It sort of happened by accident (no pun intended).
We had tried a few times to encourage Mason to sit on the potty when we knew it was about that time for him to need to go, and he was the opposite of interested. So we left it alone.
Then, I picked him up from daycare a few weeks ago and much to my surprise, was told that he had told them he had to go potty multiple times that day and (shocker) had actually GONE on the potty when they took him.
We didn't get too overly excited about it. Kind of assumed it was some kind of weird fluke. That was, until we got home and Mason told US that he had to go potty and actually went on the potty. So awesome!
I decided we'd give it one more day at daycare and if that went well we'd head out and buy some pull-ups (because potty training with diapers is for the birds). He had a second day at daycare of wanting to use the big-kid potty, so we headed over to Target and picked out some super fun pull-ups to encourage him! They just happened to have both Cars AND Thomas and Friends themed ones. The potty gods were really shining down on us.
We sent pull-ups to daycare and kept some at home. Honestly, we're still in the training phase, but it's going really well! I will never believe the people who say their kids were potty trained in 24, 48, or however many hours. I mean, if that's how long it took for your kid to MOSTLY make it to the bathroom, then yeah, I'll buy it. But to be 100% potty trained, ready for underwear, not having accidents, within an amount of time you measure with HOURS?! Yeah...*cough*bullshit*cough*.
Mason is currently at about 1 accident per day (usually naptime). We aren't pushing the overnight training yet, and we aren't pressuring the #2 training yet either. We have had a few totally dry days so far and that's awesome! Once we get dry days down, we will move on to dry nights. We'll let him integrate the #2 phase as he feels comfortable.
I think the one rule I can agree with from those potty training blogs/books/articles/etc is that you cannot pressure your child into potty training. As impatient as you may get, they will only do it if they are ready. I would have been find with Mason not potty training yet, in fact, in some ways the diapering world is actually a lot more convenient (HELLOOO public bathrooms with a 2 year old!? Hell no!), but I was definitely not going to DIScourage him from potty training if he really wanted to.
So here we are, and that's the summary of how we got here.
Now onto the important thing...the potty selection.
I am a prime example of what you should NOT do when it comes to buying potty supplies for your kids...which is buy a bunch of the wrong things.
We started out with this adorable little potty:
Also, it's cute and neutral which makes it visually nice.
Honestly....it's not that there's anything majorly wrong with it EXCEPT.
1) It's portable...this could be a bonus, but in our case not so much because Mason just likes to carry it from room to room which (if we were using it) would be super unsanitary.
2) Mason hated it. He never actually liked using this potty. It's all hard plastic and not comfortable PLUS he has to maneuver himself backwards to get on it just right, which results in sometimes some falls to the ground if he aims his booty incorrectly.
3) It's gross. Not the toilet itself, but the only time that Mason ever used this potty was to go #2 and it was the grosses thing I've dealt with in my entire life. Not kidding. I've changed this kid's diapers for over 2 years, been through the stomach flu, you name it...we've done it, but this was seriously awful. You dump it and then you have to wash the inside part. Gross. Just. Gross. Done.
We moved up to this Elmo Potty once I realized that the Baby Bjorn poop incident had turned me off of the little portable potties.
If you have a boy then you've probably already noticed what I did when purchasing this potty.
I"ll give you a clue...I spent a lot of time scrubbing pee off of my bathroom floor thanks to this potty's design.
Yup. No shield.
I don't care how quick you think you are at "helping" your child make sure their "part" is in the proper position to make it into the toilet....there will always be errors. We had to upgrade to the boy-friendly potty seat.
So then we found...*drumroll please*....
If potty's have a holy grail, than this is it.
Honestly.
It has literally everything that we wanted and needed in our potty training potty.
It is so good, it even has a royal name...
The Prince Lioniheart Weepod Toilet Trainer
(available at Amazon.com for $13.50 +$3.99 s&h...in two colors).
I don't care if you have a girl...this is the potty seat for you. Because at some point, you will have a little boy at your house, and chances are he might be potty training, and if you don't have this toilet he will literally coat the floor of your bathroom in piss and you will still have to give him a treat for going potty "in" the potty because he didn't know his wee-wee wasn't aimed properly. So save yourself the trouble and buy this stupid potty seat already!
And with that suggestion...here are my final tips for potty training (from what I've learned so far).
1) Don't push your child...they will be ready to potty train when they are ready.
2) Invest in a good potty seat...they will use it a lot and you want to make sure it works for them.
3) Coordinate training with your daycare provider/family/etc. You want your child's experience to be universal, so make sure you communicate well with anybody else who watches them during the day/night to ensure you're all doing the same training steps.
4) Positive Reinforcement. For Mason, that means one M&M candy and one sticker every time he uses the potty at home. At daycare he gets 1 Smartie candy (not a roll..just one candy piece) and a sticker everytime he goes. At Grandma's he gets like half a bag of marshmallows because...you know...Grandmas.
5) Don't get frustrated. It is SO EASY to get pissed off because your kid had a perfect dry day yesterday and now today every time you check their pull-up is soaked. OR they wont' sit on the potty even though you know they have to go because they're a toddler and being oppositional-defiant is in their blood. Don't Get Frustrated. Easier said than done, but seriously, try.
*Funny story about #5...Mason and I got into an argument on the potty one day because I knew he had to go and he didn't want to sit on it. Back & forth we went. He'd try to jump off, I'd put him back on, off, on, off, on. Finally he was in tears and my blood pressure was through the roof. I took him off the potty and we quietly left the bathroom. We both sat down on the couch and I turned on a cartoon...literally no words were said. We were both so frustarted with the other. Finally I calmed down enough and looked over at him and said (I KID YOU NOT), "I'm sorry we fought about the potty". (I'm honestly losing my mind people)...and Mason looked over at me and smiled and then tackled my entire face. So we were good. But seriously....sorry we fought?!?!
XOXO,
Laurel
P.S.
Sorry I didn't include any personal pictures this time.
Unfortunately, I am far to aware of the creepy world we live in, and I know about all of the gross people out there who troll the internet for innocent & adorable pictures of little kids in various states of undress to use for their creep-tastic behaviors...so I did not and will not ever include any pictures of Mason WHILE potty training on the blog.
BUT here's a cute picture of him with his first snowman of the season to make up for it :)