Potty Training 2 1/2 Yr Old.

If you don't have much spare time, I recommend a one-stop-shopping potty training book. Linda Sonna's book is awesome. It has several different methods plus troubleshooting tips.
Here are some tips.
-Never, ever show disappointment or any other negative response to failure. He will become afraid to try.
-Good little rewards are stickers, or tiny toys (we used dinosaurs).
-Praise trying, but calmly have him help clean up messes.
-avoid pullups.
--Don't ask if he needs to go. That is annoying to him (how would you like it?), and anyway the typical response is "no" no matter what. Instead, schedule a "potty practice" every two hours. It's okay if nothing comes out. He can practice pushing his pants down, sitting, putting the pants back up, and washing his hands. He gets a reward just for tryijg.
--He'll miss the attention he used to get and his brother still gets from diaper changes. Give some extra hugs.
--The little guy might show more interest once his brother is doing it. But the same tricks that work for one might not work for another!

1 mom found this helpful

just a suggestion - you say you want to stay away from candy rewards, and he's lost interest in his special "potty only" book. What about a sticker chart next to the toilet? Every time he goes he gets a sticker (get some really cool ones in a theme he likes, the dollar store always has tons!) and then when he fills his chart you guys get to go buy or do something special. A small new toy, a trip for ice cream with mom... what ever. As far as the book, why not go to the local library and let him pick out one special book every week or two. Then the book is still "potty time" only, but he won't get bored with the same book.

My son didn't respond to the rewards system either. We tried sticker charts, candy, and made a big deal when he actually used the potty. None of these seemed to work. Another mother suggested that I no longer use pull ups or diapers but just put him in regular underwear. This did the trick since it was so uncomfortable to him to be wet or dirty in regular clothes. After one weekend, he was potty trained. Jeans seemed to work the best since they were the most uncomfortable when wet.

Ashely - it's tough, everyone does it at different ages, but what really worked w/my son (fully PT by 2 yrs. 9 mo) was a "potty chart" -- i drew a bunch of lines horizontal and vertical to make a whole page of squares and let him put a sticker anywhere he wanted on the chart for every time he used the potty. the main thing is to not force the issue -- you are doing the right thing by introducing it to him and getting him used to going, but truthfully they all do it in their own time. I think it might be a little early for your younger one. Also, books about going to the potty are good too "once upon a potty" there is a girl version and a boy version. Really helped explain it. hope this helps.

Yup - consistency is the thing.
I trained my little guy at 2 yrs, 10 mos. I had been talking it up to him about being clean, not wearing diapers, being comfy not scratchy, and wearing undies like mommy and daddy. (any known bigger kid will help too). And we read new books and got a potty video.

I trained him first for doo-doo while still in pull-ups. He had a pretty good schedule so I could predict, and I bribed him with shopping for a new toy....which had been denied for about a month. He was so excited to put doo-doo in the potty so he could get a toy (I took him to the dollar store!). Then I went down to yummy things and pre-bought toys wrapped up , then finally just stickers as the days went by.

After that happy success it was almost fun for wee-ing!
We picked a weekend when hubby was home and nothing was planned but staying home, and I told the little guy about the big day we'd start, like it was a party to look forward to. And, daddy was very involved that first day. We did it like the pre-school and put a stool in front of the potty to stand up to pee like daddy.
Son wore just undies, they drank together and went to the potty every 30 min. at first. They have to learn the signals from their body...they don't know at first...talk to them about what it feels like and where (lower tummy). You can confine him the fist day to an easily cleanable space, and let him play in the back yard. There will be cleanups the first day, but I had maybe one the second day! Stay with it - they earn stars and maybe special stickers and then for every row completed on a chart, they get a little toy or something they want. The trick is to make them WANT to go potty to get something they want. My little guy TRIED to go wee every 15 minutes just so he could earn the toy!!
After a week, he started to learn when he had to go.

We kept him in pull up for beds, going to the potty just before sleep, and first thing in the morning.
We learned to carry pullups and a pair of shorts with us in a little plastic bag when out and about.

Since you've been back and forth, it might be hard for him to know you're serious this time, but make it a big deal and be prepared to bribe and follow through. We also had him (help)wash his undies when he missed...but not as a punishment.
I hope this helps. You can help him look forward to this! Your younger son is probably too young to do it independently. There are ideas about training babies, but I personally think it's more about training the mom when to anticipate their needs - too much effort...FOR ME.
Good luck!

My son didn't really start getting the hang of PT until we got rid of the pull ups completely and put him in real underwear. Yes it was alittle messy with poops. But the only time he wore pullups was when he was taking a nap or asleep at night. He just turned 3 in May and he sleeps all the time now without any pullups.

We have a 2 1/2 year old daughter and she responded well to stickers. Each time she'd go potty she'd get a sticker...if she went #2 we'd give her 2 stickers...since that was a little more difficult. We didn't want to go with candy as rewards either so since she liked stickers that really did the trick for us. Also we made her go every hour or try every hour at least until she started telling us potty...then we just waited until she would tell us. It was tough telling her to try because she would throw fits but we just tried to stay as consistent as possible. Hope this helps!

First stop asking him if he needs to go potty. He'll always say no and a battle will begin. Start a pretty routine schedule (i.e. when wakes up, before bed, 30min after meals, before car trips, etc.) and TELL him when it's time to go potty. See how that goes. Your son may not be totally ready. A lot of boys don't train completely until they are 3 - 3 1/2 yo. Good luck.

When we potty trained my now 5 year old daughter, I found the most important part was consistency. One day, we just got rid of the pull ups, except for at night, and put her in panties. As the previous poster said, it was messy in the beginning (we started it when we would just stay around the house for three days without going much of anywhere). Even when we went out, I kept her in the underpants. I used the thick Gerber cotton trainers in the beginning, with the rubber pants on top of them. We put a piddle pad on the car seat and kept a potty in the car as she wasn't ready to use the big potty. We also struggled with her having control issues. If I asked her to go potty or told her to go potty, she'd fight me. We found that a kitchen timer worked for us. I'd put in the length of time between trips to the potty, she'd press start on the timer (so she felt like she had control over it), and the timer would go off and she'd know it was time to go sit on it. It was kind of like a neutral third party telling her to go, rather than me.
As for your younger one, I have no advice other than maybe get a second potty so there's somewhere for him to go when his older brother goes. My friend's second son basically trained himself while she was potty training the older one. I wouldn't push it though with your younger one, because he's still so young. Good luck!

Don't worry!!! He will not go to college in a diaper :). I had the same struggle with my now 4 year old. Boy's have a harder time potty training. They will when they want to and no sooner. My son was potty trained after his 4th b-day. I tried everything and nothing worked. When he wanted to be a big boy he was done with diapers. My advice to you would be chin up and don't push it.

Personally, if its such a battle I wouldnt bother. Give it another couple months and then start fresh if you really want him trained. Forwarn him though and mark it on the calendar and about a week before you start PT'ing again, give him warning of how things are going to "go down". Maybe then he will be more ready. And the key words are: persistance, consistency and patience.
If you really want to start your younger child then maybe do it at the same time.
I find that boys can sometimes be a bit slower at catching onto PT'ing so dont stress yourself, its not worth it.
I might try when my son is 2 1/2...but if he gives me a hard time I will hang it up and then get it done when he is 3. I have enough stress already.

one - you have to figure out what is important to him and use that as a currency. for my son, he would sit down for candy, but it wasn't what really pushed him over the edge to actually getting to the potty when he needed to. I finally figured out it was being able to swim in the big pool - i really talked that up, and even 'called the pool to tell them he had pooed on the potty' (i didn't really but he thought i did). Each kid will have a different motivation.

two - you can't make them go unless they want to. think about the horse being led to water. you can lead them to the potty and give them many opportunities to get on there, but you can't make them go. you have to just give him opportunities to go, but you will have to wait until he wants to and can also feel it coming; being able to feel it coming occurs at different times for different kids. you may have to back off, but reward every attempt.

we also talked a lot about it, the feeling you get before you know you have to go, complaining about changing the diaper, talking about how great it was to go on the potty. but all that was nothing until he wanted to do it, and he decided himself. after that, there still were/are occasional accidents, but you definitely cannot push this.

A.,
It's a known fact that boys PT later than girls. My oldest daughter was completely trained by her 2nd Birthday, and my youngest daughter by 2 1/2.... My son however, a very different story. He was nearly 4 when he 'got it'. HA! You may have hit the nail on the head when you asked if he simply wasn't ready. At 2 1/2, that may be the case. But, don't give up. Applaude his successes and ignore his 'failures to potty-pee'.
He'll get there.
Parent on!
S.

Hello! My daughter is 3, and she began showing interest in the potty at age 1 1/2, but she didn't actually start using her potty until just after age 2. By 2 1/2, she was using the "big potty." A resource I found EXTREMELY helpful was a book called, "Potty Training Sucks: What to Do When Diapers Make You Miserable" by Joanne Kimes, Kathleen Laccinole, & Linda Sonna. They are real moms who write with real, practical advice - and most importantly - with a sense of humor. I promise you will feel better after you read their book because they've all been there and dealt with anything you can imagine. They do say that boys usually don't train until closer to 3, or even later. Their biggest piece of advice is to stop trying to train the child. As soon as it seems like you don't care, that's when they'll want to try it - that was the case with my daughter. So, here's the Amazon link for the book because I highly recommend it! http://www.amazon.com/Potty-Training-Sucks-Miserable-Suck...

My 2 yr old is the same way. Last week super interested, this week refusing to use it. I remember reading in a Parenting magazine about a mom that said the opposite of what she wanted and her kid did it. So this morning I tested it out. No potty today. you definately do not want to sit. No sit on potty. He got a big smile and went over to sit down. Everytime he got up I would say, "Youre right, no potty, no sit." Then he would smile and repeat no sit and sit down. I would then smile and praise him "good boy." We haven't gotten as far as you have, he only pees about 5% of the time, but I guess negative reinforcement works..