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Jun. 8th, 2007 09:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivkaChild-rearing experts univerally agree that the worst possible time to make a big push towards potty training is when the child is facing some other major transition. Like, say, being about to start nursery school.
Alex does not read books by child-rearing experts.
About ten days ago, Alex decided to put herself through intensive potty boot camp. It's really the only way I can explain it. She started wanting to sit on the potty multiple times a day, sometimes staying there for 45 minutes or more. Inevitably, because she was spending half the day on the potty, she managed to pee in it a few times. Her success delighted her. And more: it enabled her to start figuring out how the whole process works.
Four times today, she interrupted her playing to announce that she needed to sit on the potty. Then she walked over to the potty, sat down, and peed. So it's not just "sit long enough and eventually it has to happen" anymore - she actually recognizes her body's signals, at least to some extent. (There were also plenty of false alarms.) It's so cool.
We're having her spend about half the day naked, and almost all of her successes are coming during naked time. After two accidents yesterday morning, she seems to have figured out how not to pee on the floor - which is nice, so I hope it lasts.
The most interesting aspect of all this, to me, is how little seems to be required from me and Michael. We sometimes suggest that she might want to sit on the potty. We help her undress. We read a lot of books while she sits. We provide practical advice when it seems like it might be useful. And we plan to take her shopping tomorrow to buy some underwear. But we don't, for example, require her to sit at certain times. We don't talk up the inconvenience of diapers. We haven't made a sticker chart or given prizes for peeing or promised her a special treat in exchange for a certain number of successes.
This isn't really about us, except inasmuch as everything a two-year-old does has to involve her parents closely. After all, this is the last time we would have picked for potty training. It's very much an internally motivated project of Alex's.
Alex does not read books by child-rearing experts.
About ten days ago, Alex decided to put herself through intensive potty boot camp. It's really the only way I can explain it. She started wanting to sit on the potty multiple times a day, sometimes staying there for 45 minutes or more. Inevitably, because she was spending half the day on the potty, she managed to pee in it a few times. Her success delighted her. And more: it enabled her to start figuring out how the whole process works.
Four times today, she interrupted her playing to announce that she needed to sit on the potty. Then she walked over to the potty, sat down, and peed. So it's not just "sit long enough and eventually it has to happen" anymore - she actually recognizes her body's signals, at least to some extent. (There were also plenty of false alarms.) It's so cool.
We're having her spend about half the day naked, and almost all of her successes are coming during naked time. After two accidents yesterday morning, she seems to have figured out how not to pee on the floor - which is nice, so I hope it lasts.
The most interesting aspect of all this, to me, is how little seems to be required from me and Michael. We sometimes suggest that she might want to sit on the potty. We help her undress. We read a lot of books while she sits. We provide practical advice when it seems like it might be useful. And we plan to take her shopping tomorrow to buy some underwear. But we don't, for example, require her to sit at certain times. We don't talk up the inconvenience of diapers. We haven't made a sticker chart or given prizes for peeing or promised her a special treat in exchange for a certain number of successes.
This isn't really about us, except inasmuch as everything a two-year-old does has to involve her parents closely. After all, this is the last time we would have picked for potty training. It's very much an internally motivated project of Alex's.
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Date: 2007-06-09 01:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-09 01:33 am (UTC)I do believe it was watching a pad change (while we were on the road, actually) that inspired Molly (at age five) to say, "Oh hey, Mom, I've been meaning to ask. I know how the egg from the mom and the sperm from the dad turn into a baby. But how does the sperm GET to the egg in the first place?"
(I gave her a brief but accurate answer. She said "EEEEEEEEEEW!" Conversation done. To my relief, she didn't offer up this new info as dinner conversation with my FIL two hours later.)