awesome, right? uuuuuu ... ya, if you love visiting every public restroom you pass and turning the car around five minutes after you leave because someone yells, "i have to go potty!" from the back seat. i may or may not have pulled over on occasion and let grace pee in a bush.
it's really not that bad. and it obviously beats changing diapers. ok, it's not bad at all and i'm very pleased that we were able to teach grace this rather important life skill.
this part is bad though ... grace has an enormous fear of automatic toilets. before we enter any bathroom she asks me if it's automatic. if i tell her yes, then she magically no longer has to go. i learned the hard way that what she really means is that she would rather go in her pants that sit on a toilet that flushes without her permission. usually i can race her through the process so fast that by the time she realizes the toilet's flaw she is at the sink washing up and it doesn't matter. but every once in a while, for one reason or another, we have an epic battle in the stall. i hold her on the toilet while she screams things like, "please don't make me do this! just let me go! i need a break! get me off! i'm all done!" one might seriously think that she is being beat. all the while i am trying to stay calm and respond with encouraging words despite my increasing frustration.
this usually ends in grace being slightly traumatized and me feeling so bad that i don't know how to help her deal with this huge fear. in her defense, public restrooms (automatic or not) are loud and disgusting.
unfortunately little grace, automatic toilets are just part of life.
any tips? words of advice? just switch back to diapers? tempting ...
9 comments:
ady does the SAME thing almost word for word! i say back to diapers, no no joking. ady has gotten a little better over time. but if i know it's a long car ride or all day in public restrooms i have a few pull ups in the bag just in case. so happy to hear another girl peeing in the bushes!!!
Hi Jenny! I don't know if this works for sure or not, but I've heard you can stick a post-it note over the sensor above the toilet so it's not activated while you use it. Might be worth a try... better than going back to diapers! Good luck! :)
genius! i'll definitely give it a try. i wonder at what point she'll grow out of this ... can you just picture grace as a teenager with sticky notes always on hand whenever she leaves the house?!
Sula hated when you flushed the toilet before she had "finished". obviously she doesn't know about a courtesy flush. i think she felt she wold get sucked into the toilet as it flushed and that by flushing it she could no longer finish bc her potty trip was over.
Wow, I have no idea what you do about that, except to avoid it at all costs! Yikes.
Potty training my first was cake. IT took like 2 days and we were done. Noah still wets his bed, and he's 4 1/2! I hate potty training.
Matt was afraid of those automatic flush toilets too... then I think he got used to them. He still jumps when it flushes automatically though. I know how that is. Matt was 2 1/2 years old when he was potty trained and for like three months, we were constantly worried that he'd pee in his pants in public. But thankfully, that never happened. Phew... But don't ever go back to diapers! (I know you didn't mean it)
Grace seems so similar to Matt. Matt is terrified of public restrooms. He says it's dirty and he covers the toilet seat with layers of toilet papers before he sits on it, lol.
Good luck with everything! P.S. Oh if you want to go for a walk for exercise or go to the park, let me know. We live right by Olympus Park now. :)
That is funny. No advice, as I am on the other end needing potty training advice.
This is hilarious Jenny! I have done all things you are not supposed to with potty training. Avery was ready a year ago and actually wanted to use the potty but I didn't want to have to find public bathrooms and deal with it with the new baby coming etc. Diapers were way easier. So we are back and forth between panties at home and diapers when we go someplace which is totally confusing to her. Anyway...what I am trying to say is I have no advice. Oh except my mother in law used to just bring a little potty chair and have her kids go in the back of the car (they had a suburban). I actually kind of like that idea...then no gross bathrooms and you always have a potty near by. (I think she had like a tupperware bowl under the seat so she could put a lid on it after.) Good luck Grace.
Ok so it's funny because after I read your post, I found out that Matt has the same issue. I guess I didn't know because Sean always takes Matt to the bathroom in public... But Matt also freaks out about automatic flush... but I guess covering the sensor with toilet paper helps. Anyway, thought it was funny that Matt has the same problem and maybe you will be comforted in knowing that your kid is not the only one... :)
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