It’s a rite of passage for every kid. LJ is almost 33 months old and come 
September he’ll be entering preschool.
However, in order to actually ENTER preschool, he has to be potty trained. My anxiety about this “rule” is obnoxiously over-ruling any thought of happiness that I may have some actual “mommy time” in the coming school year.
I’ve used the checklists on various sites that indicate that LJ is ready to potty train. He’s done both “duties” on the toilet, and proudly professes it for the world to hear.
Unfortunately, we cannot get him in a routine to do “it” on the toilet. It’s a come-and-go thing. Some days he says “Mommy, I potty,” and I quickly seize the opportunity to save the planet from a wet or stinky diaper, but days like today there is no interest and no effort on his part.
LJ: “Mommy, I poop.”
Mommy: “Okay, LJ, let’s go potty on the toilet!”
LJ: “Nope, no potty on toilet mommy. No poop.”
Mommy: “You mean, you don’t have to go? Did you go already?”
I take a peek and see no evidence of anything happening or happened.
I’ve heard from several mommies, that I shouldn’t push the issue, so I don’t. BUT, not even two minutes later, LJ has done the duty in his pants! UGH!
Come on kid!
Use the toilet!! save the planet!!
I feel like we’ve tried everything. We’ve tried:
- the potty chair
- Elmo’s potty chart
- we’ve tried stickers
- sweets
- rewards
- a Potty Tots potty kit
- cool pull-ups that turn cool when wet
Nothing seems to be driving home the understanding that we use the toilet to go potty now. There are oodles and oodles of resources for kids to use when potty training and for parents to learn how to do it successfully!
Nothing seems to be working here. Now that it is nice out here, I think we’ll try the “straight to undies” technique outside and let him feel wet. It’s the latest potty training tip I’ve heard.
So what are some tricks?
How did you do it? We need to be potty trained by September 1st! Otherwise, I guess we’ll be donating hundreds of more dollars to Huggies and continuing to study 101 Ways to Potty Train.
~Amber
featured writer
I love this pic! LJ is so cute!
I love this pic with the potty! LJ is so sweet!
I’m in the same boat, as we speak. In fact, about 1 minute ago I was changing wet pants. I’ve tried everything I’ve ever heard of. And to no avail. I’m hoping & praying he’s potty trained by 8/17, when he starts school Unfortunatley (sp?), it’s like eating & sleeping, it’s one of those things you simply can’t force. Good luck & know you’re not alone!
Great ideas! I think I’ll talk DH into the “liquid diet” and see if we can get started on that (thanks Kadi). Seriously, I’ll try anything. I also think I’m going to buy a kitchen timer and call it the potty timer, so every 30 minutes LJ will hear it chime and he’ll get on the potty. Thanks for the tips everybody!
Shan @Last Shreds Of Sanity wrote:
OOOPS! I meant we got the potty chair in Sept. of ’07 NOT ’08. Sorry!
I went through almost the same exact thing with my daughter!
We got her a potty chair {Winnie-the-Pooh} in Sept. of ’08 {she was 2 1/2}. Not 20 minutes after I took it out of the box, she went peepee in it, without being prompted by us. I was so proud and stupidly thought, “Hey this is going to be a breeze!”. boy was I wrong! The Diva had other plans.
She would only go sporadically or when the mood struck her, which wasn’t often. She wants to go to preschool, but she must be potty trained for the public {and free} school here. We tried everything. The pull-ups with the cool alert did not phase her one bit. So we started making her change her own pull-up. She would change the peepee ones, but if she went poopoo, she would scream “I can’t change it! I’m going to get poopoo on my hands!” Lord, my girl has an out for everything! LOL
This past Christmas, we bought her some underwear, but I didn’t give them to her to wear until about a month ago. Now remember, we started the “no pushing” potty training at 2 1/2, she is now 4. When we gave them to her to wear, finally, we told her that if she peepee’d or poopoo’d in them, they would be thrown away and not washed. This did not make her happy at all. She had one accident the first day and brought me her wet undies with a very sorrowful look on her face. She had two other “half” accidents where she was trying to make it to the toilet, but didn’t quite get there. It’s been a little over a month, and the only thing she has done is forgotten to wipe her bum well enough and gotten poopoo on her undies. I think that is a pretty good track record. So far, anyway.
I was afraid of putting her in underwear because I didn’t feel like having to clean up pee from God knows where in my house {I already have to do that for our damn cat}, but it worked out pretty well. I started to kick myself about not having tried this sooner, but I think she really wasn’t ready before now. It probably would have been a disaster, anyway.
Well, that’s my story. I hope it helps.
First of all, I really hate pre-schools with that rule! All it does is create anxiety for mom & kid. I truely believe that when they’
re ready to do it, they will. Up until that point, just go with the flow. Remember the old saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” Find another pre-school that’s not so strick.
What worked for us: we’d been doing the on-again/ off-again thing from 2-3yrs old. then when he was about 3yrs & a few months, we wee at the park and a 10yo boy let him play with his soccer ball. When we left ds said he wanted a soccer ball too. I said, “When you can go potty all by yourself everyday, I’ll take you to the toy store and you can pick out you own soccer ball.” That did it. We had to remind him a few times, but that kicked it into high gear, and after about 3months, he was doing all potty by himself, we took him to the store. Each day we also did m&m’s as daily rewards.
another for naked training. I didn’t use pull ups ever. I tried underwear the first week but, she still had something on so went in them. I switched to naked training and she learned to be able to feel the sensations of going poo and pee. She would tell me or act weird so I would take her. One week of naked training she was doing well so we went back to underwear. Aside from a few accidents she has done great. I started at 22 mos and she was fully trained before her second birthday. I started because she had signs of knowing when she was going.
Also, a month before I started training her, I put her on the toilet seat cover I bought for her without putting any pressure on her and to get her used to it. When we started training, she was familiar with it and wasn’t afraid.
Angry Toddler was 3.5 years old. He had been wearing pull-ups for 9 months prior. He was in regular underwear full time for 2 months before he was completely trained. Every day he had a poop accident. One day, he went poop in the toilet. It was Halloween. He has 2 accidents since then.
I went to undies each time. Yes, there were accidents. Yes, it was frustrating at times, going back and forth with my youngest, but I managed to get all three of them trained in one year.
Going by my experience, he’s ready. My youngest wanted to and then didn’t want to, then wanted to and it wasn’t until I said ok, that it – we are making up our mind and I stood my ground that she finally conquered it. As a matter of fact, I scored a really good deal on diapers when I said that’s it. I got them just in case. Never opened them. I suppose I need to get around to giving them away…
Also, when getting all three of them to go out in public or anywhere really, we all go pottie before we left and we all went pottie when we got there. I also ask them, even now, periodically if they have to go. Alot of times they’ll say no, so if by the third or fourth time, we all take a trip to the bathroom, just in case. Usually, they are peeing like a race horse.
Luckily, the only time any of them have had an accident in public is when *I* forgot to have them go once we go there.
Every child is different, even among my three… if you feel he’s giving you the signals that he’s ready, then he’s ready.
Best wishes! I hope all of this makes sense.
We honestly just waited until my 3 yo was absolutely ready. He’s 3 1/2 and we are reviewing potty tots right now. We’ve been potty training a week and half and he’s pretty much got it. It was worth the extra time in diapers because of the hassle it would have been when he wasn’t ready. I’m a firm believer that if they are REALLY ready, they will do it in a couple weeks. Yes, he is a bit older and I’ve gotten slack from other people, but we did what worked for us
I totally agree with the naked training too. Worked wonders 
Promise you won’t laugh. I left it to my mom. She had her trained in one weekend.
My son is a different story. He is 10 and autistic. No, he isn’t potty trained. We are working on it. Our latest technique is to take something away from him when he wets his pullup and to give him something back when he goes independently to the bathroom. It is like a tug of war. He doesn’t want to be potty trained, but he doesn’t like losing all of his things.
Bottom line, it is up to the child what technique will work. My mom put my daughter in underwear and refused to let her wear a pullup. My daughter didn’t want her underwear wet or dirty, so she used the potty.
I’m going through the exact same thing with my 33 month old girl. She hates sitting on the toilet and thinks that if she has gone once then that’s enough for the day. Thankfully she does know when she has to poop on the toilet. I’ve gone straight to underwear but she has accidents and then I put her back into underwear while we g out. It’s so hard to remain consistent
I know of 2 people that did the “Potty party” and it worked really well for them. It is from this book: “Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day: Proven Secrets of the Potty Pro” by Teri Crane and Philip Caravella M.D. I read the book and I think it was really informational and I am making plans to do the party with my daughter. I have my fingers crossed. It basically is to have one day where you focus on going potty and basically nothing else. In the morning you and your child try to teach a baby doll to go potty with potty charts and treats for the doll, then in the afternoon it’s your child’s turn. You play games and watch potty training movies and give your child your undivided attention all day. Maybe it would work for you! I would love to know what you find that works for you.
I’ve heard of a method that takes a short amount of time to complete. You give the child a TON of liquids. Whatever his favorite is….even soda. Pump him full of the stuff and keep only undies on him. Every 30 minutes you need to put him on the potty and tell him it is time to go.
Do not ask him. You kindly inform him that it is potty time. If it needs to be more often than 30 minute increments, do so. Just do not plan on going anywhere for the three days that you do this method. It could take up to a week, according to some. But I’ve heard that people get great results from it.
Do not switch from pull ups to underwear. That will confuse him. Buy some plstic underwear covers for the nighttime in case he has an accident. Do not regress. This is key. Stop giving liquids after dinner time. Take him before bedtime and first thing when he gets up.
I’m curious to know if you have success! Please let us know what works for you!
I’m another naked trainer. I’ve done 3 boys, 2 at the same time (twins). Take the cloths off. They have much better luck if they don’t have to think about underwear/pull ups. Toddlers don’t have the forethought. They feel like they need to go, they go NOW. Having no pants in the way make it more likely they will get to the toilet in time.
We still have accidents (6 months later). But we are dry in underwear 90% of the time.
Andrea wrote:
That sounds like a great idea…I may have to convince hubby of that, although I’m not sure LJ will care if he pees or poops on the floor. Good thing we have all hardwood floors!
We did naked training. That was the only thing that worked for my stubborn then three year old. I didn’t put any diapers or pants on him when we were at home, I am a SAHM, and he would not go on the floor so he had no choice but to run to the potty. After a couple weeks of that we transitioned to undies and pull ups at nap time.
What is it with toddlers and plungers? I have to hide my plunger and toilet scrub brush or my daughter plays with them! I am looking forward to potty training… I can’t stand the diapers anymore! I’ve attended potty parties in our neighborhood for little ones who are potty trained… pretty darn cute!
We did straight to undies with my two oldest. I just made them understand that NOT going in the potty was NOT an option. They both caught on quickly and were completely potty trained by 2 1/2..I can’t wait to train my youngest…I’m sick of diapers already!