Beds and words and milestones

[ailbhe]

Linnea went to bed at 21:30. That's early for us these days. but it went smoothly and stresslessly and well, so perhaps we've broken the pattern now.

She used a new word for Rob today - he called "Linnea!" from another room, and she responded "Wha'?"

He swears this is true. She's a teenager now. Gods.

She's also going to be potty-trained soon. She's not ready for it, of course - she takes her nappy off alright, before squatting over the floor and passing wind or water (so far, thank god, nothing more), then points at the orifice in a surprised fashion and tells me all about it - but she has no interest in the potty.

Nor in the toilet.

No, my baby is ready for that all-important phase: Carpet Training!

So I've got her a potty training book and I've ordered a potty training video and another book from the library and I'm hoping that we can interest her in the potty somehow. She's surely too young for this. No-one else we know is even considering potty training. But no-one else we know can get their nappy off from the inside of tights, dungarees, trousers, or a snap-crotch top and does it frequently before soiling the nappy. Though admittedly the nappy does tend to get caught, as it were, in the crossfire.

You may have overheard me today in John Lewis, saying "Sweetheart, you peed on your feet and that's why you're slipping. Let me [grunt grunt] dry you off. Please."

Comments

[rivka.livejournal.com]

My mother always tried to toilet-train before two, because she thought babies were much more likely to go along with it before they hit the oppositional stage. I think 16 months probably is a bit young, but it's worth a try. At this age, it would probably be more about you both getting trained - you to tell her when to sit on the potty, and her to do it.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

One of my friends managed to be potty trained by eleven months. Her mother was entirely stay-at-home with her, and somewhat bored, so decided to see how early she could potty-train her kids.

[ailbhe]

"before they hit the oppositional stage"

Whoops. Missed that boat.

But I think we're going to try, very gently, anyway. I am reluctant to start when she has *no* interest in the potty, because it's the wrong season for outdoor potty-training and for laundering copious accidents...

I wonder if I have a How To Potty Train book? I'm bound to, somewhere. I wonder if I agree with it?

I should write a book called "Whatever you're doing, Mum, it's wrong."

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

*laugh*. since puppies can be paper-trained, maybe linnea could too, *grin*. and you could use tabloids!

[annburlingham.livejournal.com]

Linnea went to bed at 21:30. That's early for us these days. but it went smoothly and stresslessly and well, so perhaps we've broken the pattern now.

Yea! for you! That's about as early as I'm hoping for from Henry, given our patterns. Tonight he put himself down (!) by 9:15, but we have some very stressful, past midnight nights, too. On the other hand, I don't feel the urge to see him waking at 6AM, say.

I was amused and pleased to see that Linnea had colored herself with markers, too, recently. Henry did colors one day, the a black marker he got his hands on a few days later. It's finally all faded and washed away. And I actually found it kind of endearing and attractive - though I hoped they were all non-toxic.markers.

[lovingboth]

Jo Anna was about 18 months when she more or less potty trained herself - she saw other, older, children at nursery using the potty and decided she wanted to do it too.

It helped that she has a huuuge bladder: zero 'accidents' in the night.

Potty training

[tiggsybabes.livejournal.com]

I say the child knows when they are ready to pee in a potty.

I tried it with Kate too soon on the first attempt, amid too much other stuff (me being heavily pregnant etc) & then just right the third time :)

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

People historically have potty trained much earlier than they do now, generally by a year or so. Makes sense if you think about washing diapers without a machine. This doesn't necessarily mean a kid who is diapered in a modern fashion is going to be trainable by a year, as they haven't had preparation from the first few months on, as babies used to.

But still, I think the trend towards later potty training (encouraged largely by feel-dry diapers), has led parents to disregard early readiness signs, thinking that they couldn't possibly be ready yet even though they may be at an age that would be considered way late for training in a less industrialized society.

Oh, and cloth diapered kids often show readiness earlier, since the instant feedback when they go encourages awareness. Leif basically started training on his own at about 2 years after we switched back to cloth after a year of pay-laundry-induced disposables.

[richtermom.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I'm doing it all wrong, because I'm not being super-strict or following some logical training program or something. When we have time, and when Squeaky is motivated, and when I'm motivated, I encourage her to sit on the potty shortly after food/drink. The first time, she sat on the chair for five seconds, got up, turned around and looked, sat again, got up, turned around, looked more carefully, and in doing so, squatted and pooped on the floor right in front of the potty.

But about a week or so ago, she actually did get pee in the potty. So there's something.

I'm torn between keeping the potty in the "library" -- where the TV and toys are -- or keeping it in the bathroom. How long should I have her sit there waiting to see if she's going to go? I figure I'm more patient with the dog because, well, she's on the lawn anyway, but with Squeaky, she just doesn't want to sit more than 10 seconds without hearing something hit the potty.