Potty Trainings: The Beginnings

*Warning: This post may contain too much information, especially for someone without small children at home.

We have unofficially started potty training Joshua. We are going the slow route. A year ago we purchased a potty which soon became the coolest stool ever.

A few months ago he would occasionally sit on it when I went to the bathroom, or when he was undressed before his bath. Then one day I was nursing Minna and he went into the bathroom, locked the door, stripped down half naked and said he was using the bathroom. Nothing actually happened, but Brian and I thought it was time to buy him some underwear so we could be prepared for when he was ready.

I read in a book and talked to a friend and both said to put the underwear on for a couple of hours for practice sessions. I like it because it keeps me and him from getting too tired or frustrated. So we asked Joshua if he would like to wear his Thomas the Train underwear. He broke into tears and was completely against the idea. We let some time go by, and about 6 weeks ago Joshua was in his bath and I just pulled out the underwear to look at. I showed him that one had Percy the train on it and Joshua was suddenly interested. (Joshua saw a Thomas the Train episode where Percy got a icicle frozen to his nose and Joshua has loved Percy ever since). So the next day I asked Joshua if he wanted to wear the Percy underwear, and he said no, but then I said would you like to try them on, you can take them off if you want. Joshua went for that, and once he got them on, he didn't want to take them off.

So when he wears the underwear he has to go sit on the potty every 20 minutes ish, and when he does he sits down, then puts his underwear back on, and then washes his hands, and then he gets one fruit snack (not a package, just one). I figure at least this way he will get in the habit of what is supposed to happen. When he pees we also make him sit on the potty. He has gotten to the point that when he starts to pee he will stop, or try to stop and then run to the bathroom. Then we get there and nothing happens and 5 minutes later he is running back to the bathroom and will finally pee in the potty. We have yet to get him to poop in the potty. I just make him sit on the potty after diaper changes in the hope that he gets the idea.

Now if you made it this far I have some funny stories about him.

At the beginning before he started becoming aware of how things worked, he thought he peed out of his belly button. He has an outie and when we asked him where he peed he would just poke his belly button. Now he realizes that it is just his belly button, but he thinks you have to have an outie to actually have a belly button. Brian has an innie and if we ask Joshua where Daddy's belly button is, Joshua will say that it is all gone.

Today he was going around smacking his bum saying "This is my bum-bum, where I poop". then he would smack his front and say "this is where I pee". At least we are starting to get it figured out.

Final story. Joshua loves his train underwear. Some have little trains all over them, and some have a big train that goes over the butt. With the latter ones, it bothers Joshua that he can't see the trains, so he puts the underwear on backwards. Since they are on backwards, his butt cheeks are all squished and if he moves wrong you can see crack, but in the front it is all baggy. Since it is all baggy he still can't see the train, so we have to pull them way up high. He looks ridiculous and it cracks me up.