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Those who have potty trained, we salute you!

shuaevan
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So we have begun the process of potty training Andrew. He has done surprisingly well. Here's our question:

* For the next step, do we move into underwear and let accidents happen OR do we move to "pull-ups" and let him feel uncomfortable but make it a bit less messy?

My wife had heard that the second option may not be uncomfortable enough. I'm not thrilled, however, with the idea of cleaning up underwear messes.

Also when did you make the transition from traditional diapers to either underwear/pullups?

Thanks, as always,

Josh
SAHD since August 2005
Go Bears!!


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Submitted by shuaevan on Thu, 02/01/2007 - 9:46am.

phaze-3
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Gotta go with Pull-ups

I should have bought stock in Pull-Ups, or whoever makes them. Go, RUN, and buy a package! We had one backdoor accident in underwear, and you do NOT want to go there more than you have to.

The exact timing of the transition into pull-ups is a bit fuzzy for me. I think it must have been the summer before the first year of preschool, around age 2 1/4. Kids are so different in that department, that comparing yours to anyone, even a sibling in the same house, will only drive you nuts.

I do, however, clearly remember the transition out of pull-ups.

It was in June, 2004, at the Marriot hotel in New Brunswick, NJ. We were on a road trip to see a drum corps competition, and we were running late as my daughter attempted her first "download" on a real potty. The movie "Annie" was on the TV. My wife and I were in the room, alternately cheering, praying, and covering our faces with pillows to muffle laughter as our daughter grunted in the bathroom. I think it took 45 minutes or more, but after that, she was potty trained.

In my old age, I may forget my name, my address, and where I left my dentures, but by God, I will remember that day to my grave.

Phaze-3
Parenting While Male


Thu, 02/01/2007 - 12:12pm

brianc
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I'd say skip the Pull-Ups

See above subject line.

Really, in my opinion, Pull Ups are just diapers without the sticky tape. They will prolong the transition. We didn't use them. Didn't need them. Sure we had an accident here and there. No biggie.

Phaze-3 is right-Never compare the timing of transitions or deveopment of your child to anyone's or your own's siblings. Ever.

Just be the great coach you know you can be and work with your child. Be there for him or her. Communicate. Throw a "No More Diapers!" party once they have made this tremendous acheivement. Doesn't have to be much. We let our daughter pick the menu, (she wanted cheeseburgers) we made and decorated a cake, decorated the house with streamers and balloons and invited the grandparents and her favorite aunt over.


Thu, 02/01/2007 - 4:08pm

ShoelessWonder
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skip the pull ups

what we did for all 3 kids was skip the pullups and went to underwear. sure you will have some accidents but thats life. Once they are in the underwear i made sure to have then go potty every hour. and during that our i wont ask about every 20 or 30 minutes if they gotta go. seemed to work for us. it comes down to what system works for you, everyone has different ideahs


Thu, 02/01/2007 - 4:14pm

andyferg
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3rd vote against pull ups

I'll also chime in to say skip the pull ups. It is just a diaper -- an expensive one at that -- and you are just prolonging the dependence on some sort of diaper. We tried using them at night initially, but our kids (both around two when they pt'd) wouldn't have any more of diapers...by around night 4 each one flat out refused the pull up (marketed as "night time undies")..."Daddy, this isn't undies, this is a diaper. Where are my REAL undies?" We quickly discovered that one kid is a camel and easily made it through the night...the other required being taken to the potty at about midnight and 5 am for a few months -- that wasn't fun...but the alternative was even less fun.

You are gonna have some accidents (mostly pee), so be prepared with extra clothes and your very best attitude, no matter how frustrated you may get.

If you find your child is having an unbearable number of accidents, you probably have moved too fast and should just stick with diapers until they are more ready.

Congrats on getting to potty training...it's both a major milestone, and a major hurdle!

- Andy


Fri, 02/02/2007 - 5:40pm

MileHiDad
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It is in my humble opinion...

That when its time to pee and poop on the big person toilet on their own they will do it naturally when its time, something tells them when its time. Timing, it seems to me that when there was a Tootsie Roll (sorry) in his Pull Up during the day or diaper at night on a consistent basis instead of pudding (again sorry) it was time for the toilet, kind of the bodies way of saying it's time for the big flush.
Also pull ups can give the sense of something is happening down there that they’ve never felt before and if they do it in a Pull Up enough, it will be something they want to avoid and at least try and splash in the big person potty. Pull Ups give them a sense of your trying to prove and show them something as well as give you a sense of progress, one you are all too ready for! So I give a Yea to Pull Ups!

In our case it took a major event on moms and my part for my son to show initiative to do what’s right. On a Saturday in December of 05 we had the unpleasant task of attending a funeral two hours away and Grandma and Grandpa paid a visit to watch the kid. Not even a mile away on our way out, my cell chimed in from my home number and I thought “oh great separation problems” but lo and be hold, it was my son calling me and telling me he went in the big boy potty ! After a little dad son communication in a distant but familiar language he put my mom on. She said the whole process was of his own volition, from feeling the urge, to taking his pants down and mounting the thrown to dispense of his urge. She was impressed as was I!

Life has been pretty sweet since that day, sure mistakes happen from the front side but that comes mostly from stubbornness from not wanting to squirt before bed or not wanting to put the Hot Wheels down and take care of business. It has now been 16 months and it’s only getting better. After one Lincoln Log in the shorts and they learn not to mess with that end once they show they can go like a big person. This peek back in my life was brought to you by,
-MileHiDad

Is est a sapiens abbas ut teneo suus own parvulus.
-Stay at Home Dad Blog
It is a wise father that knows his own child.


Fri, 02/02/2007 - 10:13pm

brianc
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proof is in the pudding?

um, yuck!

there wasn't pudding since either of my kids were infants! But, I think I catch your drift. Ooh, sorry...I said drift. MileHi, you must be sick of drifts by now! How's it been going out there in Colorado lately?

Anyway, it is in the timing. And Pull-Ups seem to me to be redundant. No kid likes to carry around a load and they'll do it when they are ready, sho 'nuff!


Fri, 02/02/2007 - 10:51pm

MileHiDad
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My walls

Are closing us in, yikes! Snow is in Johnny Cash's words, bout three feet high and rising! Good thing I got four wheel drive to negotiate through the slot car track ruts and the ice craters we dodge while driving to go get groceries.

Is est a sapiens abbas ut teneo suus own parvulus.
-MileHiDad

-Stay at Home Dad Blog
It is a wise father that knows his own child.


Fri, 02/02/2007 - 11:12pm

phaze-3
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Wow, you have snow?

After I put big knobby tires, brush guards, and roof lights on my minivan, I'm gonna git me a plow! Check out the video.

Then I'm gonna paint flames on my van and git some chrome pipes, and mudflaps with Yosemite Sam on them and...

Oh, who am I kidding? We haven't even had enough this year for me to take the snowblower out of the garage. Might as well move to Florida and play bumper cars with the old people.

Phaze-3
Parenting While Male


Sat, 02/03/2007 - 10:37am

MileHiDad
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Wow!

You got a snow blower?? I just got a cranky wife who says no, no snow blower for you because mama needs new shoes, so it’s back to my friend, Scrapie the Shovel to chip ice and move the accumulation that’s now waist high. I am too old for this, I hear the beach calling, helloooo ;-)
Is est a sapiens abbas ut teneo suus own parvulus.
-MileHiDad

-Stay at Home Dad Blog
It is a wise father that knows his own child.


Sat, 02/03/2007 - 10:56am

Uke_Skywalker
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Senor Scrapie

Senor Scrapie lives at our house too, but you have to ask do you really want something as huge as a snowblower sitting in your garage all year long? When was the last time we had a snow like this? (although the third time we got hit that argument started having a lot less UMPH behind it) Although part of that argument is the premium price of garage space at our house. We still have a just enough room for a single car to make it out of our two car garage between the walls of encroching snow, I figure a little bit of moving one car out to get the other one in is worth it and I will let mother nature shovel the rest (so yes I do expect to still have snow in the yard by June).

Oh and my dad had some great advice about potty training,"You don't see many High School kids in Diapers" so don't get to worked up about it, it will happen and getting wound up about it will not help.

db

P.S. Mile High, how is the adoption stuff coming along??
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Denver_Dad/


Sat, 02/03/2007 - 11:23am

MileHiDad
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Cold Feet

On adoption, the wife's got em. I remember 4 years ago it snowed even bigger so to answer your question, every time it snows more than 4 inches, according to my calcs we've gotten 103 inches so far. I'd do our streets sidewalks for the kids to get to school, it seems that they forgot they can actually make cash by shoveling snow. They are just plain lazy! Must be a mommas boy!

Is est a sapiens abbas ut teneo suus own parvulus.
-MileHiDad

-Stay at Home Dad Blog
It is a wise father that knows his own child.


Sat, 02/03/2007 - 11:31am

phaze-3
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Yeah, but I snowblow my WHOLE BLOCK!

When we bought this house 10 years ago, I bought the biggest blower I could afford, an MTD 8hp. It then sat idle the first year with little snow. My driveway is 100ft long with about 50ft of sidewalk -- not Herculean tasks by themselves.

However, I'm on a 4 lane county road across from a firehouse, so we get plowed often and plowed well. For a 1 foot snowfall, the end of my driveway will be buried under a 4 foot mound, and there will be about 18 inches on the sidewalk. THAT's why I have a snowblower. I do my property, then all my neighbors' driveway aprons and the sidewalk down the block -- about 6 houses' worth. All that noise and blue smoke and gas smell amounts to the most macho thing I get to do all year.

Then I get nice packages of banana bread and cookies left on my porch. Sometimes the old lady next door gives me gas money.

I keep saying some day I'll get a truck with a plow and make some serious money, but if my luck stays the same, I'll buy a truck and it won't snow for 5 years.

Phaze-3
Parenting While Male


Sat, 02/03/2007 - 1:57pm

Uke_Skywalker
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Sure I remember

The blizzard of which you speak was March 18, 2003 it is easy to remember because that is the night that my daughter Tavie was born, I still remember the look of dread on the EMT's face after breaking trail about 400 yards through waist deep snow and the quote "She isn't going to have the baby right NOW is she?"(you could tell delivering at the house was not on his agenda) and the answer was no, so we got to hike out to where they could get the snow plow to, and then transfer to where they could get the ambulance to, and then 6 hours later when Tavie was born, the only people that were able to bust out of their driveway was... Grandma, because she was not going to wait to see the baby.
and Phaze if I had the driveway you do I would buy two snowblowers (in case the first one broke)!!! I remember back in the day shoveling snow for all the neighbors, but my brother and I didn't want to risk rejection so we, shoveled first and then asked if they wanted us to do it.

db

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Denver_Dad/


Sat, 02/03/2007 - 11:38pm

Greg Barbera
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 Joined: 2006-11-16
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The smell of pee in boys' bathroom

okay, so i have two boys, ages 4 and 7, and for the life of me i can't keep their bathroom from smelling like a gross locker room.

i've bleached the toilets on a regular basis (every other day), did the blue puck in the tank thing (results in more flushing: "check it out! my yellow pee turned the blue water green!", but at least thats edcational!), did the scented candle (4yo always blows it out right after i light it) and now i've got one of those scented gel-like torpedo things but NOTHING covers up the smell (at least to me) and its leading me down Sartre-like madness!!!

help.

ps, and yes i clean the floor and underside of the pisser as well...


Fri, 07/27/2007 - 9:13am

MileHiDad
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Try Febreze

Hey Greg,
Hope you're doing well.
I had the same problem Febreze Fabric Freshner did the trick, but my 4 YO's bathroom has carpet floors and that sucks! My downstairs bathroom has vinyl flooring and it worked there as well.
Try the one that's Antimicrobial.
About MileHiDad
We Dads are Pioneering New Childcare Methods in the Worlds Second Oldest Profession!
What happens if you're in a car going the speed of light and turn the headlights on?


Fri, 07/27/2007 - 10:20am

Bruce_GB_SAHD
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The smell of pee in boys' bathroom fix

I would go to the dog/cat isle at your favorite store to get one of the odor neutralizers. ((We have cats too.) Pricey, but works for us. Unless you like CSI, don't get the one with the Black light unless you really like to be grossed out and love to clean. :)
Bruce Cantrall, dad to 3
Northeast Wisconsin at Home Dads (Green Bay)

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    Sat, 07/28/2007 - 7:42am

    • dayv27
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    I got to get out more....

    We're in the midst of potty training my son. We've tried pull ups, but he/we were calling them "underwear diapers", so he used them as diapers. He's been running around in tighty whitey's for about 3 weeks now with pretty good success. A few dribbles here and there, and one full blown accident where we had to clean the couch, but he seems to be more "aware" in the 'derwears. We save the pull ups for road trips, and are still using the nighttime diapers at night.

    Dayv

    www.athomedadconvention.com


    Sat, 07/28/2007 - 2:17pm

    ticktock
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    Potty training here too. My

    Potty training here too. My mom just came up and trained my daughter within a week. Her secret was using massive amounts of m&ms and pez as reward.

    Now we just need her to go poo on the potty because she is still shy about that. We are only using panties- no pull-ups except at night.


    Sat, 07/28/2007 - 2:53pm

    KevH
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    What do you do

    What do you do if you run out of M&Ms?

    I'm Not a Slacker


    Sat, 07/28/2007 - 3:17pm

    ticktock
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    We have the $5 monthly

    We have the $5 monthly Blockbuster snack card that allows you to get a free snack every time you rent (or swap out an on-line movie for a free in-store movie), and so far we've been using it to stock up on bags of M&Ms.

    Isn't that sad? We've resorted to all out bribery. She's had more chocolate and candy in the last week than she has had in her entire life. We've had to ration it to four or five pieces lately since she's been on the pot any chance she can get for more candy. We've created an addict!


    Sat, 07/28/2007 - 6:54pm

    dayv27
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    bribery and dentist bills

    We were afraid of using M&M's for exactly that reason. We used stickers and (of all things) handwashing. My boy loves to wash his hands in the big sink. So if he pees or poo-s, he gets to use the foamy soap and the big sink. I guess it's all in the sell eh?

    www.athomedadconvention.com


    Sat, 07/28/2007 - 10:10pm

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