Potty Training My Boy - Pretend I Know Nothing B/c I Don't!! :)

When he is ready, I found that three cheerios thrown into the toilet water gave both of my boys "something to aim at." They had a 2 step stool to stand on. I found poop the hardest part to conquer. Peeing is fun for them but poop is not as they have to sit still for a minute. He is a little young yet. I would definitely not teach him to go to the potty anywhere but the bathroom. Good luck to you! cb

I put some bricks in front of the toilet and threw a cheerio in and told them to aim and whiz.

I am potty training my son right now, he will be three in october. your son is a bit young to start. start with reading potty books and just talk about how fun the potty is.
i cannot imagine putting a potty in the living room for him to sit on and watch TV. we only put the potty in the bathroom because that is where you go to the "potty," but each to their own!
the closer to three you get the better and easier it is with boys. we use a "frog" potty chair because it is easy for him to sit on (they cannot stand at this age). the cushions often don't have a "boy" shield and tt goes everywhere!

as for his speech, you ought to call your local early childhood intervention program. they come out and test for free (speech problems), if he qualifies insurance usually pays for their services. when he turns three you have to take him to your neighborhood school for services. the earlier he gets speech help the better.

I know you said you'd wait a little, but if he listens to you and does what you say then you might try putting him on the potty after you change his diaper and see what he does. Smile, praise and give a skittle every time he sits and give two if he makes yellow. He may not tell you at first but just you telling him what to do in a sweet way will encourage him along. You never know he may just start indicating to you he's ready on his own. Most of mine have been dry through the night by 3yr. 2m. by taking it slow and letting them get older. But there always this short window right before turning 2 that I wished I had taken advantage of when they seemed willing to do what I said.

there are books you can read to him to peak his interest without putting any pressure on him, there is one where Elmo learns to use the potty on the last page you can "flush" a potty-very cute! Mr. Rogers talks about Potty training etc etc there are videos too he may be more of a visual learner.and dont be afraid to let him watch you. IF hes making progress before his 3rd birthday start casually mentioning that three year olds dont wear diapers, they always go in the potty.(but expect him to wear diapers at night for a while longer-till 4 or 5. a general guide for a normally developing boy-remember all kids are different is 2 to 2 1/2 is introduction and exploration, 2 1/2 to 3 is practice, and around 3 start expecting something.
A lot depends on HIS personality, if he gets stressed easily than even a lot of praise for being successful makes him feel stressed when not successful. so many books advise to praise for SITTING on the potty a minute or two not praise for using the potty. Personally I gave all three my kids an M& M for being successful on the potty! .

becky, a couple thoughts. first 21 months is a little young in my opinion. my son has no communication issues, and he was three. so don't sweat it, he's not a freak or anything :) S., the peeing standing up, don't even worry about it. my son started doing it all by himself (all i heard was, hey mom look what i can do! and i was shocked lol) once he started preschool. he'll pick it up.

last, if you want to introduce him, great. just don't push it. this may be a year long process. if you get frustrated it will discourage him from wanting to. be positive and encouraging and let him be your guide. either he is ready, or he isn't, and nothing you can do will change that fact. when he's ready he'll do it willingly and it will be a breeze. good luck!

(PS one more thing - my son never used a potty chair or a ring - we had a potty chair but he was never interested. he wanted to sit on the big potty like everyone else. potty chairs and rings can be nice for little ones, but they aren't necessary)

This sounds so much like one of my sons!- the speech impairment, taking apart the potty... the little potty did not work with him probably because it was apart more than together :) , we used the kid-sized potty seat over the actual potty seat. He did potty-train standing up (raise the potty seats so he doesn't have to tiptoe). Throw a Cheerio in the toilet as a target to aim for- lol (really works) Our son had a severe speech impairment (BTW- don't stress about that, my little guy with the "unintelligible speech" is now a very successful college grad). The main thing about communicating with your little guy now, is for you to figure out his signal word (or sound)-- tee-tee or pee-pee are usually very easy to say. I do agree that 21 months is young for potty training a boy. All three of mine were closer to 3 years old before they were potty trained. Best of luck to you. Someday this too will be a sweet memory.

don't do the stand up thing yet... get the seat you put on the toilet... after he eats... put him on... let him play with the other seat... just try putting him on every 2 hours for about 2 minutes.. you can run the water in the sink too.. sometimes this helps them to pee... if he pees .... make a big deal out of it... ... like wow... hooray.. this was great.. clap hands... show him to wave bye bye to the pee pee.. and then flush... good luck.. keep trying be consistent.... do it each day..

first of all he won't stand to go potty until he is ready to do that...most people train thier boys to sit first. have your son sit on his potty when you go in to go with his daiper on first. then start taking off his diaper and have him sit. my son was three before his was trained....and what i did was have the potty chair in the living room with plastic under it and let him go with no pants on. i know it sounds gross but that why any time he had to go it was right where he was watching tv or playing. and then we slowly moved the potty to the bathroom. it maybe a long process so so don't discouraged. but i think you are a year or two away from that.

now for the speech-have you looked in birth to one in your county. they will come to you and work with your son. and then after he turns three then he'll be able to go into the school system for speech...this is all no cost to you!!

Standing to pee is the last thing, boys - especially ones who are still babies, your son is still one year old, sit to pee. The first thing is, has he shown any signs of being ready? If not, don't bother. My opinion is it's easier and more desirable to have a kid in diapers than one who occasionally uses the potty or toilet and takes months and months to train. I wouldn't do the tv thing, we dont' go to the bathroom in the living room or while watching tv, these things just make the process longer.
If you have him in disposable diapers, a switch to cloth diapers or cloth training pants will teach him what happens when you pee - you get really wet. Take him to the potty consistently every hour and a half or so. You need to take the lead by taking the baby there, not occasionally but throughout the day, and not asking at this point if he needs to or has to go.
Good l uck

Just a thought about him learning to stand up to potty. I had a friend who insisted that her boys (and husband) sit because as she said "they had toilets not urinals in their home." I was never that strict but it made a lot of sense to me.

We started by putting him on the potty often. We would read a lot of books in there, and when something happened, even the smallest amt of pee, he would get dancing and applause. We make a huge deal out of it. After awhile, he started refusing to go because he didn't want to stop playing, so we started using chocolate chips- one for after he peed, three for poop. Thankfully, it worked, and we phased out the candy. He's also been invited in the bathroom whenever anyone in the family goes to show him that big people use it. Good luck!

If your son is ready it will be very easy to potty train him. Since all children are different it is hard for anyone who doesn't know him to say whether he is too young or not. My daughter potty trained at 2 1/2, my son on his 3rd birthday, and my youngest son the day after his 2nd birthday. I always pick a day to just go for it and talk it up for a few days first. The day I want to teach them I take them to the store to pick out big boy underwear. Put him in the underwear and explain that he should only pee in the potty because he doesn't want to get Elmo, Spiderman, Thomas, the footballs... (whatever happens to be on the underwear) wet. Then, take him potty (don't ask if he needs to go) as often as you feel is neccessary (some people do every 30 mins some every hour). Let him sit for a couple of minutes and encourage him to go. If he goes make a big deal out of it, if not praise him for trying. Remind him to tell you if he needs to go potty. Repeat, repeat, repeat. If he has an accident help clean him up and remind him that he needs to use the potty so he doesn't get wet. If he is ready he should only have a couple of accidents. If he continues to struggle I would put him back in diapers and wait a while before trying again. All three of my children were potty trained in one day, with the only exception being at night. Two of my kids needed to wear diapers at night for quite awhile because they slept too deeply to wake up and go. Potty training should be an easy, positive experience. If it is not, he is probably just not ready yet. Trying to force it will just frustrate the both of you.