# My toddler has defeated me



## evmadi (Sep 2, 2012)

My little girl is almost 3, she showed signs of toilet training readiness at 18 months. I did nothing, I wasn't ready. Now, she is messing with me. We started a reward system for using the potty. She will go a tiny bit in the potty, get her toy or treat, one minute later go again and ask for another treat. After numerous trips to the potty she asks for a diaper and unloads. She also hates a dirty diaper and takes it off wherever she is and leaves it for the dogs. Sometimes she insists on underwear, sometimes she insists on diapers. Sometimes she askes me to change her, but mostly she removes her diaper and leaves it on my bed. One minute she "goes in potty" the next she "no like potty"
Just venting, I know she will get it eventually.


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## Viola P (Sep 14, 2013)

Have you tried taking away the diapers all together and letting her go naked from the waist down for a week or so? We did this with ds and he was "trained" in a week. We warned him before we were going to do it, to be fair to him. Also, if you do try it, be warned that she may get angry with you. Ds got mad that we took away his precious diapers and threw the potty!! We stuck with it though and he only did a few pee accidents and before we knew it he was on the potty all the time. We went from naked waist down to loose pants after about 10 days then to underwear after another week. It worked very well. Some people said it sounds a little harsh but i don't understand how they think that. We were obviously v nice to ds throughout it and encouraged him. Now he loves his potty and takes it with him everywhere (in the house).!!


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## sillysapling (Mar 24, 2013)

Consider raising the bar. The treats were there to master "pee goes in the potty". She's got that. Awesome. Start raising the bar a little more. So instead of a treat every time she goes in the potty- she gets a treat for every [time period] that she only uses the potty_ and doesn't go in the diaper_. Then as that goes on, increase until she gets a treat for every day she only uses the potty. You can make the treats a little bigger as the time periods get bigger as well, just to help her with the transition, but that's really your call.

I have a toddler who _prefers_ pooping on the floor (whywhywhywhywhy) and isn't bothered about peeing there, either. So, just a warning that going diaper free may not fix the problem. Worth a try if she's still asking for a diaper to go in, though.

My almost-2 year old has defeated me as well. Not in exactly the same way. I take solace in the fact (hope) that as soon as he actually knows what the potty's for, I'm pretty sure he'll have no problems potty training. He just doesn't get the idea of what he's supposed to do in the potty and just wants to play with it. :|


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## evmadi (Sep 2, 2012)

We do have diaper free days and I have told her that when the current pack of diapers is gone the world is out of diapers. I like the idea of upping the ante for rewards, she may respond, I'm going to do it tomorrow. I had a real heart to heart... with begging, she agreed to use the potty but only did it once. It's actually getting funny now.


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## Viola P (Sep 14, 2013)

evmadi said:


> We do have diaper free days and I have told her that when the current pack of diapers is gone the world is out of diapers. I like the idea of upping the ante for rewards, she may respond, I'm going to do it tomorrow. I had a real heart to heart... with begging, she agreed to use the potty but only did it once. It's actually getting funny now.


We used rewards too. After each potty he got two M&Ms. That was very motivating for him, especially at the beginning. But then the problem was that he started staying up late, waiting to pee, so he could get those last M&Ms of the day. So we started phasing them out, first the night ones, then the day ones. He doesn't care at this point, just likes the added cleanliness that using a potty brings.

I try not to negotiate important decisions with my toddlers. They remind me of ducks, no matter what you say or how you say it they just quack and waddle, like this:






We waited until ds was 2.5, i wonder if it would have worked so well if we tried earlier. We are planning on trying earlier with dd so i guess we'll see.


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## itzj (Sep 17, 2008)

With dd she saw a doll she really wanted. So I started giving coins if she used the potty and didn't make a big deal if she didn't. It was enough motivation for her. By the time she had enough coins she was totally learned. She got the doll, the coins ended and all was good.


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## Viola P (Sep 14, 2013)

itzj said:


> With dd she saw a doll she really wanted. So I started giving coins if she used the potty and didn't make a big deal if she didn't. It was enough motivation for her. By the time she had enough coins she was totally learned. She got the doll, the coins ended and all was good.


What a great idea!


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