August 26, 2010

Potty train

With Joseph and Sandy visiting we had about a ten day stretch to get Alden potty trained. We'd done a bit of ground work and were confident that Alden understood the potty-training concept. Time and place were a bit hit and miss however and we hoped that with a concentrated effort we could all get to the same page. We have a kiddie potty he uses sometimes, but he has not taken to using it as a habit. We figured with ten days outside of daycare we could let him run around naked and keep an eye on him. We would be able to communicate the value of NOT peeing whenever and wherever one feels like.
The reward system we have in place at the moment is a tiered structure with some goldfish crackers as the first line of reward, the second tier is cookies or Puffins cereal and the third tier is ice cream. The rewards are based on performance. Unfortunately we started the potty training a bit backwards, trying to get Alden to use the potty when he needs to. That seemed like a good first step till we realized he still has difficulty undressing. The first step should have been TELLING US he needs to use the potty... we were a little ahead of ourselves and had to take a step back in order to get two steps forward. Alden is now out of diapers and mostly accident free. He still has his mistakes now and then, but he is pretty good about peeing in the toilet and has finally figured out how to get his own pants on and off. He's less skilled at pooping in the toilet, but will sometimes get it right. This leads to a little anxiety on our part when we take him shopping or to the museum, but so far he's been pretty good. He still won't tell us before he has to go, but we've gotten pretty good about anticipating his needs.

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