I bought a little kids potty that sits on the floor, and the kind that you put on your toilet seat. I wanted both so thinking that the little one on his floor would be easier for him to sit on himself but I wanted the one for the toilet seat s well so that he wasn't scared to sit on the toilet. I would point out the potty to Ryder and tried to talk about it every time I changed his diaper.
We went to the store and picked out his big boy underwear together. He chose car underwear of course and was very excited about them. We washed them and put them in his drawer together.
This step felt weird to me, but was recommended to me and I do think it helped; when my husband or I went to the bathroom, we would leave the door open and tell Ryder that we were going pee pee in the potty. He would look curious and sometime ask to flush the potty.
We choose a treat. M&Ms. He had never had them before so it was enough to entice him.
We chose a day for the training to begin! Our work week is Sunday through Thursday so my husband and I took our little boy to school on a Thursday morning with 5 changes of clothes and a bag of M&Ms in his back pack. We took him to the bathroom and had a little chat:
Me: Ryder, you are a big boy now!!! Big boys get to wear underwear!!!! Diapers are for babies but you are a big boy! Here is your big boy underwear!
Ryder: unarare!? (underwear)
Matt(my husband): Yes. You get to wear underwear!
Me: Lets take off your diaper and put it in the trash. (we took off the diaper and threw it in the trash with much drama)
Me: Ryder you are gonna sit on the big boy potty and then you will get an M&M!!
--- We then sat him on the potty... and he screamed and cried. lol. I was instantly discouraged but I waited till he calmed down and then let him off and gave him an M&M. We cheered and hi-fived. We put his underwear on and told him when had to go pee pee to say " I gotta go pee pee!" to his teachers.
The rest of the day the teachers put him on the potty about every 30-45 mins. He wet his clothes multiple times of course. But each time he noticed it a little sooner. He peed successfully one time on the toilet today and the teachers celebrated with a dance party with his class...and an M&M of course.
The next three days I stayed home with Ryder the whole time and we just watched movies, played and drank lots of water and juice. I placed his little potty in the middle of the Kitchen and Living room and every 15-20 mins I would I ask him if he had to go potty. He would mostly say no but after awhile I started to recognize the signs of when he had to go and I would just walk him over to the potty and have him sit. Each day did get better. It helped to have amazing teachers when he was at school.
We are now about two months into this process and I have to say, Ryder is doing better well. We started two weeks before our second child and so naturally when we came home with the baby, there were a few set backs. Some of those set backs were my fault. It was hard to jump up in the middle of breast feeding the baby to help Ryder sometimes. It has just been maybe the last three or four days that he has gone number two in the potty on his own. (Apparently some kiddos have a phobia of pooping on the potty...ugh) We put him in a pull up for bed time and sometimes nap. He wakes up a few times a night to go potty or crying because he wet himself. I cant be mad at him, I am happy that he recognizing he has to go, but between him waking up and a newborn, no one in our house is sleeping much. :)
Sorry this post was so long put potty training is involved!! Here are a few pointers or things I learned to sum it all up! Potty Training Snap Shot:
1. Try to schedule your intro to potty training when you have some time to devote to it and your little one.
2. Don't wait for the perfect time. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but there won't be a perfect time.
3. If you live in a two story place, get two potty training potties...trust me, no one wants to run a toddler up and down the stairs when they are just learning how to hold it. You will end up with a pee trail.
4. Some of you will find this overkill, but I found it useful to have cleaning products handy by your potty training area. I had Lysol wipes, cleaning product and paper towels close by. I also recommend having flushable wipe. Once Ryder started pooping in the potty, the flushables made it easier to clean his bottom and not have to deal with regular wipes in the garbage and all that.
5. Invest in a waterproof sheet for your toddler's bed and a few extra sheets. They WILL have accidents in the middle of the night and you WILL want an extra sheet handy to quickly change your toddler, put a new sheet on, and get everyone back to bed!
6. Have a few books, toys, or a tablet for your toddler while they are sitting on the toilet. Some people might be against this but at the beginning I was making him sit on the potty for 10-15 mins and so to keep him calm and not hate sitting on the potty, I would sit next to him and read stories, or let him watch cars on my tablet. It worked for us.
7. Now that it will get better, but just embrace the ride. I am actually pretty happy with how well Ryder did. He caught on to the basics pretty quickly. I cant wait, of course, till the day he can hold his bladder through the night but for now, it is what it is. We try and reward him each and every time he goes. His little face is so proud when he says "Mama, I pooped in potty!" and even though that sometimes means the people in Target look over at us. I say "Great job buddy Hi-five!!"
What are some of your tips and tricks!?
