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Cashew nuts are consumed every time we ask Roman to use the potty - or rather, remind him to use it. We're getting to the stage where he's very eager to use it by himself and today he went outside and on a trip to the shops and remained dry throughout his trip - and for a good hour after.
We're both starting to notice when he might be needing a wee - he crosses his legs, stands still and sometimes will be very quiet. When he is showing these behaviours we strongly guide him towards the potty, don't take our eyes off him (I don't anyway) and I encourage him to drink. Once he's on the potty I make a low hissing noise, imitating the noise of a pee :P. In the past this cue has made him go, these days it's a mixture of being reminded to go, getting to the potty on time and then to sit on the potty for a while.
Every book I read tells me I should be prepared to keep him on the potty for 10-20 minutes. He won't even sit for 10-20 seconds. When he gets up either Bryan or I have to show him there's 'no pee pee' in the potty or remind him that he's not quite done yet. He'll happily sit back down - if he's loaded with his 'Gerald' book and cashew nuts. Well, today, he did the biggest pee ever in the potty. Bryan made me take pictures - I won't share them here ;).
We rewarded his potty usage with a lollipop - and he seemed pretty pleased with his 'prize.' I've always been against rewarding children for doing something that is, you know, a basic human bodily function outside of a nappy but my goodness me I was just so happy he'd peed somewhere other than our carpet that I would have bought him a pony or a yacht at this point. I felt like he understood what this whole thing has been about and I feel as though we've done it without coercing him into it or scarring the poor boy for life - I've met many children who are afraid of toilets and potties because of traumatizing potty training experiences and didn't want the same for my child/ren.
I can't really remember my own potty training experiences but from the fragments I do remember it was mostly a fairly relaxed and happy affair. It was a gradual process for me and it's the same for Roman. Slowly we're getting to where we'd like to be as a family and for our toddler. I am happy.
