About a million years ago I mentioned we were in the throes of toilet training. Well, here at the Widdle Stop Cafe, I am pleased to say, the torture, oh I mean learning experience is over. Phew.. It was a long slog. In fact, I think it took almost 8 months to say that we're pretty well done and dusted. Not that I am complaining. To be on the other side is a great thing, we weren't particularly pushy about it, we wanted it to be driven by the little man at his own pace.
Given we had a new baby, I thought we'd put it off til this upcoming summer.. But our little man decided it was time to train, and train he did (hey anything to do with trains and he's there!).
I blogged about Elizabeth Pantley's book (she has an appropriate surname, no?) about toilet training. I bought it. I read a bit. But really, we trusted our own intuition.
We star charted it like there was no tomorrow. Reward. Reward. Reward. Bulk packs of Matchbox cars were a big hit (one at a time of course). Smarties - a hit. Anything 'treat' like - a hit. I have to admit, there was a lot of 'attempting' in order to get some runs on the board, or in this case stars on the chart. And we rewarded it all. It was positive reinforcement to the max turned up to ten.
We did hit a standstill. We stopped for a couple of weeks. I felt frustrated and cranky - he picked up on that. So we went cold turkey. And that was definitely a good thing, because when we returned to it - he went hammer and tongs and nailed it.
We, as parents, made mistakes. And that's ok. It was hard work - some days. But for the most part, it just became part of the routine. Even though we're done, there are still going to be accidents. We're all ok with this. I made a purchase a while back, which I kind of questioned at the time, but I'm glad I did because it's been used - but only a couple of times. It's really just a precautionary thing - the Kiddopotamus Piddle Pad. Pretty silly name - but it makes sense. Pop it in your car seat or pram and it saves it from being peed on.
Now I am just trying to convince my little dude that he can do a wee while we're out and about. For now, he's got stage fright, and holds on 'til we get home.
