What I Learned from Potty Training
My Two Year Old
When my older daughter was 22 months she came to me and told me she didn’t like how her diaper felt any more. So I taught her how to go poop and potty in the toilet and that was it. She was potty trained. No pull ups, no accidents (except one at the children’s museum when she was almost 5). No night time bed wetting. She was just magically potty trained.
My Son is one month shy of 3, and with some encouragement from his awesome day care and a few signs from him (hiding behind the couch to poop) we decided it was time to start potty training. So of course I consulted all the experts (on Pinterest), and some of my wonderful Mom friends (you know who you are) and decided to get started.
Here are 10 things I did and did not do to help with our potty train journey.
- I did not believe we could do this in just three days. No matter how many Pinterest posts said I could, I knew on average that was an unrealistic goal. So I arranged my schedule to have 7 days with no where to go and nothing to do. Apart from dropping off my daughter and picking her up at the end of the day, Potty Training was all we did. I also knew it would take longer than those 7 days, And prepared myself for a month of “potty training” growth.
2. We skipped pull ups and went straight to undies. He picked out some undies he was excited about and that did seem to help. I felt like pull-ups would prolong the process and he didn’t like how they felt anyway.
3. We did pick out potty treats. I let him pick them out. So he was excited about them. We chose M and Ms.
4. We did use this potty watch. It was fine. I wish it had more flexible settings. It only does 30, 60, and 90 min intervals. So, We now use Alexa to remind us.
5. I did have him sit backwards on the potty. This seemed less scary for him, and then he could hold on to the potty lid, and watch his show while going potty. I used a potty seat on our normal potty.
6. We did watch several Daniel Tiger episodes together about going potty. And we learned the songs.
7. I did not rush us. I recognized this as a huge new thing to learn for him. And we took it in stride. I also recognized that as with all new tasks his stimulation would be on overdrive. So I didn’t try to do anything else new that week.
8. Along with my above point, we played trains, and monster trucks. Had Disney movie parties with popcorn and read books and played outside all day long.
It felt like these “potty training” days were actually 7 whole days with 1:1 time with mom. They were really special.
9. I allowed for longer nap time, and earlier bedtime because learning new stuff is hard work! For everyone!
10. We did go pick out a fun new Thomas the train as a reward for all his hard work. He was so excited and so proud to go get it!
Overall potty training for us wasn’t near as terrible as I anticipated! We have not tackled night time yet and that’s ok- one thing at a time.
What tricks have you tried? We’d love to hear!