The wee-wee story

A few months back, we tried taking the diaper off Tobey whilst he was running around the back garden. He wee-ed on his shorts whenever he felt like it. I don't blame him really. Our theory is, because he's always been on disposable diapers, he seldom felt wetness (unless it's overfilled), hence he seldom felt the discomfort that deters cloth-diaper users to wee so often. This is a disadvantage, simple because he will not be motivated to learn to "hold" his wee in.

Anyways, we knew he wasn't ready then, but at least he experienced the consequences of wee-ing on himself and how uncomfortable it felt. Following that, when the weather was good, we took his nappy off once in a while for the same purpose. I put him on the cushioned seat on the toilet whenever I can and asked him to wee. He always co-operated and tried his best to wee. More often than not, he always managed to produce some. I've also tried asking him to do a poo, but I got a feeling that he's almost afraid to poo into the toilet bowl. He asked to squat on the seat to poo, but he still wasn't comfortable doing his big business there. Anyways, I decided to leave that till a later time and just concentrate on the wee-ing.

Two weeks ago, I've decided he's ready to be trained seriously, as he's already 2 and the weather was sunny enough to wash and dry 10 shorts in a day . Also whilst my in-laws are here to help motivate him. I got my gloves, cleaning rag, carpet stain remover spray and handwash powder all lined up by the utility sink. I was ready. I took it off after his morning bath until after his evening bath. Only put it on during his afternoon nap. He also wears diapers when we are out and about, which was quite alot for the past two weeks. This time we use the potty. We placed it in the only tiled area in the house, which is the kitchen (yup, my whole house including the bathrooms are carpetted). How it works is that we will ask him whether he wants to do a wee every 30 mins or so and he would answer "yes" or "no". If yes, we'll ask him to go to his potty, take off his shorts/trousers and sit on the potty to do a wee. After a few days, he insist that everyone within his sight has to go "shhhhh" before he will start to wee. He's quite good at that. In the beginning, he would only wet his shorts once or twice a day (especially near nap time when he was too tired to "hold" it in). It also happened when he as over excited or engrossed over a toy/game/show. He would only poo in the evenings, when he has his diaper on. Only once he poo-ed on the carpet and oh boy, he was so grossed out by it and froze on scene.

He got better each day.

Today (23rd July 2009):

He was out at the front of the house building tents with other children on the little field opposite my house (It's another eco-hippie-ish program they often have for kids around here, will blog about it later). He was out with FIL. According to FIL, midway he went to him and said "WEE WEE"...He quickly took him in and he did a wee in the potty. I am overjoyed. I am so proud of my little boy. I know it's still a looong way to go before he can do that more often, but at least he got the idea now.