Potty Training

A few months ago, we noticed Aaron was displaying some signs of being ready for potty training. The primary one is that he knows when he has to poop and will even tell us right before he goes. Other signs I've read to look for are showing an interest in the potty (he's shown some interest, but not much), being able to pull his pants up and down (he still can't), and having words for potty related activity (he does).

So awhile back, Thom installed a new toilet seat in the guest bathroom (the one closest to Aaron's bedroom) that has a built in toddler seat between the regular toilet seat and the lid. I had originally thought we'd get him a little potty, but realized I had no interest in cleaning it out several times a day. So Thom discovered the one we ended up buying, which we like because it can't slip off like other ones we've seen that just sit on top of the toilet seat.

Although he showed some interest in the new potty seat, it was short lived. He does like to go to the bathroom with me when I go potty so he can flush the toilet when I'm done, which is something I've encouraged. Flushing the potty is for Aaron right up there with playing with his train set, it seems.

Although I'm not in a huge hurry to potty train Aaron, I feel like this is a good time to start. I don't want to start too close to the new baby's arrival and if we wait until he is used to the new baby, he will be nearly 3. I want to take advantage of his interest and his knowing when he needs to poop. So I picked up two popular potty books at the library to see if they increased his interest in using the potty: Once Upon a Potty (for Boys) and Everybody Poops, both of which have at least 4 stars on Amazon.com and were readily available at the library. I didn't want to purchase one without seeing if Aaron likes it.

I have to say, I'm not a big fan of Once Upon a Potty. She uses Wee-Wee for pee and Poo-Poo for poop, which seem even more childish than the words we use. Although the author says at the beginning that you can replace these terms with the ones you use when you read the books, my niece Larissa read this book to Aaron several times before I looked at it and he was already used to the words in the book by the time I tried to substitute my own words, so he corrected me. Plus, it is too hard to make sure Thom and Larissa and Kim and I all read it the same way.

But despite my not liking this book, Aaron LOVES it. He wants to read it multiple times a day. Over and over. And now he is asking to sit on the potty like the boy Joshua in the book. Not every day. And so far he hasn't done anything on the potty, but it is a start. So I have to say that the book seems like a good resource, even if I cringe whenever I read it.

The other book, Everybody Poops, is more amusing and he is showing more interest in that one, too. But it doesn't seem to have the same effect as Once Upon a Potty.

Someone commented to me a few months ago that with the new baby coming in October, I'll unfortunately have two kids in diapers. Actually, that really doesn't bother me. I realized when they said that that I really don't mind changing diapers. There are many things I'm dreading when the new baby arrives - sleep deprivation, crying, juggling the demands of two children - but diapers is not one of them. Diapers are convenient. If I had to wash cloth diapers out every day, I would probably have potty trained Aaron 2 years ago.

But disposable diapers are nothing. I like being able to go out with Aaron for a couple of hours and not worry about him needing to use a potty. Especially when some public restrooms can be so disgusting. I rarely even have to change a diaper when we are out because he almost never poops outside the house and we are generally aren't out long enough for him to need a wet diaper changed. So I'm not really looking forward to potty training, but it needs to be done. We aren't pushing it at this stage, but we are asking if he wants to sit on the potty and we praise him when he does.