but has gotten more used to it now. Elijah will sit on a regular toilet just fine, without assistance, but her tiny bottom falls right in, and she's so tense holding herself up, that I don't think she would be able to go anyway. So I got out our little seat that sits on top of the regular toilet. She was perfectly happy sitting up there, but didn't have a clue what she was supposed to be doing. I still would have her come in once in a while to try, but no luck. I would even sit in there with her for longer to see if it was just the timing. No luck.

Yesterday I pulled out our little training potty, so she can sit there for longer, without me sitting next to her the whole time. She sat there for a long time, as long as she could see where I was. I also started a reward system. I sat her down at the same time as Elijah. He went, and I gave him a piece of Smarties candy after he was finished going and had wiped, flushed, and washed his hands. She REALLY wanted one, but I told her she needed to go pee-pee, and asked her if she would. She nodded her head and continued sitting there, but still no luck. Elijah even came in and went again, just for the piece of candy. This time I sat him on her potty, so she could see what she was supposed to "put in there", but it didn't help. After an hour, I stopped her, put her diaper on and took them up to nap -- without that tiny piece of candy. She cried hard, poor girl.

After nap, she wanted to try again, but we needed to go pick up Kaylen, so I only sat her there for a few minutes. Elijah again got a piece of candy for going and she didn't, but she knew the drill this time, and didn't complain too hard. After we got home with Kaylen, she wanted to try again. Elijah went and got his piece of candy. She sat for a LONG time, until I had supper ready. Then after supper she wanted to try again, but we didn't have time - we had to get Kaylen to church. When we got home from dropping Kaylen off, she had a wet diaper. :( Oh, how I wish I could've had her sit for a while to see if she would've gone in the potty, but Daddy wasn't home yet, so we all had to go to take Kaylen. I'm not sure at this point if she will go if I catch her at the right time, or if it's just that she doesn't know how to work those muscles yet.

This morning, about an hour after I'd gotten them dressed, I had them both go in and try to go. Elijah went right away, as usual. Josephine sat there, and while I'm washing Elijah's hands, I could hear her grunting. She went #2! So she got a piece of candy for that, but still no success with #1. Elijah's still dry - he's went once again after snack. Josephine sat down at the same time, but no success. She didn't want to sit there any longer, so I got her up, no pee-pee = no candy. I'll keep trying. She'll eventually figure it out. I hope. :) I'm at least happy that if I catch her at the right time (or at least have her keep trying), maybe she'll keep her diapers #2-free. Hey, a girl can hope, right?!