Potty training question

[justfroggy]

We have finally gotten in the swing of potty training but we have come to something I'm not quite sure how to handle. DS has gotten to the point where he can tell me he has to go potty. This morning, he tells me he has to pee, so I put him on the potty and he pees. Not even 5 minutes later, he says he has to go pee again, so I put him on the potty again, only this time, nothing. Rinse and repeat for the next 20 minutes.

What do I do? Do I keep putting him on the potty even though I know he doesn't have to go or do I tell him he can't get on the potty? I certainly don't want to discourage him by telling him no but at the same time, it's quite laborious to do the whole scenario over and over again.

[slug*bug]

Ha! We've stepped into somewhat the same territory this week. It's not quite as frequent as you mentioned, but I find that DS is asking to go in the bathroom (and have me help him with pants, etc.) more often than he actually needs to go.

I'm taking the route of indulging the whim: it's better than the alternative and I figure it can't last forever. I suspect that he's just practicing (enjoying?) mastering the whole concept of being able to communicate that he needs to go...either that or he's having false alarms, which I doubt: he seems to be pretty aware of when he needs to go.

He's also done the 'ask and then not go' routine a few times in new places. I get the impression that he likes checking out 'new' bathrooms: my mom tells me my brother went through a phase where he loved to go in public restrooms...the novelty is appealing, I guess?)

[Deleted]

If you're just at home, can you just leave him half naked and let him come and go from the potty as he wants? It sounds like he's just enjoying the attention.

[justfroggy]

Jun 8, 2012 10:26:25 GMT -5 @tokenhoser said:

If you're just at home, can you just leave him half naked and let him come and go from the potty as he wants? It sounds like he's just enjoying the attention.

I work full time and he goes to an in home day care, but when I am home I could let him run around naked. I'm also going to ask the DCP what she does when he does this.

And I agree, I think he wants the attention. We've struggled so much with PTing that I think we are now going overboard with the celebrations when he does go. Ugh, this can be so frustrating!

[vanillacourage]

give him a book and tell him to hang out on the seat until he goes.

[rootbeerfloat]

I think you need to keep taking him as annoying as it is. Hopefully, the novelty runs out soon enough.