Sunday, February 3, 2008

Well..... I thought I would list the steps in the "potty training guide" for/by my kids

I have five little ones in diapers or pull ups and a little princess who thinks should be able to wear a pull up cause Colin & Melea are older.... so there is way to much talk about urination and defication in our house so I will let you in on the steps and where each one is to date!

1) We figure out we don't like having our diaper changed! But we also don't like being messy either! (Miranda is here..... but she is well on her way to step 2)


2) We learn to take off our own clothes and start exploring what is on our bottom and have a lot of fun making mom put our clothes back on all the time (Jordan is here...... just today I have put his pants back on 11 times) as well as get really interested at putting stuff in the potty and playing in the water seems to happen here!


3) We now consistently take off all of our clothes and bottom covering and like running around butt naked and peeing on anything while mom chases us! As well as requiring me to be ever vigellent at locating the lost diaper(s) and missing clothes...... (Eliza is here)
This is one of my least favorite stages.... only trumped by the poop scooting & painting stage. It is also characterized by putting diapers in weird spots or making hats from them! Eliza is an actual master of gettin her diaper off through her leg or some other contortion I have yet seen her physically do.... but the clothes sometime stay on (or she puts them back on!)
Most of my children.... when in stage three........ get to wear pj's to nap in (cause it saves time and carpet cleaner). I just have to put it on backwards so they can't get out. This is the ironic thing from all that OT practice and learning to zip up your own coat.... you also learn to take of your clothes! Yeah (with a sarcastic note!) The backward PJ thing is after we have mastered safety pins, and safety pins through the zipper. If they are as good as colin was... eventually we have even had to safety pin the backwards pj mode.

4) The poop sco0ting and painting stage. Enough said.... no one is here now! Thank theLord! but believe it or not this was Adrians favorite stage! SHe stayed in it from 13 months till she was potty trained fully at about 27 months!
5) They I have to point to my body parts and ask you what they are called tell you what they do phase......
I pretty much thank heaven that Colin doen't talk cause he runs around signing penis and poop a lot and I am happy yhta most people do not know sign language well enough to interpret this.......
however this is a major break through cause at least he knows he poops & pees.... I think he was so confused for a few years about where it came frome.... he would always look at me puzzled and put his pout to the side and shrug his shoulders. (Colin is sort of here..... but at least he now keeps his diaper on at night! So I hope no more stage 4 cause he has outgrown most of the zipper one piece pj's and is so limber I have actually watched him wriggle out of them

6) We are trying to be potty trained and go sometimes ....WHEN WE FEEL LIKE IT!!! but other times we just fill up our pull up and say we do not want to be changed and protest at the top of our lungs if mommy makes us change our pants! (Melea is here)

Fun thing about this stage..... is there seems to be no rhyme or reason about when she wants to use the potty...... it is her idea. I am looking foward to summer when she can just wear her underware & swim suit outside to play and then if she "misses" she gets an immediate consequence that we can't do in the house.....

Ok really this mom is just dreaming for summer with diaper / swimsuit days and 1/2 the laundry I have in the winter!

7) The I wear underware inside my pullup so I know when I pee and mess up. (Melea is here on the weekends and after school) It really makes her remeber.... so I know when we can do this almost all day without the pull up .....she will be finished up soon


8) In the stage where we yell at the top of lungs in the mall...."MOM why don't you just pee in your diaper!" When I have just told Eric I need to find a bathroom NOW, and your daughter thinks a sanitary napkin is a grown up diaper. (ADRIAN IS HERE....again there are days I am glad Colin only signs and Melea doesn't always speak clearly!)


9) We actually wear underware and are required to make 8 trips to the bathroom when we are out for 2 hours..... just so we can visit the toilet, say hi, and make sure we know where it is in case we need it (Adrian also here!)

10) The day I am most looking foward to....... not carrying a diaper bag (OK mine is a huge back back) anymore.... but a real small and sleak purse! I am thinking 2015 to 2018 as a possibility! With my luck backpacks will be the rage then!

5 comments:

Karen S. said...

Try potty training rewards. The audio and chocolate treats were powerful incentives to fully potty train our son. Here is the website www.pottytrainingrewards.com

JennyH said...

I hate the poop painting stage!!!
We also have to visit every bathroom in public everytime we go out.

junglemama said...

Oh my! None of my kids really did this. I remember only one of them taking their diaper off once. You are one amamzing lady! :)

WheresMyAngels said...

OMgosh, that is so funny (and gross, lol)My oldest daughter had very hard constipated little balls of poo. Twice she thought the little brown balls rolling around her playpen were yummies to eat.

WheresMyAngels said...

Ok have to add that the other day my 3 year old put a pad in her underwear and peed on it (she is potty trained), cause that is what she thinks mommy and her older sisters do!! lol