End of my rope - I need a hug.

So my kids are 3 1/2, and I'm already feeling like FAIL! mom for starting so late. Auburn seems to be taking to it fairly readily and over the past week has remembered to pee on her own about 9 out of 10 times. Yay! Nicole is nowhere near that. I got her to pee in the potty this morning and we've sat down on it every 10-15 minutes and she will ALWAYS go about 30 seconds after she gets off the potty. I'm rewarding her for trying to pee, and she gets a big reward (10 minutes of computer time) for actually doing her business in the potty. They have to go to school in 6 months and be fully trained - so i'm looking at a deadline here.

For the past THREE weeks we've been recirculating some kind of stomach bug. First Auburn was sick for a week, then Nicole was sick for a week, and now Auburn's sick again. She's not drinking today and is dehydrated and it's freaking me out. (I'll take her in tomorrow if it's still like this). I've been stuck in the house for three weeks straight. I'm beginning to understand why prairie women went insane. If we don't start getting well and getting potty trained I think I'm going to walk down the street and chuck myself into the river. It's quite scenic. *headdesk* Thanks for letting me rant

 

Ahhhh but just think. . .at least you have a very scenic river to throw yourself into!!



How's London? I hope the stomach bug goes away quickly. My two have been recycling a cold, along with my husband and me. We had the stomach bug for about two weeks total. Bleargh. It's amazing how many sicknesses they get and give to us!!

ETA: And I'd give you a hug but you're probably contagious.

 

Rofl! Thanks i needed that In spite of all the barfing and hacking and coughing, London is really cool! I think it's just that we have no immunity to the stuff here yet, new strains of viruses, etc. Bleh.

 

I would probably start by not rewarding her for trying and save that for when she actually goes in the potty. I am no expert. My girls are still in the process, I have been really lazy and actually find diapers so much easier - I hate the thought of public potty trips if you want to know the truth. It is MY fault not theirs. My Addison is trained during the day she did have one accident the other day but nighttime is our big problem with her. Ava could care less! She will go on the potty but anywhere else too! I bought a bunch of stickers and at first I gave Addison a sticker for going and Ava a sticker for sitting there. I think it actually set us back a little? Ava has actually done way better the last couple of days since I only give rewards to those who potty! Addison even insisted I get stickers for going - it has turned into a family thing!

Before this is all said and done, I may come over and chuck myself in the river with you!

 

I found that going every 15 or 20 minutes was too soon for Ian when I trained him...the first day of training with no diapers he never made it to the potty but I was able to time it between accidents and it was around 45 minutes...so I would take him every 40 minutes or so and he would go...within 3 days he was pee trained...poop...well poop was a completely different story!

 

Just wanted to say Good Luck and :youcandoit: !!! I have no PT advice to give...we have not attempted yet.

 

I used cookies and M&Ms. LOL My kids don't get sweets much, so this was a HUGE deal to them. The cookies I used for pee-training. Only if they pee'd IN the potty would they get a cookie. If they tried and nothing happened, just a high five for trying. With us the sticker thing never worked. I was mean with the cookies too. I made a bunch of snicker-doodles, then I'd cut them in quarters, and they'd get 1 quarter for every time they pee'd in the potty.

When it was time to poop train, out came the M&M's. But then we had to give for peeing to, so we devised a system. 1 M&M for pee, 3 for Poop... They would start going on demand just to get a treat. At that point, DH and I stopped reminding them about the reward. It took about 3-4 days, but eventually they forgot to ask, and if they waited more than 5 minutes before asking, we wouldn't oblige. And I also went from regular sized M&M's down to the mini's, to make it less appealing to them.... We spent a total of 2 weeks hooked on M&M's before we 'weaned' them! LOL


I don't think I ever rewarded for just sitting, except in the very beginning. but then, I started training at a very young 13 months.


Yours is definetly old enough to understand. She's probably thinking what's the point of peeing IN the potty when I get a reward for just SITTING on the potty?? Talk to her like a grown-up. One other thing we tried (someone on here suggested it) was we would tell them "the pee/poop REALLY wants to go in the potty, but it needs YOUR help to get in there. You need to push it in the potty". Something like that. Give control of the situation to her and let her own it... I know it sounds silly to us, but it works. Let them feel like they have complete control of the situation.

 

It will happen! :hug: I potty trained all four and trust me there were many many days I never thought I would get through it! My oldest refused, it was horrible. I was so desperate to get him into preschool, since the twins were little and I needed a break. He finally decided to do it about a week before school started, he was a bit shy of 4. I learned with him that I pushed too hard and he could sense my anxiety. That alone made him fight me. With the twins, I just let it happen. I refused to get upset. (which trust me, was sooo hard!) I also let them go "commando" which helped. It was a much easier time than with my first. You can do this and so can they! Hang in there!! :youcandoit:

 

Everyone has given great advice so I just want to give you a :grouphug: . Someday you'll look back and realize that this was a short time in the grand scheme of things even though it feels like forever while you're in the midst of it. :youcandoit:

 

This is me too. I am glad to know that I'm not the only one.

To the OP: 6 months is a LONG time, so don't freak yet. If I were you, I'd chuck the idea of PTing while you are dealing with a stomach bug. It just seems like its more stress than you need to deal with right now. Also, do you think they would respond to a reward chart? Like if they stay dry and only pee in the potty for the whole morning (or however long), they get to wear their favorite character undies? But since I'm like Heather and my girls are only marginally trained (Meara will pee for stickers, Ana will pee on the potty if it doesn't cut into her otherwise busy schedule ), take my a$$vice with a huge grain of salt.

GL and :grouphug: We dealt with a stomach bug after Christmas and it was the most exhausting two weeks of my life (INCLUDING having twinfants).