Tipping Out the Potty

[sunshine_sieben]

Hi, another TT question for you lovely ladies in here.
DD just turned 2. We have been TT since she was about 19 months. For a long time, she was just running around with a bare bottom and sat on the potty when she needed to wee or poo. She actually surprised me when she used the potty for the first time while still naked after a shower. Thiss is when i started the bare bottom phase. She got it in a flash. We are now at a stage where she will take undies or pants off most of the time to wee on the potty. We still have the odd accident, but I don't mind, she's only just turned 2. I ahve always been careful not to get angry about acccidents, but make a big fuss about every wee or poo that makes its way into the potty.
She does like to use the toilet, too. But I don't like making that accessible to her. As she just climbs around, flushes a million times, even sticks her feet in to splash in the water. I can't constantly supervise either. She doesn't tell me in advance that she needs to go, she just goes. Very independent little girl.

So, what really drives me up the wall atm is that if I'm not there, when she does a wee, she will get up and tip the potty out over the carpet. She then either grabs a blanket and tries to clean it up. or she coes and gets me to clean it.
What should I do to stop this habit? Any ideas? I don't want to get angry at her. Shed has sort of done the right thing by using the potty. I just wish she wouldn't tip it out.

Geez, all this prelude just for a simple question like that. Thanks for reading it.
Sasa

[CrystalBoo]

Gosh isn't it wonderful to have a helpful toddler? lol

That's a tough one if you can't give her bathroom access (understandable). Would she be happy to tip it into a bucket that you could keep on a tiled area do you think? Maybe that would be enough to make her feel she is still helping? If it had a lid she could take on and off easily, that would stop it being just an open bucket of waste. She certainly sounds bright enough to catch on.

Sorry I can't think of anything else, but on the plus side, she is doing an awesome job of TT!

[sunshine_sieben]

Thanks, CrystalBoo! You are so right about her doing an awesome job. That's why I'm so careful not to give her anything negative to associate with going to the potty.
I don't know whether it is actually her wanting to help. Until maybe a month ago, she would bring the potty to me and we would tip it into the toilet together. Yes, she would sometimes spill a little, but most of it went into the potty. I don't know why she started tipping it onto the floor. But it does seem like she does it deliberately, rather than accidentally spilling it.
I might give your bucket idea a go. Who knows, it might just work...

I wish i knew what was going on in that pretty little head of hers...

Another question: how do you take it from this stage to the next, ie. no nappy when out and about? If she would tell me when she needs to do a wee, I would probably find it easier... but she doesn't. Should I just bite the bullet and let her have a few acciddents and hope she'll learn from that?

Sasa

[CrystalBoo]

Haha- I'm lurking around today so you got me again!

Personally, I'd be waiting until she was reliably telling me before taking her out without a nappy (unless maybe it was the park or somewhere outdoors) Maybe she would respond to getting a sticker each time she tells you first?

You can get undies that hold one wee on certain websites. Could that be an option? I knwo they're expensive, but maybe worth it. Gigi in the cloth thread uses them I know. Maybe you could ask her?

[sneakysparkle]

Sasa - with DD1 we put her in pull-ups when we went out until she wasnt having any accidents out. We would also ask her every half hr or so if she needed to go, and sometimes take her to the toilet anyway.
Sounds like shes very clever and would get the hang of it quickly. I found that it was harder on me than on DD!! Give it a go - she will probably surprise you
all the best

[sunshine_sieben]

See, I find putting nappies on her at all, confuses her completely. She just doesn't get that sometimes she can wee in her pants and sometimes she can't. That's why I am wondering about just going cold turkey on the nappies. We are using cloth already, so she knows when she's wet or not.
Using training pants or pull-ups probably won't work for us, as she would happily walk around with that one wee in her pants without telling me that she had done one.
She is so advanced woith lots of things, but verbally, she's not. She's only now starting to say a range of single words. So I actually think this communication thing is the only thing holding her back. She understands everything I tell her, though...

It's just so frustrating cause she's so reliable at home, but because she doesn't tell me, or even give me signs, I am putting nappies on her when out. But then, when we get back, I put her in undies and it takes one accident for her to realise that she's not in a nappy now. After that, she's really reliable again... Uuugh, how do I get her to tell me????? She does know the word for wee and poo, but she just doesn't tell me until after the fact. But, she can react to it before. Like sometimes, she might be playing in her room and all of a sudden I see her racing through the house into the loungeroom, where her potty is and using it. So, she does know what's gonna happen well in advance.

Sasa

[sneakysparkle]

I have heard of people taking the potty with them when they go out - could you try that to start with? obviously you cant take it everywhere!

[sunshine_sieben]

Lol, just picturing myself with a trolley full of shopping and DD sitting on top of everything on the potty...
That's an option when visiting people's houses, though.
Sasa

[sunshine_sieben]

I took Maya with me this afternoon when I had to get my blood taken at the hospital. We were out for over 1 hour. I gave her a couple of toilet opportunities, but she didn't take them. She stayed dry until we were home!!!! I was so impressed.
But then when we were home, she did a poo in her undies!!! No idea why. Later she took her undies (fresh ones, of course) off to use the potty while I was cooking and tipped it all over the carpet again before coming to get me. Arrrrrgh! How do you think I should react? I sat down next to her, pointed at the wet spot, told her that's not cool and that we don't do that and that she should come and get me when she needs to do a wee. But she just looked at me as if to say: "what's your problem, mummy?"

[jackrose]

Wow what an incredible little girl! Seems she is really switched on.

I am very impressed with how you are doing everything so far and I have a suggestion for the communication question "how do I get her to tell me?"

How about incorporating a bit of baby sign language? Research has shown that toddlers who sign tend to have less frustration as they can communicate their needs so easily and it can help their language development too. You can google "baby sign" or something similar if you are interested.

I have been using it in the last month with my 18mo DD and she has picked it up really quickly. I started using a simple command - milk - and used it everytime she wanted some milk or got some milk. DD amazed me one day after a few weeks when she saw a bottle of milk for a baby and made the hand sign at me. Since then we have learnt a new sign almost every day. I have used the Auslan webpage to find the signs and adapted some to make them easier for her little hands. I plan to use signs for wee and poo when she is ready to TT.

I think it sounds as if your DD will pick up something like signing really quickly as she is so switched on. It may be really good for her if she is still getting the hang of language.

[Nelle]

Do you think perhaps a reward for putting her business in the loo? A sticker or lolly for emptying out the potty in the right place?

[sunshine_sieben]

Jackrose, thanks for that suggestion. I'll give it a go. I actually have a book here about baby sign language.
And yes, you are right, she is incredible. And I am completely objective

It's just confusing, because she does know and uses the words for wee and poo. But not until after the fact. So the association is there, just not the timing.

By the way, DD only just learned the word for milk. And I find that surprising, because milk is like her favourite thing in the world, I expected her to learn that word much earlier (She is being raised bilingual, so I find a delay in her speech is completely normal). But she always knew how to communicate that she wanted some. At first she would stand in front of the microwave, saying "beep beep beep" because we used to heat her milk in there. Then she started standing in front of the fridge, whingeing. Until recently, she would stand in front of the fridge saying "more". Or, if I had forgotten to lock it, she would get the bottle out and bring it to me

I am glad that the signing seems to be working so well for you. Learning a different sign each day seems like fantastic progress.

Sasa

[sunshine_sieben]

Nelle, yes, I have been working with rewards a lot. She either gets a dried apricot, which is like a lolly to her, or a couple of M&M's or anythign else I have on hand. And give it to her straight away, to make her associate it with her doing her business in the potty. And I cheer and clap and make a right idiot out of myself. It was really funny, when DD walked in on DH doing a wee in the toilet a couple of months ago and she started cheering and clapping. She's now TT Daddy

Sasa

[HotI]

It was really funny, when DD walked in on DH doing a wee in the toilet a couple of months ago and she started cheering and clapping. She's now TT Daddy

Sasa

Priceless! just gorgeous.

[sunshine_sieben]

i thought i'd update, we have had 3 outiings without a nappy over the last 3 days. only 1 accident and that was on the longest outing (2 1/2 hours) which was today. She did do a wee and a poo in the toilet at the place we visited, though, which i was really impressed with.
i find that she's been doing so much better since we cut out the nappies completely. this morning, she even told me while still cuddling in my bed with the nappy on, that she needed to go, so we took her pj's and nappy off and she ran to the potty.

we never really did sign language, but she often calls mummy and touches her crotch to tell me that she needs to go. that was before she started using the words.

and poo seems to confuse both of us as it's the same word for her favourite movie or having to go to the potty

Sasa

[jackrose]

Sounds as if things are going really well! One accident with 3 outings is a fantastic strike rate! I am very impressed and have a benchmark now for when my DD starts toilet training

It also sounds as if your DD has developed a bit of sign language of her own .

[sunshine_sieben]

Wooohoooo!
I think I can say: DD is toilet trained! I am soooo impressed with her. She got it so quickly once I stopped confusing her. We stayed at my in-laws for 4 hours on Friday afternoon. I took her to the toilet shortly after we got there and sat her on it and she did a wee. lots of cheering and clapping. Then a couple of hours later, I had to go and took her with me, and she did another wee. Not long before we had to wee, she ran to the tooilet herself and tugged on her pants. I thought it would take way longer because she has never been without a nappy at their place. But she realised it so quickly, that that's where se was supposed to go now.
The next day, we went to a child's birthday party. I was a little nervous that she would forget in all this mayhem. I did the same thing, showed her the toilet shortly after arriving, she weed. I asked her a few times after that, but she didn't want to go again. Until she went into the toilet on her own initiative and started tugging on her pants. So I helped her and she did her wee. We haven't had a single accident in days and she's been in undies and pants all day (nappy just for her day nap and night sleep) She even held on until we were home, instead of weeing in the car. I did have the potty in the car JIC, though.
This all took less than a week.

So I can only reccommend that if your children are semi-reliable at home, bite the bullet and cut out nappies completely. It helps if you can stay home for a few days to a weekor at least limit outings. Be prepared for accidents, have changes of clothes ready. And if it doesn't work, try again a few weeks later.

I am completely aware that she might regress for a while when her little brother or sister is born. And we will deal with that if it happens. But it felt wrong not to let her take the next step, just because the birth of a baby might throw a spanner in the works.

Thanks to everyone for your input. It is so confusing when yoou have no idea what to do...

Sasa