Our family has been working on potty training for awhile now, not as long as some family members think we should. We have tried a few tactics and have had a few minor successes. The biggest success the girls have both had is realizing what they are supposed to happen on the potty.
Both girls realize after the fact that they have “gone” in their diaper. We taught them this not by using pull-ups, but by putting underwear on under their diapers. When they wet themselves, the underwear stayed wet. They have been running to the potty after they wet themselves for a few weeks now, but haven’t had the control to get to the potty beforehand.
Knowing after thorough research, it seems the limiting factor to potty training is muscle control. They have to be able to control the potty muscles to be successful and this control comes with age. Some kids develop control sooner than others and every kid is different. Instead of taking the old school approach of sitting them on the potty every hour for weeks and stressing over potty time, we have taken the laid back approach.
We know the girls understand the concept as they demonstrate the knowledge every time they soil their diaper. Wet and dirty diapers bother Nadia and Nicole just as much as they bother us. When they wet their diapers, we talk about potty’ing and where it should happen.
Today, we had a major success. Nadia has been rushing to the potty for the last few days and taking off her own diaper, but has yet to hold it long enough. Today she made it. She got her diaper off (it was still dry) and sat on the potty and pee’d in the potty all by herself. After lots of praise and high fives, we cleaned the potty. She has made a few more attempts throughout the day and almost made it.
We are almost there and very anxious for this major step in childhood to be accomplished. Good job Nadia Padia!!
