Thursday, June 10, 2010

Potty Woes

I figured it would be best to wait until school was over to potty train. Every day when we were getting dressed for school I'd remind Reese when school is over we'll start peeing in the potty. Some days he'd agree and some he would not. So Monday we decided to start.
We have prizes all ready to go and a lovely assortment of fun underwear to choose from.
After changing out of the sleep diaper Reese sat on the potty and then chose the first underwear of the day! He was very excited to wear Ramone from Cars underwear. He ran around laughing and pointing at his butt (no pants to facilitate the pulling up and down of the underwear). About every 20-30 minutes he sat on the potty, but no pee. He hid under Gus' crib and then came running out yelling "pee"....not sure if he hid under there specifically to pee or if it just turned out that way. SO I moved the crib, cleaned the pee, Resolved the carpet, vacuumed. Then we chose Woody underwear. After several more attempts at the potty there was more "PEE!" shrieking and a line of pee on the floor, but definitely not hiding this time. On to the Elmo underwear:
Another time he leaped from the couch, I said very excitedly "OH Do you have to pee?" "No pee!" he answered and then hid behind his bean bag...I thought he was hiding from Iron Man's nemesis, Mandarin, in the Iron Man cartoon. Then I realized he peed on the bean bag!!! I was very displeased that he specifically said no pee while he was prepping to pee! GRRRR
So no successful pees in the potty on day one. No poop at all.
Day 2: We had speech and I am not cleaning pee from the car seat. While he sat on the potty many times before heading out--no pee! He wore a diaper to speech. Back at home many more attempts but no pee. Then we went to Mimi's in a diaper. So all day, no pee in the potty and no accidents. He saved it for the diaper. Also no poop again---very abnormal for him.
Day 3: NO PEE AT ALL even though he sat on the potty about every 15 minutes. I was hoping to catch him so he could have one success to get all excited about and win prizes for. No such luck. About 2:30pm he was crying on the potty. Sobbing "NO stickers! No stickers!" he decided he'd rather forgo the sticker prize than have to keep sitting on the potty. At this point he hasn't peed all day long. (He woke me in the middle of the night because he finally pooped.) So we decided to give it a rest and return to the potty routine on Sunday.
I was exhausted and had a headache every day and he was a heaping pile of tears. My friend Julie reminded me her hubby always told her he's known a whole lot of really dumb guys and yet they can all use the bathroom. SOOO we'll get there eventually, but not this week!

On a more pleasant note, Gus mastered drinking from a straw and continually swiped Reese's supposedly pee inducing drink I kept pushing.

and I discovered a CURL!!!
Can you see it?

3 comments:

Julie said...

LOVE the curl!!! Also just give it patience and find what will motivate Reese. We have done M&Ms, suckers, juice boxes, movies, sticker charts, and even consequences--and they all worked at different times. Once he would start to revert and my frustrations will rise, I just take a deep breath, regroup and try something new.

Also, I have a rule--no sitting on the couch (or bean bag) until he tells me he has to pee. Cleaning the carpet is one thing, but the couch is TOTALLY different.

Our Homeschool Fun said...

Heather, I am feeling your pain, but laughing my head off at this post. You have had a hard week! He'll get there, and it'll happen fast and all of a sudden!

I love being able to read and relate through blogging. It's nice to know we are all dealing with "trials" together even though they are different kinds.

I hope this next week is a smoother one for you and for Reese.

I DO see the curl:-). I LOVE curls:-)!

JessieLeigh said...

I see the curl... so sweet! And I love the straw drinking. G drinks from a straw or an open cup (I still have to hold it)... I have a real hatred for sippy cups, but that's just me. ;)

Re. potty-training... I FEEL your pain! A and C were both four before they got it. I know that's late, but that's just how it went. We attempted to potty-train them both one week back in Feb of '09... I was pregnant and constantly cleaning up wet spots. But A finally got it... for him, he had to stand to learn. I think being able to "see" what was happening was very helpful. With C, she still wasn't ready, even at 3 yrs 2 months. So we waited until this past Spring Break and went cold turkey... even in the car. (I put towels under her.) We started on a Saturday and she had her last accident on Sunday. I think for some kids, you just have to wait 'til they're ready. Yes, you can break a kid down until he gets it, but I think it's nicer for everyone just to wait it out. They all get it eventually, even though it totally doesn't feel like it's ever going to happen when you're "in the trenches". I think the level of communication ability is super important too... C definitely talked when she was 3, but she wasn't as good at communicating. That year made a world of difference.

With that, I will conclude this novel. :) Best of luck to you all, whenever you decide to try again!