potty training : by jean

Miles recently started doing this thing where he goes off into some corner where no one can see him so he can squat down and poop.  If I come by to see him, he immediately stands up, holds his hand up and says "no umma, nooo."  If I ask him if he's "all done?" he proceeds to point to his behind and says "more, more."

He also learned to pull down his pants and at times likes to take his diaper off himself.  He definitely likes to be free from his diaper but makes us very nervous as he runs around the apartment naked.

My mom (who potty trained my sister before she could even walk) is so determined to get him potty trained while she stays with us for the next couple of months.  Anytime she doesn't see him, she will go find him and proceed to put him down on the toilet and tell him to go "eunnggg ga"(push to poop). We've only been successful once so far.  He doesn't enjoy sitting on the toilet.  I've been holding back on getting those little potties because I don't want to deal with cleaning it up after he does his business.  Am I being selfish?  Probably!  But if I can get him do it directly into the toilet, why not, right?

Well, I was wrong.  Miles hated the toilet so we finally got him his own potty.  I wanted something small and functional so I got him this.

Baby Bjorn Smart Potty

And then the real training began.  My mom was watching him about 3 days a week so we officially started when he would be home with my mom and into the weekend before going to daycare.  My mom had him sit down so he can watch himself pee and eventually poop.  We had a lot of accidents where he would tell us after he peed and pooped but since he wasn't wearing a diaper, he soon learned to tell us right before he was about to go, and we would rush him and have him sit down. I think the key is to let them be diaper-free in the beginning so they feel themselves getting wet and soiled because they typically don't like it.  

By the time Miles was back at daycare, he LOVED to tell you "peep peep" and would sit and pee in the potty.  We started to teach him to pee in a container standing up after he watched his dad do it. His daycare also reinforced stand-up-peeing, and he mastered that in a day.  While teaching him to poop in the potty, Miles got constipated so for a good week he would NOT go poop in the potty.  He was scared and kept saying "owy owy."  We washed a lot of poop-stained pants that week.  GROSS!

After a week of Miles protesting to poop in the potty, my mom convinced him that the small potty was for babies!  I think it took her 2 days to convince him, and then one day I got a text at work of Miles sitting on the big toilet going poop!  He officially became potty trained a week before he turned 2! YAY!

Seriously, grandmas are the best!

So now Miles is fully potty trained and only wears a diaper to sleep.  The kids at daycare are fascinated by Miles peeing and all crowd around the bathroom as he goes.  LOL!

Another milestone...they sure do grow up fast!