We have unofficially started potty training Finn. Several months ago, we started taking off his diaper before bath time and trying to get him to pee in the toilet. It worked once. After that one time, he would refuse to pee in the toilet and as soon as I would give up trying to get him to go, he would walk over to the rug and pee on it instead. Naturally, I got tired of having to wash the rug all the time and when I didn't have time to wash it, the bathroom would stink to high heaven, so we gave up.
But in the last week of May, Ben suggested that we give it another go. We had success right away and Finn was so thrilled with peeing in the toilet, that I thought, "Maybe we could try this during the day?" So anytime I was going to change his diaper, I said in a very excited voice, "Let's go potty!!!!!" Finn would race to the bathroom and wait by the toilet for me to get him up on the stool and get his diaper off. I started buying pull-ups to make the process go more smoothly. His control is getting very good. He definitely waits for me to get his diaper off before he starts going. I don't think he recognizes the sensation that he has to go, though.
Then, on May 31, Finn hollered at me and I could see that he was about to poop. I asked if he wanted to go on the potty and he pointed at the bathroom. So I grabbed him up with a book and ran off to the bathroom and he sat down on the toilet and had his first poop in the potty. He didn't seem distressed by it at all. Actually I think he found getting to read a book on the toilet highly entertaining because he often will grab a book and want to read it sitting on the toilet, even when he doesn't have to go.
On the next poop occasion, we didn't make it to the potty in time, but tonight as Ben and Finn were playing, Ben suggested that Finn might need to go. (I think Finn must have been doing a lot of tooting in Ben's face). So off we went to sit and read and sure enough, it happened again!
So we're feeling good so far by how stress-free its been for all of us. Of course we aren't expecting anything from him yet and he still requires us to help him with the whole process, but its a start and since my expectation had been that it would be absolute nightmare, I am pleasantly surprised and pleased that it has been so easy so far.
The one thing that I find funny about all this is that this is the first childhood milestone I haven't prepared for by reading a book or searching through dozens of online articles. I am flying by the seat of my pants for the first time as a parent. Hmm....Maybe I can follow my own instincts and my child's lead and everything will turn out fine!
