Signalling to go, but not going!

[mamatobe08]

Last night we went to my dad's house and DS did the "potty" sign so I took him right away, he sat down and it was obvious he had to go(you moms of boys know what I mean!) but he wouldn't go! After about 5 minutes I got him up and we played for another 10 minutes or so, then he signed again. I took him again, and he wouldn't go AGAIN. 10 minutes later he had peed his pants.

It happened again today when we were at our playgroup. I can see that he is getting ready to go, it just takes him a while to focus on getting it out. So we have misses. I love that he can tell me he needs to go, but how can I help him learn to hurry the process along? LOL it's driving me nuts! The whole undressing, getting potty out, sitting, dressing, putting potty away(if we're in public), and repeating 2 or 3 times is tiring!

[birdword]

Could it just be that he's in an unfamiliar place? We have way more misses when we're not at home, and just the other day we were at a friend's house and I knew she had to pee but she wouldn't I think because she was concentrating on everything around her. Maybe trying to find a quiet spot where he can relax on the potty for a minute would help?

[tri31]

I agree with the pp. My son would have a hard time relaxing when away from home. It's great he is signing to you!

[mamatobe08]

Thanks for the responses. He sits down just fine, he just won't go. I don't know, I think I'm going to start making a big deal about getting up after he's done going on the potty how "YAY, now we get up and go play!" Maybe that will help motivate him the next time to go right away? I don't know....he's probably too young to catch on to that but maybe over time...

He did sign "potty" to me EVERY time today before he went, so that's great! He has only had 1 miss(knock on wood) which was on the way home from the playgroup. And to be honest, he signaled twice more after I had taken him to the potty, I was just annoyed with sitting in the bathroom once for 10 minutes with no results and didn't want to do it again.

[tri31]

Something that really helped with all my kids (just learned about ec in 2007) was to sigh (in relief) when we got to the potty. It is a natural response and seemed to help them relax.

[sapphire_chan]

OTOH, Lina's discovered the joys of signaling to go when she doesn't have to go at all.

she dragged dh into the bathroom, lifted the toilet lid, waited for him to get the seat reducer on and set her on the seat and had a grand time with him and a balloon until he got bored. Then he asked if she was done, she said yes. He put everything away and then she put it all back. And then practiced putting the reducer on and off the toilet for like 10 minutes.

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by mamatobe08

He did sign "potty" to me EVERY time today before he went....