Toilet training for the little one

Little one had been complaining how tight her diapers are. She is wearing L size. I know I can switch her to the XL size but I feel it's really high time she should start to learn to use the toilet or potty and get diaper free.
She is now coming to 2 years and 9 months old. Actually, I am partly at fault that she's not trained now.

I bought her a potty, potty seat for toilet and even a children book on toilet training way before she turned 2 years old. She successfully peed or pooed in them for a few times but rejected them after that. And she doesn't voices out her need to pee or poo but almost every time I change her diaper, she'll poo straight after that.

I sought advice from the childcare centre beginning of this year, they told me I could try making her sit in the toilet every two hours. I kept forgetting to do it. The teacher also suggested the use of pull up pants which she now wears for several months already.

Then as little one starts to complain her diapers are getting tight and she doesn't like the way I clean her after she pooed. (I still clean her like a baby while the teacher cleans her by washing her ass). Every time she complains, I will tell her that she needs to voice out that she has to use the toilet. Still, she doesn't. Maybe she is too comfortable with diapers.

I decided to end this 'misery' step by step.

First, get her to like the potty or toilet.
Find a stretch of holidays whereby she doesn't have to go to school.

This Hari Raya holiday is perfect. (From 18th August to 20th August.) We stayed at home with her for 3 days and let her go diaper free. I was pondering whether to let her go "half monty" or wear at least a underwear or shorts. Finally, we decided to let her wear the old shorts or underwear. Just in case, if she soiled them, we can just throw them away. (Lazy to wash). The best part is lesser mess to clean. Probably. Also, my girl doesn't like to on the fan. She often request it to be switched off. We can't have her running around half exposed with the door wide open.

Then, the real challenge comes.

18th August 2012
Little one's activity was restricted only in the living room. She can't sit on the sofa though. She can only sit on her own plastic chair or on the floor. We can't have any toys or books on the floor. Good time to discipline her that books are to be read on the table.

She had an accident in the morning and uttered "uh oh".... Her expression was priceless. She was half lifting one of her legs due to that. I couldn't take a photo as I was all alone with her. I had to clean up quickly with a smile. I told her that she had just peed and that should be done in the potty or toilet. And I add on Mama was not angry with her. I washed her up and changed her into another shorts. Then proceed with cleaning the floor.

Early afternoon, she didn't pee or poo. We had our lunch and she drank some water. My girl doesn't have the habit of drinking lots of water... Sigh... I went out to run some errands. Hubby told me that she peed successfully in the potty when I was not around.

Late afternoon, she went to nap in a diapers.

Evening, she woke up and went diaperless again, had dinner and before she bathed, she peed successfully in the toilet. She was damn happy that she can flush the toilet.

She didn't poo. We were wondering whether she was trying to withhold it.

19th August 2012
Her activity area broaden but she's not allowed in the master bedroom where all the mattresses are.

She peed successfully in the toilet. We noticed most of the time she will go toilet only when we ask. She still doesn't voice out. We noted she always want the step up stool to be around when she sits in the potty seat on the toilet. We also noticed she likes to play with the flush button and would sit in the toilet for hours just to wait for the pee to come. My stubborn girl would not come out of the toilet despite we tried to entice her to come out. In the end, we have to force her out of the toilet. Haiz... We did an explanation after she cooled down. She can't treat the toilet like a toy and hog it for hours. What if Papa and Mama have a stomachache and need to use the toilet? We really hope she understands. After that, we decided to stick to the potty. She finally pooed in the potty in the late afternoon. Sometimes, she'd sit on the potty but didn't 'release' anything.

20th August 2012
We were getting a little restless being bind at home for 2 days, 2 nights. Little one wanted out. So, we risked a little to the food court and had a quick breakfast. She didn't have any accidents. After that we stayed home all day.

The strange thing is little one didn't pee in the morning. Hubby attributed that it could be due to the hot weather. We decided not to remind her today. At around noon, she peed but into her long pants. =_= Then, more accidents came. She pooed a small stool... And then other pee... When she had that last accident, I was with her. She peed a little at first and I could see she tried to control her urine because it stopped a while before letting go again. She only successfully peed once into the potty. And that's done when we asked her too. Haiz... I read some where that if we were to let her went diaper-free for 3 days, the accidents should get lesser and lesser. Then, why is she still having accidents? Did we do something wrong or she is just not ready.

In conclusion, little one doesn't voice her need to 'release' her waste. She doesn't seem to have a clue that she need to pee/ poo. When we don't tell her to, she doesn't seem to know when she should pee/poo. We asked her, does she prefer to have diapers on or diapers off . She replied diaper on.

I guess I would probably continue giving her pull up pants when she goes to school but will let her go diaperless at home. I'm taking it slowly at a time now.

Source

What about you? Do you have any toilet training experience to share?