Toilet Training

Since getting home from New Zealand I have been increasingly thinking about Daniel and toilet training. We have been asking him before bed and bath times if he needs to go to the toilet but he has started to just say 'no' and avoid the toilet. With the thought of him going to preschool next year I don't really want to leave toilet training until Summer because that's such a short window for him to learn but with going up to Hervey Bay I don't want him to be out of nappies because it's easier to fly with him in nappies.

I have been encouraging him to tell me when he needs to do a poo so he could do it in the toilet because I'm getting tired of cleaning him up but he hasn't shown any indication of telling me when he needs to do one or even when he has done one. It has been getting quite frustrating.

Today I mentioned that he is to enjoy having nappies because soon he will just be wearing undies. He then said 'Today I can wear undies'. I was surprised but told him that maybe after nap time he could wear undies but it would mean that he needs to do wees and poos in the toilet. He was pretty excited about it.

After nap time I got him up and took off his nappy and he asked to have undies on. He was keen so I felt that I shouldn't say no and instead see how he goes. He was very keen to wear his blue undies that I got out of the cupboard.

I kept asking Daniel if he needed to go to the toilet while he was playing but he kept saying no. After about 10mins he came up to me saying 'Mummy, I need to go to the toilet'. We ran to the toilet but he had already done a wee in his undies. He sat on the toilet but nothing came.

We changed his undies and he kept playing. He then ran to the toilet saying 'Mummy, come!' so we sat on the toilet but it was a false alarm. Nothing came beside a drip. He went back to playing and about 5mins later he ran to the toilet saying, "Mummy, come!" Again, he had gone in his undies. 

I see this time as a period of understanding the feelings prior to going. I told him that it was ok and that accidents happen. We changed his undies again and he continued playing. Pretty soon he called 'Come Mummy, quick!'. He had opened the toilet door and was ready to go. He needed to do a wee. He had leaked a little bit but sitting on the toilet he did a massive wee! We were both so very excited. I was really proud of him.

After his wee we changed his undies again and then he continued to play. About 5mins later he ran to the bathroom and called out 'Mummy come!!' I asked him if it was for a wee and he said 'No, a poo'. This was very impressive as he hasn't done a proper poo in the toilet. We got his undies down (clean ones this time) and he sat on the toilet and did a massive poo. I was so proud of him. We did lots of cheering and clapping. Such a brilliant job. He was very, very, very proud of himself. James wasn't home yet and was on the train so we sent him a video message telling him the exciting news.

He then had another false alarm while eating dinner and another accident just before getting into his pajamas but on the whole I am very proud of him for doing 1 wee and 1 poo in the toilet tonight. We might do undies after nap time each day because we tend to stay at home and then after Hervey Bay try undies during the day. I will wait and see how he goes for night times and nap times. At the moment his nappies are quite wet each time so that probably won't be any time soon but that's ok. It's a start and I'm very proud of him for today!!