Jack has always been a little strange when it comes to behavioral development and learning new things.
For example: When jack was about 9 months we'd started to see the other children in his group become more mobile. Many were crawling, one was walking, but Jack was still a little lump of giggles and smiles. Then suddenly, whether due to peer pressure or his own antics, he started making attempts to crawl. We got one whole day of Jack dragging himself along the carpet before he resumed his life as speed bump. It wasn't due to lack of encouragement on our part, we cheered and laughed and hung a carrot an inch or so out of reach but got nothing, he was a lump again and that was that. The a week later he changed his mind. No longer was he a pile of pudge but a four legged race car. Not only could he crawl, but at incredible speeds. There was no practice, no trial and error, just the decision.
Another Example: 13 months old and he was perfectly content racing around on all fours. Aside from the occasional cruising along the furniture (mostly to try reach whatever was on the sofa that he's been told he couldn't have) there wasn't any real attempt and walking on his own. One Sunday afternoon, Helen and I were sat on the sofa watching TV while Jack quietly vandalized one of the chairs when suddenly, he stood up strolled slowly out into the middle of the room. He turned and smiled at his wide-eyed parents then sat down. Try as we might we couldn't get him back on his feet for three weeks. He'd done all the walking he was going to do for the rest of his life, in fact he even stopped cruising the furniture. Then one day I went into the kitchen to get Jack his morning snack only to find him right on my tail. He could walk, jump, skip (as nanny discovered) and run, none of this one step/two steps stuff. His balance was a little off and we had our share of bruises for a week or so, but he could walk.
Jack has taken this approach to most things in his little life. We've put it down mostly to laziness, he just can't be bothered, everything is the way he likes it. But eventually something must catch his eye about it, everyone else seems to enjoy it so there's got to be something to is. So he'll give it an attempt just to see what's it's all about, then spend an undetermined amount of time weighing out the benefits before giving it a place in his world.
Potty training has so far been the exception to the rule, or so it would appear. We're 4 weeks in and progress is slow. We've tried many different tactics in trying to encourage him but he's, resistant, to say the least.
A typical day in training goes like this.
Jack do you want to go on the potty for a wee-wee?
No.
Are you sure? Use the potty like a big boy.
No, I not a big boy. (under any other circumstance Jack considers himself a big boy.)
His nanny had a rather ingenious idea right at the beginning which was right after lunch, take off his nappy and let him run around naked from the waist down. This worked beautifully, after just a couple of minutes she found him sitting on his potty doing his think. Helen and I immediately stole this idea but got a little bit different result. Tantrum. 15 minutes of a half naked boy laying on the ground demanding to have his nappy put back on. In the end we resorted to bribing and other things to get his to stop wanting his nappy on. Even now, he'll still put up a fight, but he will usually give in with a little coaxing. He just doesn't like not having a nappy on.
Something must be working because just last night he was calling to his mommy saying that he needed the toilet. When she went upstairs she found he'd stripped himself completely naked.
Next were pull-ups. We've had a package of pull-ups for a while now and after 3 weeks of relative success we thought we'd try him in the pull-ups. The moment we got them out Jack took offense and the kicking and screaming began. We tried everything,
But they're just like your swimming nappies.
But I don't wanna go swimming.
They've got Spider-man on them.
I don't like Spider-man. (a lie, he loves Spider-man)
They're big boy pants.
I not a big boy.
In the end we gave up. We made a couple more attempts over the next few days but got nowhere. The following Tuesday Helen picked him up from his Nanny's sporting a pair of teddy bear pull-ups. Nanny said that he was down-right enthusiastic about wearing them. So we took him home and after a 35 minutes session on the toilet brought out a pair of pull-ups, instant tantrum.
But they're just like the ones at nannies.
But I don't like them.
Is it because they've got Spider-man on them.
I don't like them.
They're big boy pants.
I not a big boy.
Nursery had a similar experience, he actually asked for pull-ups. But he wouldn't wear them for us. In the end we had to trick him but keeping the old pair of teddy pull-ups and fooling him into thinking we were putting them on. I'm not convinced that he was fooled, it seemed more like him just letting us have a win to me.
So today, we're trying him on pants, the final frontier. We're trying the theory that he's only weeing in his nappies because they're there. So far so good. He wore little red Mater pants all morning and hasn't had any accidents.
Several of Jack's friends are already potty trained, some more so than others. I have no doubt that Jack will get there and the mere fact that we're pushing it is probably what's making him so resistant. No doubt one day he'll just wake up potty trained.
For example: When jack was about 9 months we'd started to see the other children in his group become more mobile. Many were crawling, one was walking, but Jack was still a little lump of giggles and smiles. Then suddenly, whether due to peer pressure or his own antics, he started making attempts to crawl. We got one whole day of Jack dragging himself along the carpet before he resumed his life as speed bump. It wasn't due to lack of encouragement on our part, we cheered and laughed and hung a carrot an inch or so out of reach but got nothing, he was a lump again and that was that. The a week later he changed his mind. No longer was he a pile of pudge but a four legged race car. Not only could he crawl, but at incredible speeds. There was no practice, no trial and error, just the decision.
Another Example: 13 months old and he was perfectly content racing around on all fours. Aside from the occasional cruising along the furniture (mostly to try reach whatever was on the sofa that he's been told he couldn't have) there wasn't any real attempt and walking on his own. One Sunday afternoon, Helen and I were sat on the sofa watching TV while Jack quietly vandalized one of the chairs when suddenly, he stood up strolled slowly out into the middle of the room. He turned and smiled at his wide-eyed parents then sat down. Try as we might we couldn't get him back on his feet for three weeks. He'd done all the walking he was going to do for the rest of his life, in fact he even stopped cruising the furniture. Then one day I went into the kitchen to get Jack his morning snack only to find him right on my tail. He could walk, jump, skip (as nanny discovered) and run, none of this one step/two steps stuff. His balance was a little off and we had our share of bruises for a week or so, but he could walk.
Jack has taken this approach to most things in his little life. We've put it down mostly to laziness, he just can't be bothered, everything is the way he likes it. But eventually something must catch his eye about it, everyone else seems to enjoy it so there's got to be something to is. So he'll give it an attempt just to see what's it's all about, then spend an undetermined amount of time weighing out the benefits before giving it a place in his world.
Potty training has so far been the exception to the rule, or so it would appear. We're 4 weeks in and progress is slow. We've tried many different tactics in trying to encourage him but he's, resistant, to say the least.
A typical day in training goes like this.
Jack do you want to go on the potty for a wee-wee?
No.
Are you sure? Use the potty like a big boy.
No, I not a big boy. (under any other circumstance Jack considers himself a big boy.)
His nanny had a rather ingenious idea right at the beginning which was right after lunch, take off his nappy and let him run around naked from the waist down. This worked beautifully, after just a couple of minutes she found him sitting on his potty doing his think. Helen and I immediately stole this idea but got a little bit different result. Tantrum. 15 minutes of a half naked boy laying on the ground demanding to have his nappy put back on. In the end we resorted to bribing and other things to get his to stop wanting his nappy on. Even now, he'll still put up a fight, but he will usually give in with a little coaxing. He just doesn't like not having a nappy on.
Something must be working because just last night he was calling to his mommy saying that he needed the toilet. When she went upstairs she found he'd stripped himself completely naked.
Next were pull-ups. We've had a package of pull-ups for a while now and after 3 weeks of relative success we thought we'd try him in the pull-ups. The moment we got them out Jack took offense and the kicking and screaming began. We tried everything,
But they're just like your swimming nappies.
But I don't wanna go swimming.
They've got Spider-man on them.
I don't like Spider-man. (a lie, he loves Spider-man)
They're big boy pants.
I not a big boy.
In the end we gave up. We made a couple more attempts over the next few days but got nowhere. The following Tuesday Helen picked him up from his Nanny's sporting a pair of teddy bear pull-ups. Nanny said that he was down-right enthusiastic about wearing them. So we took him home and after a 35 minutes session on the toilet brought out a pair of pull-ups, instant tantrum.
But they're just like the ones at nannies.
But I don't like them.
Is it because they've got Spider-man on them.
I don't like them.
They're big boy pants.
I not a big boy.
Nursery had a similar experience, he actually asked for pull-ups. But he wouldn't wear them for us. In the end we had to trick him but keeping the old pair of teddy pull-ups and fooling him into thinking we were putting them on. I'm not convinced that he was fooled, it seemed more like him just letting us have a win to me.
So today, we're trying him on pants, the final frontier. We're trying the theory that he's only weeing in his nappies because they're there. So far so good. He wore little red Mater pants all morning and hasn't had any accidents.
Several of Jack's friends are already potty trained, some more so than others. I have no doubt that Jack will get there and the mere fact that we're pushing it is probably what's making him so resistant. No doubt one day he'll just wake up potty trained.
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