Should we start?

[skeettafic]

I was convinced that we were a while away from potty training but suddenly Jocelyn has gone from telling us when or after she is poping to telling us right before.  She kinda squats and says poop (sometimes pee) and potty.  The problem is that when I say "Do you want to go potty?" she says no and then goes a minute or so later in her diaper.  I'm wondering if I should change my wording and say "let's go to the potty" and just take her.  Any thoughts.  I don't want to miss this window if she is showing this much interest but I'm clueless on how to go about it!

[ShannonandDel]

JMO, but I think I would wait until you guys know what is going on and if you guys are going to move. We just got Delaney to where she would use bathrooms besides the ones at home, but it was hard to go anywhere for awhile!

[jnezmama02]

You might want to try taking her to the potty beforehand and see how she reacts. If it goes easily, then you could easily continue. But, if she doesn't go or there's any kind of stress on her (or your) part about it, then I'd back off and try again later. Also, even if you do get her trained, expect her to regress some if things change dramatically for you guys (change in schedules, move, etc).

[moogie]

I'd say take it casually and have a potty ready when she wants it.  I agree to saying lets go potty rather than asking if she wants to.  she'll let you know if she doesn't want to.  i think highly absorbent training pants are useful even if they are not ready, its sort of a transitioning tool that they can get excited about.

[Marnie]

I was convinced that we were a while away from potty training but suddenly Jocelyn has gone from telling us when or after she is poping to telling us right before.  She kinda squats and says poop (sometimes pee) and potty.  The problem is that when I say "Do you want to go potty?" she says no and then goes a minute or so later in her diaper.  I'm wondering if I should change my wording and say "let's go to the potty" and just take her.  Any thoughts.  I don't want to miss this window if she is showing this much interest but I'm clueless on how to go about it!

I generally think of it more as "potty learning" since both child and parent are learning about helping the child to go on the potty or toilet :-)

It seems a shame to ignore her communications with you so I think that your change in wording might be a good starting point.  My DD would very often answer NOOOO to "do you need to do a poo/wee" but was quite willing to go with me to the potty or toilet.  When I knew that she needed to go - either because she had already said something or because of other signs (physical, temporal or intuition!) - I would say we were going to the toilet and just go.  Sometimes she would go right away, other times I had to get creative about what to do to keep her there till she was finished - reading a book, playing games etc.  I always felt that my time investment was worth it in both the short and long term.  Short term because it was easier to clean out the potty than to wipe or bath clean a dirty bottom; long term because it meant that helping her to recognise her toileting needs sooner, meant that she was able to do it herself sooner as well.

If she is involved in something and resists leaving it to go to the bathroom, you might like to bring the potty to her.  After she reliably gets it in the potty gradually transitioning to the toilet every time is generally no trouble.