Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Taking Advantage of Potty Curiosity

As DS15mon is our first, I've never potty trained before . He is VERY curious about the toilet*, has been taking off his diaper**, going into the bathroom to soil his diaper***, comes and gets me before he poops but he's not very clear (usually just runs over and looks at me, I need to learn!). He LOVES water and is super excited about pouring liquids all over the floor. He's also really good with simple tasks (I believe I'm the ONLY mom who has to keep her son from sneaking into the bathroom and brushing his teeth 20 times a day!!) and can tell me "all done" when he's finish eating.

*tried to flush a tennis ball yesterday... but is just generally very curious about everything to do with the toilet
**twice already this week, first thing in the morning and peeing in his bed
***tried to get there this afternoon in mid-diaper change but didn't make it and peed all over some couch cushions in the way .
He is lucky he's so darn cute!!

He's able to stay dry in his diaper for hours (and never soils in his sleep, he'll wake up & cry if he has to go - he's always been that way) but if I take his diaper off he'll go within 10 minutes; usually on the kitchen floor. He doesn't know where he should be going.

I want to take advantage of his interest now and start the potty training process. I'm not really concerned in him getting it 100% correct right away, just teach him what to do in the toilet.

Does anyone have suggestion for how to teach him what the toilet is for in the way a very smart 15 month old could understand?

He also really likes to, ahem, hold his boy bits when he has to pee; he's going to make a big mess before he learns to aim! What do I do?

Now I just have to deal with the relatives who think I'm crazy for starting too early...

DD3 started before she was a year old (and yes, it was her own idea). We just brought her into the bathroom with us when we went. She figured the rest out on her own.

My advice would be to let him explore, but really hold yourself back from pushing. Let him run around naked, if you don't have carpet (or in the yard, if you do).

As for the relatives, they don't have to know.

Never having had boys I'm hardly an expert but... I love those stickers that you can put in the toilet or potty to help boys aim. My girlfriend told me that she put a ping-pong ball in the toilet and her boys aimed at that for a while (until the dog saw it!)...

I think some super sensitive kids that don't like the feel of nappies or wetness around them can easily toilet train at this age. And boy was I glad to get my second one out of nappies early. *yay* jojo

My eldest DS began training at 18 months showing a lot of the same signs as your DS.

Just as others recommended, we had a lot of naked time. I actually put our potty in the living room and we spent several days with him sitting on the potty (bare-bottomed) watching TV and reading. Any time he went successfully, we made a HUGE deal out of it.

Few things that worked well for us:
-We had a lot more success with using a child's potty (on the floor) than the seat adaptors for the adult toilet in the beginning.

-Our DS learned to do #1 and #2 sitting on the potty. Once he was approx. 2.5, we taught him to go #1 standing up (which is FABULOUS for public restrooms!!).

-Make sure that you come up with a communication for going to the bathroom (verbal or sign language). He needs to be able to independently tell you when it is time and you need to be able to ask him (and have him give the appropriate response).

-Given the young age of DS, I told him we wouldn't use undies until he had gone successfully in the potty 10 times. We kept track using a star chart and he was very excited to go to the store to pick out his "big boy underpants"- Fortunately he was so proud of his undies, he didn't soil them much. (this only worked �cuz DS understood the value of the star chart and could count to 10)

Like most gifties, my DS got really engrossed in certain activities and would ignore his nagging bladder if there was something more exciting to do. I "trained" quickly to pay attention to his signs and prompt him to go if it had been a while or if he began showing signs of needing to go i.e. holding his crotch. Despite this, DC should be responsible for going without you needing to remind them EVERY 20 minutes. (Then they aren�t trained, you are. )


Ultimately, we were very careful not to push the training and not to scold accidents. DS was very self motivated and within a week had switched from diapers to undies at home. We used pull-up or diapers while away from home (it was winter and we had to contend with snowsuits) for several months. DS never minded this. Also, we used diapers/pull-ups at naptime and night until he was 3-ish just as a precaution because I�m too lazy to deal with soiled sheets.

P.S. I have another DS who is 18mo right now and is no where near ready for toilet training so each kid is very different.

I've had a daycare lady suggest cherrios in the toilet (flushable!!!). She and another care provider both suggested LOTS of naked time. That was all well and good with my eldest until the first time he actually peed without a diaper on. He freaked... We didn't try that one again, but I'm thinking about trying it with Bear soon. He knows when he needs to go, but he is adamantly against the entire potty concept. He doesn't want pull ups, doesn't want big boy underpants and even though he loves Wolf's school, really wants to go there and knows they won't let him go till he can use the potty he still absolutely refuses. Oh well he is only 2 1/2 and Wolf wasn't trained till his fourth birthday (Four year olds don't wear diapers, sorry, bud, that's just how it works!).

Thanks for all the suggestions guys! DS has been waining between trying to change himself & seeming totally unprepared for potty training. I discussed with hubby and he's got a week off coming up so we're going to take a stab at the potty & see how things go.

The flushing everything down the toilet has continued (including his beloved toothbrush so silly!) but we got him a wading pool so that seems to have satisfied his curiosity with water for a bit!

Mr W is fascinated by daddy's aim.

He is also a mimic.

This weekend we were in the woods and he got to watch me do my thing.

Well, the next morning he is in the shower with us with the water running off him just right, if you know what I mean.

He leans back, sticks his pelvis out, puts a hand on his hip, and sighs, then looks at me and grins...

That afternoon, we tell some friends about that, and he hears me, then looks at me, grins, and repeats what he did in the shower complete with sound effects. (Clothes on.)

Needless to say, it was a great laugh.

We did the naked time too, but the "fun" game was DH & DS going together to see who could "win". DS is almost 6, but they still do it from time to time. LOL. Thankfully with DD3.5, she liked the little potty, so she and I could "race".

Ok now we're getting serious We're off to buy the potty this week (we discussed & did decide that was easier then the toilet ring just because we travel quite a bit). DS took his diaper off in his crib again this morning (didn't do it for a few days) then peed on it! Little brat! lol . He also pulled his uh, bits, out of his diaper last night and peed on the dining room floor. It's time.

I have two problems:

(1) He frequently wakes up before me in the mornings and doesn't make allot of noise, because he doesn't pee over night (ever) he does pee FIRST thing. Right now he's in a full crib because we're not sure he's ready for a big boy bed. Plus we live in a very old house & the floors are a little slanted so I'm really worried about him rolling and falling out of bed.

We're going to get him a barrier, but I'm not sure if they are really strong enough, thoughts?

And of course once he can get out of bed on his own that causes other issues. The stairs are safely baby gaited but Lucas is pretty good at getting into all sorts of trouble! (His new favourite game is 'throw things down the stairs' so I have a feeling I will be doing allot of cleaning up every morning)

(2) A reward system he is going to understand. I really don't think he'll understand a sticker chart. His great motivators in life are praise and food, however I'm not really big on giving my already hyper toddler a ton of sugar . Any suggestions on low-sugar but high value treats?

What about toys, like little hot wheels or something? He's young enough I could also just take them away & re-give them too him every few days (Bad mommy! :D).

Or I supposed I could suck it up and give him a piece of candy for doing something as good as going in the potty!

DD is 2 and falls from her converted crib every night, few times. We just place pillows under it so she won't get hurt. She continues sleeping on the floor if we don't put her back in the bed. I have seen her "falling" and it looks more like she is crawling out of her bed, I think it is like sleep walking and no rails will stop her.



DD potty trained first time at 16mo and at 18mo we put her back in diaper as we travelled to Europe. After that she showed no interest before 21mo, when she potty trained again.

At 16mo it was almost impossible for us to deal with her fully potty training as she was afraid to use the potty in public restrooms. When she was more ready at 21mo she told me she wants to go to potty at Target and after that she has been fully potty trained. She is 26mo now. At 16mo she was ready to use the potty at home but not outside home. She also was not able to undress her pants, only underwear and it was difficult too. Only reason we let her potty train at 16mo was horrible diaper rash, only thing helped was no diaper.

Price: We only praised her and it seemed to be the best price. She really wants to be proud of herself. At least with her it was also important to be positive about the accidents as a perfectionist she took them really hard. I had to comfort her and tell her that it was a good job and she does not need to worry, mommy will clean up.

I tried few times offering some other price but she could only concentrate on the price and could not sit still at the potty as she got so exited. She did understand the idea although it did not work Also if I tell her that she would get something, she would be terribly disappointed if she was not able to do anything to the potty. She is quite sensitive and demands a lot from herself so offering a price for something she might not be able to do, how hard she tried, would be cruel. Of course prices might work for you son, maybe you don't need them though. If he really wants to potty train, not having to wear a diaper or to be changed is the best price!!