Well, that was fun, being awakened at four thirty in the morning by Adelay SCREAMING INCONSOLABLY because she had actually been woken up by her need to pee. I was trying to be happy and enthusiastic about it for her, despite the inconvenience- "That's great, sweetie, what a big girl! It's GOOD that you woke up!" but it was kind of hard to stay peppy while she sat on her potty chair, weeping and shrieking as though she was in the throes of a night terror or something. The sobbing made the process considerably lengthier, too, since it's kind of hard, apparently, to urinate when you're busy having a nervous breakdown.
Once she finished, she was remarkably cheerful, though, and demanded her mini candy cane as per usual, a potty reward which I am strongly considering ditching pretty soon here. This leads me to question one: At what point is it safe to stop excessively praising and rewarding a child for using the toilet? I mean, I worry about the sugar intake from all the treats, but on the other hand, I would hook her up to a glucose drip for a month if that's what it took to keep her on the path to Toilet Independence. Do you think two weeks has been long enough?
Question two: How do you get a kid who's doing really well on her potty chair to transition to the actual toilet? I mean, she's only had about three accidents in the last week or so, and those were all incidents of not getting there fast enough rather than totally forgetting and just peeing all over the sofa or something. So is she far enough on the path, do you think, that we could kind of insist on her trying to use the big potty without putting her off the process altogether? Emptying the little one is getting REALLY old...
Question three: Does anyone have any of the LeapFrog systems? We have an older one that was given to us, but it's been discontinued and we'd have to buy the cartridges on eBay. We also checked out some of the newer ones and they SEEM great, but it also seems like it could be one of those overhyped but little used type of things. So if any of you have had actual experience with them, I'd love to hear what your kids (and you) thought of them.
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1 - d has been potty trained for almost a year and STILL sometimes demands candy after peeing. Not always, but I do give it if he asks because he had a few really annoying relapses in the last 6 months.
Anyway, I started phasing it out at about a month and did stickers instead for awhile and then he sort of just forgot if I didn't remind him.
2 - I just told him he was big enough to use the big potty after about a month or so and he was cool with it. We put a little step stool and a child insert on it and he was good to go.
The little annoying potty is STILL in the car though.
3 - ??
Back to your question/comments several posts ago... in which you were longing for more children... you do realize that potty training happens with all of them and it doesn't necessarily get any easier...
1 - I stopped after the 2nd or 3rd day lol. If she didn't ask for one, I didn't give it to her. But I still give them a peppermint patty (mini) every day with their lunch so..
2 - my kid is going to be 5 in may and still insists on using the little potty. Thankfully I've convinced her at least do #2 in the real toilet. I might as well leave the little potty there since I have 2 more to train, one fo them HOPEFULLY SOON. I have tried to tell her to quit it but she won't hear of it. She's kind of small and I know she'd have way more accidents because she doesn't give herself enough time to get up on the throne. At least my throne remains preschooler pee free.
3 - we have the "my first" and 2 leapsters and they are great. The kids love them and use them often and it holds their attention.
1. I phased out the treats once she was asking to go (instead of me asking her)
2. She started out on the big toilet, so I'm no help there.
3. We have both the My First Leap Pad and and another one that is a little bigger and incorporates printing letters (can't remember what it's called). My kids enjoyed them in short phases, but if I didn't bring them out, they wouldn't have asked for them. They really like the Fridge Phonics.
for anonymous: you should take credit for such an insightful comment. are you planning on getting out of bed tomorrow? you do realize that every day you live your life it doesn't necessarily get any easier...
Sorry my little bear was being crazy! Give her kisses from her aunt, and some to my little chubbers as well
Boo anoymous! Of course she knows she will have to potty train more childre. Duh! Sarah is a great mother. Leave her alone. OK, I'm done now.
I'm so glad to hear that Addy is doing great with the potty training. Zachariah is doing well too...at home, it's another story when we're away. Must keep plugging away at it.
1. I've been wondering the same thing. My kid has been hyped up on sugar for weeks now. But if he's going potty, I'll keep doling it out for now. I'm listening carefully to the advice of your other commenters.
2. That's a good question too. I think Zachariah's problem with not going anywhere other than home is he likes his little potty. I'm in trouble if there isn't one somewhere else (which there isn't anywhere other than here). I'm hoping he'll be interested in standing up to pee soon, then it will be easier to use the big potties.
1. I think I kept up the sweet rewards for about a month...? We're working on night-training now. I give her candy for staying dry through the night. She's been promised a Build-A-Bear if she can keep it up for more than a week. *sigh* No success yet!
2. I can't remember when we started on the big potty. I think it was rather quickly. I didn't like cleaning up the little potty, either. And both potty chairs (for both bathrooms) were also step stools, so she could reach... Public restroom potties tend to be bigger. It wasn't a problem until the third. She really had a fear of falling in. With her I actually had to use the little mini-cover thingy I had bought with the FIRST. She wouldn't use a public restroom without it. I think it took six months before she finally got over that fear. And don't get me started on her fear of the automatic flushies!
3. My First Leappad: was Ok. Not too bad. Some issues with the games not playing sometimes. We found that if we gave it a bit of a rest, it would start working again.
LeapPad: We're still using the very first one we bought, oh, say, five years ago? I don't know if they're selling them anymore, though. If you want one (and a couple of games), let me know. We have an extra that was given to us. And we may get rid of it altogether as we have upgraded....
Leapster 1: We've gone through I think FIVE of these at last count. Two main issues: The kid would turn it on and then it would immediately power down; The pen would not work on the screen. We had one die within three weeks of buying it (and wouldn't ya know it, I didn't keep the receipt?). But Keith LOVED this thing. He would just BAWL when it started acting up. He was pretty upset when we decided to not to buy any more!
Leapster 2: So far, so good. We got it for x-mas for the 4-y.o., and made a strict rule that she is not allowed to change cartridges OR batteries--an adult has to do it (we were afraid that the last Leapster "incident" was due to kids blowing on the cartridges--as they'd seen Mom and Dad do--and then getting food particles in the game! not to mention the ramming and jamming when they were upset!). Izzy is really, really enjoying it. It seems to be OK so far, but I'm not holding my breath.
Didj: Mary and Keith just got these for x-mas, and they LOVE them. The graphics are just awesome, and the games are fun. Once again, we're hopeful: we took a gamble on these (and the Leapster 2) after the dismal performance of the Leapster.
We have had a My First Leappad, which Patrick used for a year or so, and liked enough until he learned to use the Leapster, which we still have and is only now falling by the wayside, after being used first by Josie and then for several more years by Patrick (it's six years old now). I just got the didj, and both kids really like it, which is a good sign, since Josie is a little picky about things. Oh, and we also had the Leap Pad, the original one with the cartridges and books, and that got a decent amount of use, too. Do you have a Five Below store near you? They still sell those. Also, some public libraries carry them.
I used very small treats - m & m's or chocolate chips - and phased them out when the kiddo was using the potty consistently. I didn't try to transition them to the toilet until they were really thoroughly potty-trained, and then used one of those step-stool/potty chairs that fits on the toilet. I've known a lot of kids who were spooked by the big toilet and wanted to avoid any regression. Cuz as gross as emptying the potty is, emptying a pair of panties is worse.
1- we used m&m's or skittles for rewards- one for pee, 2 for poop. We did this for quite awhile, until we ran out, or were out of town, or some such where it just sort of phased out.
2- my kids all prefered the big potty, so I'm not sure... once she starts going in public though, she'll probably be more likely to go in the big one at home.
3- we have the leap pad, which was NEVER played with and we now have the leapster, which is played with more. They like to take them in the car and such. I'm not sure I would buy it again though... they like it, but for the cost, I'm not sure they like it enough. (BTW, they were gifts, so that helps!) Also, the games are at least $20 buck apiece.
OK, I have answers to none of your questions, but can I just say that I totally feel for her on this one? I hate waking up in the middle of the night and having to get out of the nice cozy bed because I have to pee.
I wish I had a minute to read the comments to see if I'm repeating, but alas... I'll take my chances.
1. I stopped rewarding gradually. First it was a hurried, "ok! Let's go do something fun!" out of the bathroom and treats only sporadically. Then I gave them for #2s for awhile, since those are a lot harder.
2. We started using one of those potty rings on top of the big toilet. The little potty chair actually um, disappeared because I was so darn sick of cleaning it. The ring is a blessing and curse. She's capable of going without it, but insists. I don't mind too much because it's a heck of a lot easier than the nastiness of a potty chair.
3. My nephews have the tag system which is AWESOME. It's on our wish list. They also have the leapster handheld game system? (I think that's what it is... they love it). We have an older beginning system and I'm not really all that impressed. Neither is the kid. But the Tag system? Worth it. There's a knock off that I found in Walmart that I'm interested in checking the reviews on.
1- Can you switch to some non-candy reward, like stickers or something? I only ask that if you are concerned about the sugar. Otherwise I think switching to a smaller treat is good too - like a chocolate chip.
2- Peer pressure. Harper had no interest in the toilet until she saw her friend use it. Any pint-sized toilet users you could invite over to play?
3- I'm actually not a fan of electronic things like that for kids, especially kids who aren't school aged yet. I won't get on a soap box here, and I know LOTS of people love them. If you want that kind of input (i.e. reasons to maybe not use them) you can email me and I will happily share. But I don't judge people for using them, I've just avoided that particular path for now.
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