potty training a boy

[Peony]

Ok. So I had two girls, and then two boys. My girls, easy to PL! And there were no outward body parts to deal with. My oldest boy is 2.5, 3 in April and I'm trying to work with him here and there on using the potty. I can get him to sit on on our little potty every now and then but he won't actually use it. I'm considering that a first step since he is the type of child that chases me around the house with a diaper if I try to leave him bare butted.  I was in a public bathroom with him over the weekend, he pointed to the toilet and said potty, I asked if wanted to try and he shook his head yes (normal for him, he has delayed language skills that he does get help for), I took off his diaper and then the problem started. What do I do next! With the girls I would hold them over the toilet and they would pee if we were out and we are out all the time with 4 kids. I couldn't do that with him, he tried to sit on it but had his legs clenched together so tight that his penis was more pointing at me then down in the toilet. He is short and in no way capable of aiming so I'm not even considering trying to get him to pee standing up. I ended up putting his diaper back on and walking out of the bathroom.

I know this is going to take a long, long time of slowly working on it with him. I have the end goal of hopefully, maybe, him being Pled by next August so he can go to preschool. I can tell that he isn't going to be Pled in 1 or 3 days like my girls were. But I need to figure out how the heck you even put them on a toilet. 

[Snapdragon]

I will be looking at this thread for answers- I am starting to potty train my ds and I don't know how either-!

[colemom]

Ds is my first child, so I did not have any prior potty learning experience.  It seemed that everyone else started between 18 mo-2.5, but he was just not interested. He was stubborn and refused to sit on any kind of potty, could not be bribed with treats (which isn't my style anyway), was not interested in fancy underpants and did not care if he had a wet diaper on. So, I waited until he told me he was ready.

Right after his 3rd birthday, I noticed he was staying dry for long periods of time and then going all at once (I would go to routinely change his diaper and he would be bone dry and when he went, he would need to changed immediately) and he was always waking up from his nap dry. At that point, it was very easy for him to learn. Within a week with on and off diaper free days, we were able to go on quick errands, etc in underpants.  He did continue to wear a diaper at night and poop was a challenge until about 4.

He never liked to sit down (which is why the pooping was a challenge, he wouldn't sit and wait).  He is a peanut, smaller than other kids, but he learned standing up.  If we were out, I would just lift him up under his arms until he was high enough to make it in the toilet.

[liberal_chick]

My ds1 sat with his legs splayed open wide.  His boy bits would naturally point down then (this is another area where circumcised vs uncircumcised makes a difference IME, when I worked at a daycare the circumcised boys would have to point it down with their hand no matter how wide their legs were apart while sittin on the potty).

Ds1 pottytrained in a day when he was almost 3.  We literally put underwear on him one day and that was that.  He was just ready.  Ds2 is now at that same age but he's not interested at all, so we're not pushing it.  It'll happen when it happens.