Thursday, September 5, 2013

It's Potty Time!



Okay, moms. It's that time. Potty training 101.

I posted about this back in March; that's when we really started to actively put her on the potty, but with having to travel so much for funerals and weddings all spring/summer, she kind of got out of her routine. But, since then, we've started back, and Tinley is doing so well. 

Just the other night, she stopped playing in the playroom, ran over to me and said "ugh oh." So, I put her on the potty. And she peed. Then wiped, put the seat down, flushed, and even tried to put her potty seat back on the back of the toilet. She's still struggling with that a bit, but I appreciate the fact that she tries to leave the bathroom the same way she found it. Then, she runs to the pantry and says "cookie" or something like it. I've never really understood the whole bribery thing. Some moms do M&M's, some do stickers. We do cookies. Whole animal cookies. Totally get the bribery thing now. It helps. Andddd did I mention that she was wearing Minnie panties when the whole thing started? Big girl panties! She has learned rather quickly that she can't get Minnie wet. Now, I'm not saying that we don't have our fair share of accidents. We only let her wear her big girl panties in the afternoon, from about 4 until she gets in the bath. I'm not ready to let her go any longer. And I don't think she is either. We have good days and bad. The key is just to be consistent. 

Here are a few things I've been using during our potty training journey:



I was given some advice by a girlfriend to just put her in panties. Buy some with a character she likes and point it out to her when you're putting them on, while saying "don't pee pee or poo poo on Minnie." Or Dora or My Little Pony or Barbie. You get the point. Eventually, she will get it. I struggled to find some small enough for Tinley. The smallest I could find was 2T, so they're still a little big, but she doesn't mind. She really gets excited to wear her big girl panties now. 



Some people skip the Pull Ups all together. They're basically "glorified diapers." I just bought our first pack, and we're still experimenting with them. I like the fact that she can pull them up and down herself. I think we will start using them for naps and night time soon. Again, the smallest I could find was 2T.



 
Buy a potty seat! We have 2; one upstairs and one downstairs. We skipped the little pottys all together because 1: I don't really want to clean that thing out, and 2: I don't think it really would've helped Tinley. She had one and just liked to play with it. Now some people might say "well what are you going to do when you're out at a restaurant and she has to go and there's no potty seat?" I will cross that bridge when I get there. If I have to start stashing our seat in my purse, I will. (Hey, it might be an excuse to go buy a new bigger purse!) It's working now, and that's all that matters. 





The bribery. This is what we use, but like I said, anything that your child likes will work. 





I also read a lot of this blog: Potty Time Blog. Even if you don't find it useful, you will at least laugh! It's hysterical. 

Most importantly, just make sure your child is ready. The average age parents even start potty training is 2. We've been working with Tinley for a while, and my goal is to have her completely potty trained by age 2. We'll see how it goes. 

I'd love to hear what works for all you mamas out there!






6 comments:

  1. That would be quite the accomplishment if she's completely trained by 2! I've heard that it all depends on when your child is ready, and it definitely sounds like she Is ready!!

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  2. My daughter is 25 months old & very petite (she's a preemie!). I had the hardest time finding small panties too so I had to go with the 2T also. She hasn't gone in the potty yet but we sure have talked about it A LOT! LOL She had hip surgery & was in a cast for 10 weeks so she hasn't fully gotten back to walking yet. I believe when she is running around again, we'll focus more on potty training. I also got her a little book called Princess of the Potty or something like that. My goal is to have her trained by Thanksgiving! Ha! :)

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  3. My best advice would be not to get frustrated if she regresses....you may just need to wait awhile and try again.

    With my oldest I started at 18m and so did sooooo awesome! But then after a few weeks she lost interest, the rewards weren't working anymore, and she started being really stubborn about it. I knew she *could* do it, but didn't want a power struggle, so we stopped and tried again at age 2. Same sorta thing happened, where she did great for awhile and then stopped. Finally at 2.5 years she potty trained in one day!

    My youngest I didn't start until age two b/c I learned from how frustrating it was with my oldest. Once again the exact same thing! Brielle did awesome, basically accident free for 2 whole weeks. Then one day she started telling me she wanted to be a baby again lol. Thankfully her power struggle didn't last too long and a couple months later she potty trained for real.

    I think it's super cool and exciting for awhile and then the novelty wears off or something...anyways, hopefully you have better luck!! :-)

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  4. Good luck! I did the panties/pee on the floor for a couple days route. It worked!

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  5. Yay for potty training! My 2 year old trained super fast once I was at home with her for the summer. I bought a box of pull-ups mostly for when we went to the store, and she treated them like diapers. I found with both of mine the way to go was naked or with real undies.

    Both kids used the smaller potty first, but transitioned to the big potty quickly. Bailey doesn't even use the seat anymore (and she's only been trained for 2 months). My son was a little different and I ended up carrying his potty seat in a plastic bag inside the diaper bag. I bought a fold up seat for him, but we could never get the thing to fit the different shaped toilets in public places and it used to pinch his little bottom. I've heard of other mom's using the flush-able paper covers to 'trick' their littles into thinking they are on a seat.

    Best of luck! Oh, and we love the Minnie undies in this house too! :0)

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  6. I did a complete post about my experience with Ella! She was showing signs of readiness and several of my friends who have had success said if your going to do it, do it all the way! No more diapers and train for at least 3 days. It worked for us and we haven't looked back. Good luck. I know she'll do great!

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