Potty Training Part 1

Hunter is now 2 years and almost 3 months old and while we have been working on potty training since before his 2nd birthday he is still not fully potty trained. This really doesn't bother or stress me out very much because I know that boys can often times take longer than girls to potty train and I know that eventually he will be potty trained. I've yet to meet someone who went off to college still wearing diapers. Since this is basically my journal and keepsake of the main events in our lives I wanted to write a little about the potty training journey so far.

A couple of months before Hunter turned 2 they started putting him on the potty at daycare. They would sit him on the little toilet in the room throughout the day but he very rarely went. We had bought both a small potty to sit on the floor and a seat adapter to go on the big toilet for our house so that he could try both options and we would occasionally sit him on both. I didn't want to really even push it at home until he started going more consistently at daycare. I will say that one of the benefits of daycare is having them help with potty training and makes it even more worth all the money we are paying them. I figured if he got used to going there during the day than it shouldn't be that hard to get him to go at home. I was wrong.

After he turned 2 and moved into the Preschool 1A class he had to start wearing pull ups instead of diapers and they were more consistent with making all the kids sit on the potty every hour unless they showed signs of needing to go even sooner. Not long after he turned 2 and moved to the new class he started going more often while at daycare. Typically he will go pee in the potty between 1-4 times a day while at daycare. He has only pooped a few times and that was just because they were able to catch him and get him to the potty in time. He no longer cries or gets upset when he goes at school. He has even gone while standing up "like daddy". They give the boys the option to either stand up or sit down since some do better with one way vs. the other.

Now when he's at home he will NOT pee or poop on the potty. We've tried using the small one on the floor and sitting him on the big toilet. He will sit for a few minutes then say "All done" and ask for his diaper. We've tried giving him books to read and the iPad while he sits there but he will only sit for a few minutes before insisting he gets off. I don't want to force him to stay on it and make it a traumatic experience so I don't fight him too much if he asks to get off. He will even tell us he needs to use the potty but he will hold it until he has his diaper back on. So at least we know he has the ability to hold it. And he will tell us before and after if he needs to or has already gone. But for some reason he just won't do it at home.

We've tried bribing with candy and toys but that hasn't worked either. I know part of the problem is that we aren't as consistent with sitting him on it every hour the way they do at daycare so that's definitely our fault. I really think if he can just go even once or twice in the potty at home that will get him over whatever fear or hang up that he's having with it and he will start going more consistently. I think this based on other "fears" he's had with things. Once he does something once and sees that it's not scary or a big deal he's totally fine.

So I finally went out and bought him some underwear and I'm hoping if we start putting him in that after he has a few accidents it may help inspire him to go in the potty because he won't like being wet and he will get upset if he ends up peeing on the floor or couch. I'm also going to try a reward chart to see if having something physical to look at to track his progress will also help him. It's much harder to do this when we aren't home with him all day everyday but I'm hoping maybe after even doing it a couple days over the weekend we will get some improvement at home. I would like to have him fully (daytime) trained by the summer but if that doesn't happen I'm not going to stress it too much. To be honest I'm a little nervous to give up the convenience of diapers and not having to worry about rushing to find a bathroom if we're out in public or driving in the car.