As it seems to go with most things in my life, just when I thought we were SOOOO close to being potty trained, Graham decided otherwise :( In the past 2 weeks Graham has completely regressed on the potty training front, as if he somehow knew Lent was ending or something. Around the last week of March Graham got another "stomach bug" we'll call it forcing us to go back to using diapers for a couple of days. Ever since then, the kid refuses to go #2 on the potty... just WON"T do it. On Thursday we sat on the potty for literally an hour reading books and singing songs etc and the minute I gave up and put his underwear on, he pooped! Really, give Momma a break!
I've tried stickers and candy, bribes and toys, jumping up and down, singing praising songs, I'm all out of ideas to get Graham pumped about going potty again. And with each day I get more frustrated because I know he knows enough to tell me when he has to go, he just won't. I'm lucky if he tells me when he has to pee or "twinkle" as he calls it. How does this happen? Graham went from telling me all the time, to honestly only telling me when he wants to get out of doing something else, like riding in the grocery cart, then he has to go potty or eating the rest of his lunch, then he magically has to go. So how do I get back on the band wagon?
I thought about just giving up for a while and trying again closer to when he is 2 1/2, but I just feel like he is so close, why give up now? So my only other thought is to try a new potty. I was totally against buying one of the little potties that sit on the floor because let's be realistic, I have enough crap to clean up without adding another potty. But in the hopes that Graham will like the independence of being able to "do it myself" I think am going to break down and buy one, along with an "Elmo Goes Potty" DVD. I know, I know... I also feel like this is a step in the wrong direction, but something's got to give because we are making no progress in the Ahlers' potty training department and Momma is getting a little sick of the ever-increasing laundry situation! Here's to putting all my egg's in Elmo's basket... work your magic you little red furry thing!
oh man! you guys are my inspiration! i was totally just wondering if johnny would be ready when he turned 2 (cause i keep hearing boys are harder) and thought that you guys were getting it! :) i guess i have a few more months to figure it out! :)
ReplyDeleteI still think Graham is ready, I just think we are on hiatus right now. I'm refusing to quit... as is my nature.... the Elmo stuff as helped a lot, so hopefully we can just go #2 that one time so he knows it's not scary and then we can move back to where we were.
ReplyDeleteHey Kate! So I have an idea for you that worked for Luke. I took Luke to Target and let him pick out his favorite new underwear. We both 2 packs of it. The next time he pooped his pants, I took out the scissors and cut off the underwear and threw it in the trash. He was so upset that I threw his underwear away that he immediately started going in the potty again. And except for a few accidents (that I also cut off and threw away with scissors), he was good!
ReplyDeleteSo use up the diapers and invest in some cute underwear that you will put in the trash. It's worth it.
Ooh, that's a really good idea, especially if he picked them out. Maybe we'll have to take a special trip to target tomorrow. He has been doing some better with peeing on the potty, but he still REFUSES to go #2. He will hold it all day until you get him ready for bed and put his diaper on just so he doesn't have to go in the big boy potty... boys! :) Thanks for the idea!
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