February 1999

Deep Breath, Matthew has been using his potty quite a lot. He is very happy to sit on it, and understands what it is for, so it is time to step up the training. I have bought some pampers "training pants", as a symbol to Matthew that he is moving towards big boy pants. I am under no illusion, these are just nappies in disguse and Matthew knows it! I am leaving Matthews bottoms off during the day at home, and using the training pants when we are out and at nursery. Bottomless he managed to use his potty very well and had no accidents at all on the second day, but I am begining to feel quite paranoid! He is unwilling to use his potty if he has anything on, and he has yet to poo in it.

I am quite concerned about Matthew's future education, as I don't feel that the local schools are that good. Also I believe that he is a very bright child and I want him to both enjoy school and do well. I have sent off for prospectuses from several local independant schools and we visited a small prep school. I was very impressed by the school we saw, but I am not sure it will be the right place for Matthew as it is so small. Matthew thought it was great, and he enjoyed being with the big children. Looking at my options I could go for a prep school with attached pre-prep nursery, and then both Amber and Matthew could go to the same place from this summer. Alternatively I can keep them at Hand-in-Hand until they reach three or four when they can move onto a prep school or the infant department of a grammar school. On reflection I like this option. We will go and visit some more schools before making a decision.

I have been encouraging Matthew to use his potty when we are out, although he is still in "training pants", he is managing to go sometimes which is really good. I need him to understand this is a full time thing before we move to the next stage... real plants! He has managed to poo in his potty once, he called it a big wee-wee so he definitely understands that this is meant to go in the potty too. I am now very confident in his abilities when he is at home with me. I just have to get him to 1) ask when he needs to go and 2) use the potty more consistently outside the house. I will try to do this by example and reinforcing it when he does it right.

I have noticed for a while that Matthew has been dribbling, but today he had red cheeks and is off his food. He doesn't even want his reward sweeties! (so we are using stickers now) I suspect that he may be teething again. Sure enough when I got the chance to see in his mouth, there was a shiny new back molar , about 3/4 through. He has been very good, and hasn't been complaining much. Once or twice he has said his mouth hurts, and he has been chewing his fingers, but I havn't had to give him any calpol or teething gel. He has also stayed healthy this time, I guess being older his body is coping better - but I have noticed that he has some eczema on the back of his knees. I have put nappy rash cream on it daily and he hasn't been scratching, I am hoping it might go away once he stops teething.

Matthew has chosen for himself a favouite teddy. Until now he hasn't shown much interest in soft toys, but he has really latched onto "Mr Rabbit". Mr Rabbit is a silly yellow rabbit, and I feel a little guilty because I really didn't like this particulary toy when he was given it. I guess it is just the right size and it is very squeezy and cuddly... plus of course it is his favourite colour - Yellow! This means putting Matthew to bed has taken on a new dimension, and gotten even easier! So long as Mr Rabbit is in bed, Matthew will go to sleep and we don't even have to wait with him any more. Matthew also fetched Mr Rabbit when he got tired during the day and fell asleep with him on the sofa.

A week further on and Matthew's potty training hasn't got much further. He has used it at Granny and Grandpa's house and continues to practice at home but he isn't asking. I have realised that he needs a good push to get any further, so I have put him in pants a few times at home. On Monday I will do away with nappies altoghther, I think he will cope - just.

DAY ONE: OK, we had 10 accidents today. He basically totally forgot. I was putting him on the potty 1/2 hourly and he did managed to get some wees in it - by chance - but he was encouraged by that. By the end of the day he was realising that when he wees he is uncomfortable, explaning to me "oh, wet trousers" this is a real break through as he has never complained about being wet before, even after a major nappy leak.
DAY TWO: Only 5 changes of trousers. Big improvement! He went to nursery in pants too and they continued by putting him on his potty every half hour.
DAY THREE: only 1 accident today, and this was because he forgot about his wee when he used the potty for a poo. However we have struck a small problem.... Matthew wants his sister to use the potty too! I have put her on the potty for him a couple of times, but he gets upset when I change her nappy, "Amber do wee wees in the potty mummy, Amber doesn't need nappies".
DAY FOUR: Matthew had a dry nappy this morning when he woke up, during the day he had several accidents, but I wasn't remining him today and he was definitely practicing holding on, so it is still a step forward. I felt confident enought to do a quick trip out to mothercare, and he was happy to use his potty whilst we were out.
DAY FIVE: Dry nappy this morning again. Visited the library and the supermarket. Whilst we were at the supermarket he told me that he needed his potty. I think we have cracked it!
DAY SIX: dry nappy in the morning again, ok if this carrys on like this I will stop using them at night next week. No accidents at nursery and he even managed himself on a four hour car journey to visit his granny and grandpa, well done Matthew! He is still wetting himself sometimes, particulary just before he needs a poo, I just this takes a little longer just because he gets less practise at it! I have been amazed how quickly he managed it, and how easy and relativly pleasureable the whole experience has been.

Disaster: After the weekend away - I am not entirely sure what happened - he has come home too scared to use his potty. I am at a loss about what to do for the best but I have decided to try to ignore his problems and encourage him to continue. He wet himself so many times the first day back and having been dry at night for ages (months) he is now wetting alot again. I was in tears. I just ignored accidents, I huged Matthew and said "never mind" whilst I quickly cleared up and changed him. I couldn't get him to sit on the potty much at all but he did get it right a couple of times, and he went to nursery in pants where he has some level of consistency. Aparently they were taking him to the potty every 15 mins, poor thing, BUT he only had one accident whilst he was there. The next day he said to me "I don't want potty, I'm too small, nappies please". I decided to give him one more day, to see if he could still do it and by the end of the day, although we were having many accident he was showing willing again because he was trying to take his own trousers off something he hadn't done before. I decided that to help him on his way we would go and choose a new potty for him which we did and he improved no end... I encouraged him by putting his sister on the potty and congratulating her lots, whilst quietly ignoring Matthew's toileting. By the weekend we were almost back to square one.