METHOD :
Started potty training him around 2+ years old because wanted to send him to Diyana, which only accepted kids at 2.5 years old who are fully potty trained.
Tried sitting him on plastic potty, but he didn't like it because the pee cover rubbed or pressed against his penis. Settled on potty like a miniature toilet, which was Justin's old one.
Tried letting him walk around pantless, but worried about the poo, so tied a makeshift nappy around his hips which kept falling and he kept trying to remove. Kept peeing on he floor and couldn't control. Would sit him on the toilet every hour or so, and sweat buckets while waiting for him to pee, only to give up and bring him down and pee on the floor 5 seconds later. Gave up after a few days, too much stress.
Tried again in another 1 or 2 months. Same nappy, same discomfort. Constantly wet himself, and peed on the floor right after being lifted from potty. Bought a whole bunch of underwear and let him wear it, but still no success. Lots of potty dancing, screaming and scolding (because other people told me that's what they did and it worked for their kids, who became dry in something like a week), but no effect. I went a little nuts in pressuring him. Couldn't understand why it was so difficult when everyone else had success in as little as a few days!!! Didn't help that Oo ku and others were around while attempting this, and they would verbally berate him for failing and Oo ku even carried him to the potty and tried to force him to pee. I could tell the pressure sort of embarassed and traumatised him to the point he was scared to look at the toilet or potty. Gave up after a week, with no progress.
Tried again in another 2 months or so. Prepped him for a couple of weeks before by reading the "I Want My Potty" book. Also gave him Lightning McQueen stickers to stick on his potty to personalise it. Let him just his potty (lid down) as a chair to watch shows every once in awhile. Left it in plain sight in his play area, so he could sit anytime he wanted.
Then went pantless. Would still piddle on the floor, but I had to keep calm and remind him, "The potty is the place" ... and take him there to sit down even though he may have been finished. Still not much success with the pee. Discovered he preferred to stand and pee into the bowl, and that was successful with me urging him there every couple of hours (or after lots of liquids) and making "shhhh" sounds. Would pee once in awhile, but still not consistent, still peeing on the floor. Especially when there were lots of people in the house (Chian Ee and gang).
WHEN :
2+ years onwards
RESULTS :
Breakthrough moment was one morning when he came down from bed. He urgently wanted to poo, and we removed his diapers but were too busy talking to notice him jumping around. He ran to the nearby potty, and we lifted the cover for him and he plopped his butt down on it and let loose! He was very pleased with all our cheering.
Can't remember much after that, but there were hits and misses, but mostly he was able to run to the potty on his own when he needed to pee. Then we put underwear on him, which he would wet once in awhile. Then practiced him in undies when we went out for short trips to the playground, without incident.
Slowly, his control got better and better, despite the trauma in Diyana. As long as we brought him to toilet every few hours, he could hold it in. By about 3 years or so, he was almost 100% potty trained!
