did you have anxiety while potty training?

[dolphindance]

we started the big training day today and i was up half the night due to worrying about...oh let's see...are we starting training too soon....what will it be like when he has an accident...what will it be like the first time in the car...or in public....or on halloween in costume...how long will this take...how will this effect MY daily life...um, are we starting too soon for ME?  i'm not so worried about all the answers really, he is doing fabulous without resistance.  i usually get a little anxiety before a big change starts for ds - like switching to his big boy bed, etc.  but today after he had a few accidents i found myself on the tip of my chair staring at him wondering when i should take him to the potty next.  it got to where i wanted to take him every 10 minutes.  thank goodness he is napping right now cuz we both needed a break!!  so i'm curious if anyone worried more about themselves than how their dearies would handle it?  if so what did you do about it?  i just don't want him to get burned out plus i want him to have a chance to tell me or take himself to the potty when he needs to go.  so i need to find a way to relax more about it.

i should add what our method has been... ds is 30 months and we bought a potty chair 6 months ago so he would pee before bedtime be/c he leaked every night.  he's used it after bath pretty much every night since so he is very used to the potty.  and we read lots of books and watched videos leading up to the big day.  he totally knew when we woke today it was his "big boy underwear day" and as he repeats from the video on his own "no more diapers for me".  he even shouts "potty power" like the video.  i decided to do a few days at home not quite bare-bottom, we have his underwear and a t-shirt on.  one, i don't want pee to spray all over the furniture and on the dog plus i just don't think it would teach him right.  two, he loves his underwear and i want him to see it get wet and have to be washed.  he has not resisted sitting on the potty at all and peed half the times and half the times had accidents (poop time is this afternoon...fingers crossed).  his reaction was "uh oh" and tried to wipe it off his leg.  so hopefully it will click in soon and he will tell me when he has to go.  that would definitely help my anxiety!

[GuavaGirl]

I haven't started potty training yet, but I've been thinking about it a lot lately, and I'm starting to understand why some people put it off for so long.  I feel like it's going to make my daily life so much more difficult. I think about things like what it will be like when I'm running errands, when we go on a plane ride in November, should I even be starting yet?  

Yes, it's intimidating to me.  :)

I'm glad you mentioned the underwear.  I was thinking of doing the bare bottom thing, but I have read that boys could care less if they're peeing all over the floor...and I think mine would fit into that category.  ....but I worry about the undies feeling like a diaper.  My little guy is 20 months.

[dolphindance]

Originally Posted by GuavaGirl 

I haven't started potty training yet, but I've been thinking about it a lot lately, and I'm starting to understand why some people put it off for so long.  I feel like it's going to make my daily life so much more difficult. I think about things like what it will be like when I'm running errands, when we go on a plane ride in November, should I even be starting yet?  

Yes, it's intimidating to me.  :)

I'm glad you mentioned the underwear.  I was thinking of doing the bare bottom thing, but I have read that boys could care less if they're peeing all over the floor...and I think mine would fit into that category.  ....but I worry about the undies feeling like a diaper.  My little guy is 20 months.

i think we are actually switching to bare bottom.  a friend said when she had her dd naked she wouldn't go but switched to bare and she didn't have accidents.  so i thought we will try it that way today and see if that helps him tell me when he has to go.

it's funny cuz so many people said to me "oh it's so much easier when they are out of diapers" - ?!  Really?  i understand it will save money and we don't need to worry about finding spots to change dirty diapers. i got the portable potty chair so that will help with the running around and not having to rely so much on clean bathrooms a little. well until we are grocery shopping and he needs to go right in the middle.  but we also carry water around all the time.  we are big on exercise and hydration so he drinks a lot.  i don't want to change that cuz it's not healthy.

but through all this i keep coming back to the pic if have of him sitting on his potty for one hour reading books and saying potty power!  he is totally ready and i know this is the right time for me.  at this point, it doesn't matter if i am ready!  i just have to put my worries aside and do it for him no matter what.

[dolphindance]

well...bare bottom it is!  no accidents AND big poop today!!! and on his own!  he actually got a little upset out of the blue and wanted his shorts on (hasn't even mentioned underwear) so we put those on without anything on underneath for a few hours.  still no accidents.  i figured out it's be/c he wanted to be able to scoot around on the floor - he's been great about not sitting while naked then he wanted to go...as he calls it..."naked boy" again.  so i highly recommend bare bottom!  i've also played his "potty power" video constantly and it's like he is studying for a college final or something! he is so involved and in tune with it all so i recommend the video and constant airing of it as well.  of course, only on day two so we'll see!