Potty Training

Let me preface this by saying I am not trying to potty train my 18 month old.

A lot of talk around me is about potty training these days. I have a few friends who have started this journey with their older toddlers. Some with success and others who'll try again in a few months. There are lots of different methods. No diaper, no underwear, no pants/shorts for two full weeks at home with lots of plastic on the floors, Pull ups or trainers to start, only big boy/girl undies, etc.

And I'm trying to prepare myself. To watch the signs that E is showing us as he is becoming more and more aware of his body and the things he can control. He knows the words "poop" and "pee" and is learning the word "penis". Currently he just says "pee-pee" or "pee-nee" when he points down or grabs his penis.

Lately though he's been saying "poop" when he poops and wants to be changed. It's not always frequent but if he's not too distracted he will let us know when he needs to be changed. I think it's pretty convenient and it beats trying to peer in to see if he has pooped. But yesterday he did something different... He said "poop" before there was poop...

E was nursing after his nap and stopped, pulled off and said, "poop." Now usually this means he went poop (as I said before) so I took him to get changed. No poop. I asked him if he had to go poop. And he started grabbing down and repeating poop. I asked if he wanted to go on the potty and he immediately perked up.

I put him up on the toilet seat and... nothing. So we got down and I asked if he was ready to get his diaper on. He said poop again and tooted so I scooped him up and put him on the potty not expecting anything.

Boy was I wrong! He pooped in the potty! And what was the one thing I thought of first? Man, I'm glad I didn't have to clean that one up :)

So while I'm not quite ready to fully start potty training I am very excited that E is starting to communicate more with us and is actively excited about pooping on the toilet. And I'm definitely going to get a toddler seat for the toilet. He may not be fully ready now but when he asks to go I'm not going to stop him!