I Know Other Moms of Little Boys Have Been Through This.

We taught our son to stand from the very beginning. We got a little step stool and dropped a few cheerios in the toilet bowl and he shot away! Worked wonders!

It just didn't seem natural to me to expect him to sit on the toilet, if that was not going to be how he ultimately used the restroom. My husband was a trooper and let him watch him for many weeks, so that he got the hang of it.

1 mom found this helpful

How lucky for you that he wants to "train" himself. Have you tried having him sit backward on the toilet? That's how my boy goes. I figured he'd eventually be standing up facing it anyway. He straddles it backward and yes, holds himself up with his hands on the seat. I do my best to keep it clean. Pee only goes in the potty so far!
Good luck,
B.

I don't think it's too early at all. My son started training around the same time. And we had the same problem with pee going everywhere...especially with those little "toy" potties. We ended up getting him a stool and just using one of these seats that fits into your regular toilet seat:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=1009...

I think it helped with training because it's the same toilet we all used, and he was able to sit back further and lean forward (bracing himself with his hands on the front of the seat) so that his pee was going straight down into the bowl. This worked so well that we removed the "cup" that came with it since it only made it difficult for him to slide off the seat when he was finished.

When he had mastered this, we slowly introduced him to peeing standing up...but not for quite a while. We weren't in any rush there, so we didn't have to use any persuasive tools like little "targets" to aim at in the water. We just waited until he was ready and it was no problem.

I have always set the boys backwards on the potty so they are facing the tank & then you just have to keep showing them how to hold it down.. good luck

Hi A., I agree with JC. Both of my kids were potty trained on the big toilet, they didn't have their own little ones and then have to be re-trained to use the big ones. And my son was trained standing up and we threw in cheerios for him to aim at. It worked well for us. I hope you find something that works for you and if so, congrats, boys seem to take longer and are harder than girls!

We taught our twin boys to push their wees down while sitting on the potty peeing or you can sit them on the potty but backwards!

We had the same issues with all the little potties until we bought one that was a choo choo. I had to order it from One Step Ahead. I don't know if they still sell it, but I've seen one called the Sesame Street 1-2-3 Learn With Me Potty Chair- Elmo All Star that looks a lot like the choo choo potty and I'm pretty sure it's made by the same company. Here's a link to the one I found on amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LJJOR0
but I think I saw it at KMart, Walmart, and Babies R Us. Hope this helps!

Put cheerios in the potty and tell him to shoot at them (like a game)...it will make it fun. It worked on my nephew!

Have him face the tank of the big potty- he will feel more stable and this position contains the urine better. I have a now 6 and 4 yr old and this method they devised themselves. To keep it fun, try blue food coloring in the water!

let him pee outside until he learns to hold it. put cheerios in the potty and make it a gameto pee on the cheerios. at this age hand eye coordination is pretty much not there yet so be prepared to clean up a lot of messes and consider yourself lucky that he took this upon himslef. make sure he sees other boys pee so he gets the drift

This might sound silly, but my sister used a Cheerio with her son. You just drop it in the toilet and encourage him to aim for it. It worked :)

I have a little girl...and even she would push her pee out and overshoot. Those little plastic guards just make it hard to get on and off the toilet. I just try to get her to lean forward...or backwards on the big toilet. You could try training on both at the same time...it helps when you are out in public.

How wonderful that he is interested! I had one do that at 18 months, though most of mine were between 2 and 3. Five of my six children are boys. I taught them to stand to pee, then sit to poop. Making bubbles in the toilet (which you can only do if you hit the water) is the goal. We usually had a stool to stand on in the beginning. Now, my first son had his own little potty and we drew a little bug on the inside of the little bowl and had him pee on the bug. Both were helpful. Good luck!

I taught my son and brother (whom I raised) to SIT for both potty jobs in the beginning. Because I notice that when they are that young, they are just copying the older sibling (the highest form of flattery) but sometimes they can't discern between the two feelings for poop and pee (#2 & #1 respectively). And if they are standing to pee, sometimes something can come out the otherside - a bigger oops. The cheerios and bubbles are nice for later when they learn to aim.

Also, he might loose interest after a short while, but he'll learn quickly later on.

I always liked the most simple potty chair available. At the time I bought ours at IKEA. Just a simple plastic place-on-the-floor model, with a high front to catch the boy's pee if it's shooting straight. When in other bathrooms I taught them to sit backwards on the toilet.

Best of luck,
J.

i have to agree with all the other moms advice! my soon to be 3 y/o son was trained before 2 as well, and i've used all those tricks to make it work...my fav however was the backwards sitting:)