Prego with Baby #2 and Need to Potty Train 2 Year Old Boy!

Congrats with preg #2! I think the other moms covered the potty training thing down. I am just here to say that potty training can be stressful esp. when you are pregnant. I have 2 girls, but I have heard that boys potty train around 3 or so, but your son may be ready now. SO after you start the potty training and it gets a little tough, don't be hard on yourself if you put it off until all of the signs are there or when the new baby is walking. You seem like a very busy and committed mom (full time job and active boys), and parenting by yourself for half of the year. Good luck and I am rooting for ya!

My son wasnt ready to be potty trained till he was around 3 years old. I would suggest waiting till he shows signs of being ready. You dont want to force it on them, then it will make them not want anything to do with going potty. If you think he is ready, there are a few things to start doing. Put underwear on him or training pants. That way when he is wet he isnt going to want to wear wet clothes. When he gets up in the morning sit him on the toliet/potty chair. Every time one of us went to the bathroom we would take my son. He would sit on his chair and us on ours. LOL. Sometimes while sitting there we would turn on the water and it worked sometimes. Like if we knew he needed to go but it had been awhile. After eating and drinking at breakfast, snack time, naptime, lunch, take him to the bathroom. He will get the hang of it. It takes time for some children and some catch on real quick. Dont pressure him though and if he isnt ready give him time. I know how it is though. My son was in the process of potty training and we had a new baby. Now he is 4 and potty trained. Except with the sometime accidents at night. I have a 18 month old baby girl also. I hope this helps you out some. Good luck. Congrats about your little bundle of joy!

S. Thorne
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I potty trained my son when he was about 2 or 2 1/2. My friend told me what she did and she potty trained her twin son and daughter when they were about 2 AT THE SAME TIME IN 3 DAYS!!!. First is have him pick out his own underware will help get him excited. (buy some cheap plain ones as well, because you will use several for the first day or 2). Have him watch Dad a few times to get the idea. Take some time off work. I took a week off. What ever day you are going to start, that morning wake him up and take him to the potty, put on his favorite underware. Keep him in the kitchen or somewhere away from carpet and close to the bathroom. Every hour on the hour, take him. Don't push him to hard by making him sit for a long period of time. Just a few minutes will do to see if he will. If he starts to pee or doodoo take him straight to the bathroom and put him on the potty. If it's been a 2-3 hours and he has not went when you've taken him, try to keep him on there until he does. I would sit in there with him and go over ABC's, with my girl we would do sign language. My son accually did better standing up than sitting, you could put cheerio's in the potty for him to aim at. Give him alot of cheer when he goes, maybe even a small peice of candy. When I did this, the first day I went through so much underware and really started to second guess if he is ready. The second day was much better. The third day he was doing so good I agreed to lunch with my in-laws, and while waiting in line, he tells ME that he has to go and held it until we got there. Of course on the way back everyone could hear him say "I went pee-pee in the potty!" I was so proud and didn't want to ruin it for him so I let him without ever telling him to quite down. Now for a while longer we did still put diapers on him at night time and nap time. We didn't want him to get disappointed with him self if he wet the bed since that will still take a while to get over. Just don't fall in to the pull up training pants. Children see them no different than diapers and there will be no real change, the child can go to the potty if he or she wants or not, no big change. You can do this. Sorry this was so long, I am just so happy with this way of potty training. Not only that but one day when I walk into the day care I over heard the director saying "that's how A. potty train her son" and pulled me into the room to explain.

First of all, don't worry about getting him to stand and do it. They can sit till they're old enough to feel really comfortable about standing.

Harvey Karp wrote in The Happiest Toddler on the Block (a great book!) that a great way to start is, just have them spend some happy time every day on their little potty. Read their favorite books, sing, etc. If they pee or poop, great, and praise them a little, but don't make a big deal out of it at all.

It's great that you're thinking of this so far ahead. It probably means that you will have a real no-pressure approach, and that is the only way to get through it trauma-free all-around. (And it's the only appropriate way for a parent to do it, too.)

As for those toddler years, yeah :) Just want to share, I've really enjoyed the Sears Discipline Book, Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline by Becky Bailey, and Positive Discipline by I don't remember who. Positive Discipline is really fantastic. There are so many things that they write that totally get me into that little head of hers and make things so much easier. Like, instead of commanding them to do things, or asking them nicely (if you ask as if they have the choice to say "no," they don't understand why we get mad when they use that choice to say "no," when we just gave them the choice!!), just make a game of it, or ask their help (like, if they don't want to get into the carseat: "can you carry my book to the car?" (If he doesn't want to, ok, but at least he's not saying no to getting into the carseat.) Then, when at the car, you're so thankful and praising his kind helpful gesture, that he's more likely to be happy to oblige when you say, ok! Happy boys jump into their carseat so they can go to the park/store/wherever you're going (make it sound fun but don't bribe)!"

Anyway. Great book. I've been reading it for a couple of nights now (couple minutes here...half an hour there...) and it's already making life with my very active, head-strong toddler SO much easier and more fun. (And really - as they point out - do we want our children to be *weak*-willed? LOL.)