[w8ting4Thomas]

How do you know when your little one is ready to begin potty training? DS goes to daycare so they automatically start this at 2 but I don't want to rely on daycare to train my baby boy.

What are the signs and can someone give me the blow by blow of what worked for you once you saw the 'signs' that they are ready to try.

Don't want to push him, but I am also doing nothing and also don't know what to do even when he is ready.

Thanks!!!!

[JillnChris]

The first signs are when they are able to say "pee" or "poo" and are able to give you signs of when they are going or need to go.
When DD started doing this about 4 months ago I ran out and bought her a little potty chair. She loved it at first and always wanted to sit on it, she was successful a few times but then the novelty sort of wore off and now she doesn't care much for it at all. I still ask her a couple of times a week if she wants to sit on it but she will only sit for 2 seconds, not long enough to actually do anything. I have tried bribing her with stickers but she is still too young to really get that concept.
I think that learning to say the words and to tell you after they went or when they need to go is all a part of the process. If they know how to do that then you can just follow they're lead and when they're ready they're ready. It is not uncommon for boys to PT between 3 and even 4 years of age.
I think that if a parent wanted to put A LOT of time and effort into PT their child might do it sooner but for me I would just rather wait until she is ready. I hate cleaning messes!

Here is a great little checklist.
Potty training readiness checklist (age 2) | ParentCenter

[SKL]

I think the first thing you want to do is define your philosophy about this skill. I say this because you may get a wide variety of answers, from "start 'em ASAP" to "wait until he tells you he wants to." You may want to do some Web research and read not only what the "experts" espouse but also some parents' comments. Believe me, there is a ton of discussion on this if you just do a quick google search.

I decided to start early for a variety of reasons. It means that I had to be very in tune with my daughters' eating, sleeping, and elimination cycles and, initially, spend more time in the bathroom than I would have spent changing diapers. My daughters started at 9 and 12 months old, and were out of diapers day and night at ages 17 and 19 months. They are now 22 and 25 months old, and I still need to help them in little ways, like reminding the younger girl that she needs to go to the potty periodically even if she doesn't want to stop her play. I still need to be mindful of how much time has passed since my younger daughter's last meal/drink/potty stop, and we need to make multiple potty stops when we are out shopping and such. So while this is fine with me, it isn't for everyone.

I started by paying attention to when the girls would have a bowel movement, and started putting them on their potties around those times, and gave them something to do so they didn't want to jump right up again. Pretty soon they didn't feel right having a bowel movement in their pants. A little later, I began setting them on the potties approximately once every hour and encouraged them to pee in there (saying "psss" - sounds weird but it works). I was catching most pees this way and switched them to pull-ups at age 12 mos and 15 mos. Soon thereafter, I started offering treats - one for being dry, one for peeing in the potty - to encourage them to try to hold it or ask to go potty. Finally, when it got warm enough for them to go outside barefoot and mostly naked, I brought the potties outside and put them in panties full-time. At that time, my then-20mo was pretty much trained already (we just used back-up protection for outings and sleep), and she's only had about 2 daytime accidents since then. Within 3 days, my younger (then 17 months) had learned to hold it and get to the potty almost every time. About 2 weeks later, I started putting them to bed in panties, and they usually woke up dry.

Well, that's what worked for us. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

[giovanni7460]

Funny this came up today. Antonio was 2 in July. He cannot speak and does sign language. On top of that I am the worlds worst potty trainer ever!!! I have 5 kids and just am bad at it. Last Monday he would not put on a diaper. Cried, screamed and tore them off. I brought him in the bathroom and said if you dont want a diaper then you have to go potty. I have a little seat that goes over the big one. I put a little stool next to it. After a few accidents he just started going. He poops and pees on it. I have left him in only undies the whole week. We devoted the weekend to one of us being home with him. No clothes just undies. He has not had an accident since last Tuesday. I am shocked and stumped on this one. I thought he would be forever. Good luck this is one parent job that I really dont like. Thank God Antonio made this time easy.
PAtty

[guatparents2be]

julian turned 2 the last week of september.
he's been peeing on the potty when he feels like it for months. he's just not very interested.
this weekend we decided together to get undies for him. he was so psyched. all day yesterday he peed in the potty, even told us when he needed to poop and we took him to the potty.

then today DH put him in a different kind of underwear and he didn't like them (boxer briefs to briefs that were a little too big and not as soft) so he insisted on a diaper. when i woke up he announced to me "mine no like undies."

i'm hoping he wore them for the nanny today but i'm not counting my chickens. we'll just wait until he shows interest again. sigh.

[jules17]

We are really close to being there...DH and I have decided to devote a week or two to IT. The boys have been going #1 and 2 on the potty for almost a year, just often not telling us (so we are trained, not them).

They have started telling us and "tugging." We have the big boy undies with Manny and Diego and they love them...well, Sam just turned that corner recently. We were talking a few weeks ago and I asked him, "Don't you want to wear big boy unnies?" (*they call them unnies which I find adorable)

Sam said, "Sam no big boy. Change diaper please." And I thought, if you can ask for your diaper to be changed, it is time, my love!!

So, for today anyway, they are jazzed about it. And I'll take what I can get.

P.S. The boys are both obsessed with trains. When they were on their potty seats today, I said, "Do you guys want to potty train?" (we talk about it A LOT)

Once they realized "potty train" wasn't a toy, they were both wailing, "But I want a potty train!!" LOL!