Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Boot Camp, Potty Style.

Emmett and I are still battling over the potty. I have read books upon books, pumped my mommy friends for info and still feel like I am beating my head against a brick wall. Emmett doesn't seem to care when his pants are wet or soiled, which is a big incentive for most kids to train. He doesn't respond to bribes. I don't know if he is unaware of his body's signals or if he just ignores them. I do know that breaking his concentration away from an activity to go to the potty results in tears and fighting.

I am trying one more thing. The dreaded timer. My life will now revolve around the microwave timer. After the morning potty trip the pull up stays off and the timer gets set to 99 minutes (I would like an every 2-hour potty schedule, but that is as high as any timer in my house goes. I may have to get a new one soon) Every time the microwave goes off, Emmett must sit on the potty. When he gets up the timer is reset. Rinse and repeat. So far nothing has fallen into the potty. In fact, Emm soiled his pants 4 seconds before the timer was due to go off yesterday.

I am just hoping that if the routine is established, Emmett can train his body to follow. My family doctor used the timer method with one of his kids with success (tangent: I LOVE having a family doctor that remembers what it is like to have young kids and therefore can offer actual, family tested advice to me......and he doesn't prescribe antibiotics like they are candy./tangent)

Well, while I was writing this Emmett came up to me and signed "dirty" and pointed at the potty. He went all by himself!!! It wasn't perfect--we needed a rinse in the tub, but this is good, good news!!

I guess we are on the right track after all.

No comments: