Lydia turned three back in February, and we have been skirting around the issue of potty training since before her birthday.
We’ve had potties and toilet training seats to hand, pull up nappies for easy access, and over the last few months she has happily agreed to go to the toilet and have a go. What we failed at was getting any interest from her in wanting to be toilet trained.
Sticker charts and sticker rewards both failed. Any sort of inducement or reward seemed to be a flop. Lydia just could not be bothered with it all, she was perfectly comfortable with nappy changes, thank you very much.
With me being ill for pretty much the entirety of May it was low priority, but we have spent the last few weeks with her wearing panties at home and finally we have made some progress.
Our little Lydia can be a stubborn miss. She was stubbornly refusing to be consistent with any sort of effort, and would not use the potty or toilet of her own volition at all, going so far as to declare that she liked nappies. The first day we put her in knickers I had a chat about what being a baby wearing nappy means, and what being a big girl wearing pants means – and what privileges big girls have that babies don’t.
Thankfully Lydia has now decided that she wants to wear knickers, and so she is being proactive about using the potty. She has only had two accidents since the first day she wore pants, around two weeks ago. She will get down from meals to ask to go, fetch it and use it when she needs it, and hasn’t often refused to go when prompted.
Her night time nappy has been dry each morning for a week, as she has been getting up to use the potty after bedtime if needed, and asking for it in the morning. Georgie loves to go with her and help her out, which has resulted in one or two slight disasters – like when Georgie decided she would empty the potty herself… and missed! The first I knew of it was James coming upstairs and asking her why she was wiping the floor with a towel!
We’ve managed two outings without any disasters – one for a whole day out and the other the afternoon. This morning… preschool in panties.
I don’t think that this sudden progress is anything to do with me, other than possibly helping to change her mind on the subject.
As with Georgie two years ago, my daughter has simply decided now is the time to switch to panties. No real training required.
I am glad that progress has been made. As you mention she is no longer a baby, so becoming more independent is part of child Development. Being continent will allow you all so much more Freedom to enjoy everyday activities, outings etc. It will allow you all to spend time learning, exploring, creating etc :- Activities which children tend to enjoy. Whilst she will be becoming more sociable. So life is likely to be busy, interesting and exciting.
Once they are ready, they are ready but until then its hopeless. Well done to you and your little one, you’ve cracked it!
Oh my, this post is the glimmer of hope I desperately needed! Adam is turning three in couple of weeks’ time, and so far our potty training attempts were hopeless. He is a stubborn little man though, so I guess it will happen when he’s ready too 😉