Question
Hi, our daughter is 18 months old, and after reading Toilet Training Without Tantrums, we began training 5 days ago. So far, we are feeling pretty discouraged that any progress is being made. We have identical potties in all of the main areas of the house, and she is going naked from the waste down. She knows how to back up to them and sit down, but she just sits for a second and then gets right back up. The main problems we are having is that she almost always refuses to sit on her potty when we suspect she needs to go. Most of the time she cries if we put her on it, and gets up immediately. Frequently, she will pee right away after running away from the potty. We've been careful to try and not micromanage, but just remind her that if she needs to go pee pee then to go sit on her potty. On the rare occasions when she has peed or pooped in the potty, we congratulate her etc. We tried the potty bell, but she pees at such unpredictable increments that it doesn't seem to do any good. Sometimes she will pee 5 times in a half hour (not just a tiny bit here and there, these are full bladder pees), or she may go for an hour. I know this has to do with her intake, but we try to encourage the water like the book said, but she usually won't drink water if we offer it to her unless she is really thirsty. She doesn't seem to mind being wet when pee runs down her legs so she has no incentive to stop wetting herself. In fact she loves puddles and water, so when she pees, she often start playing with it and wiping it all over with her hand. Any advice? Thanks so much.
