I think maybe I just need to vent, although if anybody has any ideas for how to motivate DS, I'd love to hear them.
I'm just sick and tired of potty training. I've been doing it for more than three years straight, and I'm just so FED UP.
DD1 took awhile to get the hang of it, between 2 and 2 1/2, and then the twins were born when she was 2 1/2, and she regressed, and then developed withholding issues and encopresis. We've only just in the last six months got her so that she's not having accidents during the day. She still occasionally wets the bed when she's very tired, but not often, and she cleans up after herself, so that's fine.
DD2 started pottying at 21 months, but it's been a PROCESS.
She refused diapers completely, but could only potty when naked, and it was a long, long process of patience to get her so that she could wear clothes again. She'll be three in February, and although she still needs a diaper at night, I guess I'd say she's fully potty learned now. She had a few accidents a week still though.
And now here's DS.
Honestly, he was probably ready to learn to potty months ago, but I kept him in diapers, and even switched him to paper diapers (we cloth diapered for five years, and I finally couldn't deal with cloth anymore), because I was just so unable to deal with three kids all having accidents at the same time. So now I've finally got the ball rolling with him. I took away his diapers, and he's mostly going nakey or with pants and no undies, and he has maybe two accidents a day during the day. He still needs a diaper at night, of course, and I don't trust him in the carseat without a diaper, but at least we're moving along now.
But he's so utterly and totally unmotivated. He basically potties for refined sugar (the only sugar he ever really gets, actually-- right now it's swedish fish) and if I try to pace out the rewards, he stops pottying and just goes on his feet or on the floor and tells me he'll potty when I buy more candy.
His new favorite strategy is to sit on the potty and squeeze out a few drops of urine, and clamor for his swedish fish, and then ten minutes later, do the same, all day long. He's figured out that he can not fully empty his bladder, and that he gets more rewards that way. And he still demands a diaper to poop. He's hilarious, I guess, if you're not his mother-- he can only poop while standing between DH's side of the bed and DH's nightstand, in this little space that's there, and he has to be holding his security blanket to do it.
I'm really afraid to put too much pressure on him, too, because he's very strong-willed. I don't want to wind up with another case of withholding like we had with DD1.
And I'm just so tired of diapers and puddles and poopy undies. Somebody peed on my feather pillow the other day, (and it wasn't the cat, because the cat was outside,) so it was either DS or DD2, who were both naked, and both denied it to the heavens above when I asked who did it, and it took me a whole day to wash and dry the darn pillow.
After five and a half years of washing diapers and cleaning up accidents and wiping bums, I guess I'm just ready to be DONE, and the fact that DS is so unmotivated is getting on my nerves.
Thank you. Rant over, and thank you for letting me vent my aggravation.
I'm just sick and tired of potty training. I've been doing it for more than three years straight, and I'm just so FED UP.
DD1 took awhile to get the hang of it, between 2 and 2 1/2, and then the twins were born when she was 2 1/2, and she regressed, and then developed withholding issues and encopresis. We've only just in the last six months got her so that she's not having accidents during the day. She still occasionally wets the bed when she's very tired, but not often, and she cleans up after herself, so that's fine.
DD2 started pottying at 21 months, but it's been a PROCESS.
She refused diapers completely, but could only potty when naked, and it was a long, long process of patience to get her so that she could wear clothes again. She'll be three in February, and although she still needs a diaper at night, I guess I'd say she's fully potty learned now. She had a few accidents a week still though.And now here's DS.
Honestly, he was probably ready to learn to potty months ago, but I kept him in diapers, and even switched him to paper diapers (we cloth diapered for five years, and I finally couldn't deal with cloth anymore), because I was just so unable to deal with three kids all having accidents at the same time. So now I've finally got the ball rolling with him. I took away his diapers, and he's mostly going nakey or with pants and no undies, and he has maybe two accidents a day during the day. He still needs a diaper at night, of course, and I don't trust him in the carseat without a diaper, but at least we're moving along now.
But he's so utterly and totally unmotivated. He basically potties for refined sugar (the only sugar he ever really gets, actually-- right now it's swedish fish) and if I try to pace out the rewards, he stops pottying and just goes on his feet or on the floor and tells me he'll potty when I buy more candy.
His new favorite strategy is to sit on the potty and squeeze out a few drops of urine, and clamor for his swedish fish, and then ten minutes later, do the same, all day long. He's figured out that he can not fully empty his bladder, and that he gets more rewards that way. And he still demands a diaper to poop. He's hilarious, I guess, if you're not his mother-- he can only poop while standing between DH's side of the bed and DH's nightstand, in this little space that's there, and he has to be holding his security blanket to do it.
I'm really afraid to put too much pressure on him, too, because he's very strong-willed. I don't want to wind up with another case of withholding like we had with DD1.
And I'm just so tired of diapers and puddles and poopy undies. Somebody peed on my feather pillow the other day, (and it wasn't the cat, because the cat was outside,) so it was either DS or DD2, who were both naked, and both denied it to the heavens above when I asked who did it, and it took me a whole day to wash and dry the darn pillow.
After five and a half years of washing diapers and cleaning up accidents and wiping bums, I guess I'm just ready to be DONE, and the fact that DS is so unmotivated is getting on my nerves.
Thank you. Rant over, and thank you for letting me vent my aggravation.
sorry mama, i know potty training can be so frustrating. My ds took forever to train. I started trying to train him at 21 months, he was practically trained at 24 months, but got sick and totally regressed, from then on it was a battle, he would go sometimes on the toilet, but mostly not, the last 6 months i put him fully in pullups and cloth underwear and not cloth diapers. He finally trained at 38 months, just 3 months ago, but he does have an occasional accident, but doesn't wet to bed. I told my dh with the next one i won't starting trying to train until 2 1/2, it will save me and the next lo a lot of frustration. Ds did get a lot of candy rewards for going on the toilet, but one thing i learned is that he has free will and he starting going fully on the toilet when he was ready...
