Potty Training

Something we knew we would have to tackle when the children were placed with us was potty training, the oldest was already showing signs of being ready so we knew that once he was settled it was something we were going to help him with.

We did have a false start. He asked for pants. We followed his lead but after a week of constant accidents and distress we gently moved him back to pull ups and continued to encourage the use of the potty at set times - first thing in the morning, after breakfast, after meals and around bath time, Slowly he got better and better but in his own time. Looking back it feels like he rushed himself into pants too soon to prove something to us and in hindsight he has learnt that he didn't have anything to prove - we loved him no matter what he wore.

Anyway, some weeks later and with him being a lot more settled he asked for his pants again. We followed his lead and he has done so well. We had our share of accidents but I was amazed at how few. I was expected accidents on a daily basis and in our first 2 weeks we have a total of 3 accidents. I was amazed and so very proud of him. He did have a short period at school when his sister started of wetting himself to achieve some attention but that soon stopped when the pre school staff realised what he was doing and why - sharing something that has been his for a long time was hard for him.

I have called the process potty training but he very soon progressed to the toilet on his own special seat as he was too big for the potty and so were his 'desposits'. Plus, on a very selfish note, flushing the loo was a lot more pleasant for me than emptying the potty.

As an aside I am pretty sure the youngest is nowhere near ready but we are starting to lay some ground work down. She is getting familiar with the potty and the toilet as well as the routine of hand washing after using them plus we have moved her from nappies into pull ups so she can get used to pulling them up and down herself. She is getting better along with her ability to dress herself plus we are hoping this will help her with her anxiety over being changed at pre school. So far we are taking teeny tiny steps and with any luck she will tell us when she is ready but we have big girl pants at the ready.