Day 4

I put Silas in undies all day but still followed him around like a hawk with the potty. Each time he would have a small (or big) accident in his undies I'd say "Uh oh! No pee pee in the undies. Pee pee in the potty!" and shank him as quickly as possible to get him on the potty to finish. Sometimes there wasn't time to pull his undies down so he'd finish peeing through them and then I'd pull them down. He definitely is starting to get the idea. He isn't accident free nor does he tell me when he needs to go. But I'm encouraged by his progress. He seems to have a small accident, stop, then finish big on the potty.

We also have started doing pre-lunch, pre-nap, pre-dinner, pre-bed times on the potty so he can try to go before he has to sit still or sleep for a while. These have been going well. He seems to understand what he's doing. Plus he gets treats for even trying so he's highly motivated.

Totals:
Successes: 12
Accidents: 3

End of Day 4 sentiment: I think we're going to get this! But I'm so tired.

Day 3

The first half of Day 3 I tried the same tactics as the previous days (bare bum). But this wasn't working. He started to clap and celebrate his accidents on the floor. So he clearly understands that peeing is the goal and is worthy of praise but he's not getting that it's peeing in the TOILET that is the true goal. *Sigh*

Then I decided to try another method...the "put him in undies and rush him to the potty each time he starts to go" method. I had little faith in this method because by the time I get him to the potty he is done peeing so HOW does this teach him anything? However, something clicked. At the end of the day, he started to go in his undies so I rushed him to the potty. He thought he had finished peeing in the potty (which he hadn't) so he was excited to flush it down the big toilet. I may or may not have added some water to the little potty when he wasn't looking so he'd have something to dump in the toilet. After he flushed his "pee" down the toilet, he signed "potty" to me and wanted up on the big toilet. So I put him up there and he took another big pee.

Totals:
Successes: 2
Accidents: 6

End of Day 3 sentiment: I think we're getting somewhere.

Side note: Silas doesn't actually say the word "potty" yet. He knows the sign and does that but he has yet to initiate when he needs to go.

Day 2

Again I had Silas bare bum. I turned up the heat because his little legs and bum were certainly cold! Same tactics as Day 1 and we had more accidents than successes. I followed him around constantly with the little potty and my body was hurting. Being 8 months pregnant and constantly moving, standing up, sitting down, bending over, etc is not good on a big belly.

I put him in a diaper for his nap and quit again around 5pm. Couldn't take it anymore.

Totals:
Successes: 3
Accidents: 8

End of Day 2 sentiment: Tears. This isn't working. Maybe he is too young. I also apologized to Silas many times because my attitude was not good. I was not being any fun. I was getting frustrated with him for having so many accidents. I had no grace for his accidents and I was finding myself sad and mad and frustrated and angry and other synonyms for those words. That was not fair at all to Silas. Silas normally laughs and smiles about 92.4% of each day and at the end of Day 2 I realized he had not smiled much at all since we started potty training. He wasn't upset, I just wasn't giving him any opportunity to have fun. So for Day 3 and so on to be a success, I really had to pray for patience and kindness and a brand new attitude to help Silas do well while still being a good, fun, and loving parent.

Day 1

I started Silas bare bum and followed him around all day. I put him on the little Fisher price potty whenever I thought he was going to go (as opposed to after he started to go). I spent a maddening amount of time in front of him while he sat on the potty and didn't go.

I've been using Happy Baby Happy Yogis as treats (in lieu of candy or other non-healthy things) and they are doing the trick just fine. He gets them just for sitting on the potty but gets a BUNCH when he actually pees. I didn't want to do the whole "pump them full of salts and sweets and juice" to get them to pee more. I just offered him more water and healthy snacks than usual and he was perfectly happy to eat and drink what I offered. No need to have him indulge on unhealthy things just to get him to pee. I will confess I used cartoons to help hold him on the potty longer. He normally doesn't watch much TV but I'm pregnant and tired of running around so...there.

I put him in a diaper for his nap and then again at the end of the day. Cardinal sin, I know. There was no "Say bye-bye to the diapers" stuff and I wasn't committed to the idea of never putting him in a diaper again. There is something called "survival" and if I was going to do that, I couldn't quit diapers cold turkey. Judge me if you want. It was all I could do to make it to 5:00 on Day 1.

Totals:
Successes: 7
Accidents: 6

End of Day 1 sentiment: I don't know that he's getting it but we'll see what happens.

8 Months Pregnant and Potty Training a 19 month old

I always knew I wanted to potty train early. I wasn't sold on the idea that you have to wait until the child is 3 before it's ok to potty train them. I started Silas on the toilet very young. I wasn't 100% into the elimination communication stuff simply because it's too much work! But Silas has known what the potty is for a very long time (I think he took his first pee in the toilet at like 2 months or something) and every since then we just put him on the toilet periodically to poop or pee or sit there and do nothing. But the point is: introducing him to the toilet was not a hurdle I had to cross to potty train him.

I also knew I wanted to potty train Silas before the next baby was born. Call me crazy. I'm 8 months pregnant and have a very busy 19 month old. I read a lot of stuff on the internet to try to be prepared to do this but there is so much conflicting information out there that I kinda felt like I just had to go for it and see what happened. I didn't really tell anyone I was even attempting it because I didn't want anyone's opinions (good or bad) and I didn't want the added pressure when and if Silas didn't pick it up.

I decided to start on a Monday when my husband was going to be out of town. I thought "Alone with Silas. No distractions. Perfect time to start." What I didn't foresee was how emotionally and physically exhausting this process is and I wish I had done it when I had some support at home!

So here is the diary of potty training a toddler while pregnant. Very pregnant.