“I’ve been hanging onto this post, hoping that there will be enough progress that I will have something else to add to it, but alas it appears that we are at a standstill.”
That’s how I started this post 2 months ago and that’s how it would stay up until a few days ago (Dec 26th, 2013) when suddenly something drastic happened!
Table of Contents
I’ll start from the beginning…
At around 13 months of age, I noticed that Lexi seemed to have picked up on the whole potty/toilet/peeing thing, so I decided to get the Elizabeth Pantley No Cry Potty Training Book (since I am such a  fan of her sleep books) and get ready for what lay ahead by arming myself with knowledge. The book is wonderful and I highly recommend it. My favorite part of the book was a little test of readiness. If you pass it, your toddler is ready to potty train. If you don’t, then you can benefit from pre-potty training. Lexi passed. With flying colors. So I thought we’d see where it takes us… (little did I know that passing the test and WANTING to go potty are two different things)
GOALS
I knew that at 13 months it was going to be a long process. More like a preparation for real potty training. Before about 18 months, all potty training means is being able to catch them before they pee/poop and take them to the potty. After 18-24 months, they become physically able to wait to get to the potty for a few minutes and some children don’t get there till much much longer. I did grow up in Russia though. The land of babies who are potty trained at 12-14 months ( again not true potty trained, but  they sit them down and let them do their thing).
I kept it super relaxed and super realistic. If it wasn’t going to happen, no biggie – we’d try again later.
PREPARATION
Aside from taking the test and making sure I know all the facts and have all the supplies needed, I prepared myself mentally for it to take months and months. I stocked up on potties, three to be exact, to have accessible at all times. I bought some training pants and  potty books to get her used to the concept.
SUPPLIES
Potty Books and Media
Books are essential in preparing a child for potty training. It helps them with the concept, gets them excited about underwear and being a big boy/girl and about using a potty like everyone does. Our favorite ( both mine and Lexi’s) are the following books:
Potty – what a wonderful little board book. It’s funny, it’s cute, it’s VERY VERY simple, it draws correlation to pets going potty and it has a great ending. It NEVER fails to get Lexi to laugh at the “OOPS!” when the boy forgets to to take off his diaper, or “What’s that? Tinkle Tinkle Toot!”
The Potty Book (for girls/boys) – this story (for girls, but there is another one for boys) follows Hannah who can do everything by herself and now she is ready to go potty too, with her Teddy. She succeeds after a few accidents and her parents take her underwear shopping.
Where’s the Poop? – the only good poop related book I found. Lexi learned the concept of pooping through this book. Each spread shows an animal family with 3 lift-a-flap spots where you’re supposed to find the baby animal poop. So much fun for kids!
Big Girls Use the Potty – Â A more realistic potty book with photographs rather than illustrations that shows the whole process starting from wanting to go potty to washing and drying your hands.
The New Potty – we have this book in an electronic format on the iPhone and she regularly reads it and loves it like all other Little Critter stories.
Once Upon a Potty– the only reason I am including this book here is because for a while there Lexi LOVED IT. We had it loaded on Andrew’s Android because it was one of the only baby apps they had and she would watch it over and over again. It does have a cute little song on the iphone but other than that I do not personally care for the use of some of the terms and words. I think they could have done better than ” you have two holes for poo-poo and wee-wee” or something like that. Those are just not the words I’d use….
Another great book not to miss (for girls only) is Princess Potty Time. It is very interactive allowing the reader to flush and wash hands and pull underwear down.
Personalized Potty Book from Pinhole Press
This is something that I’ve read is recommended, because it takes potty training to a personal level – making a potty book with all the steps using photographs of your own child. I cannot stop gushing over Pinhole Press where I made this (and some other) custom books. The quality is absolutely amazing, the board books are so sturdy and look so good and are so affordable. I knew about Pinhole Press products because we worked with them on Daily Mom, but I never had a chance to try one until now. Highly recommended! I used photos of Lexi and simple sentences that would fit into the Book of Names and Faces
Daniel Tiger’s Potty episode – This discovery was a bit of a shocker. Around 20 months I started allowing Lexi to watch an episode of Daniel Tiger here and there. I noticed that they cover a lot of useful topics and Lexi seemed to respond to it really well and learned so much from it, so I went with it. One of the episodes specifically deals with Potty Time (you can download it on iTunes or play it on Netflix). After watching it, she started singing along with the song “If you have to go Potty, STOP and go right away, flush and wash and be on your way“, repeating the steps in the song over and over again. She would sit on the potty ( that is after a “I won’t sit on the potty” phase), flush, wash her hands and then do it all over again 🙂 And everytime she wanted to do it again and again, she makes a stop sign they show in the video and says “TOP!”, which is my cue to take her to the potty ( not for peeing or pooping necessarily but it was somewhat progress)
Potties
Two levels, 4000 square feet- that is a lot of space to cover with potties during the potty training. I figured we needed AT LEAST three potties: one in her playroom, one in the family room/kitchen area and one upstairs. Looking back, it could not have been any other way – three is what we needed.
A separate word on the potties… In my infinite need to try out different things, I got sent three different potties from three different brands to use and compare and write about: Boon Potty Bench, Prince Lionheart 3 in 1 Potty and Joovy Loo. The three couldn’t be further from each other in their use (aside from going potty in them), features and prices. So I’ll give you the low down on them for the time when (or in case) you’re potty training, because there are A LOT OF options out there.
Boon Potty Bench – the most multitasking one of them all. It’s a bench looking seat with a lid which turns the potty into a bench or a sturdy and wide step stool. It has two enclosed sides for storage, like potty books and wipes and even a holder for toilet paper ( now that’s awesome).The potty where all the good stuff lands is removable from the front and is seamless, so no mess get left and it’s easy to wash. It comes with a soft  deflector for the boys that can be removed for girls. And as it’s a bench and a potty with a lid, it doesn’t need to be turned over to become a step stool (in case you’re grossed out by the idea of flipping a potty over).
The seat itself is relatively flat (compared to other potties) and very wide, so if you have a larger baby, this is probably the only potty out there for it. Another great bonus is it’s so inconspicuous looking. No one would EVER guess it’s a potty with the lid closed. it’s sturdy, low and takes up to 300 lbs as a step stool/bench, Â so it’s safe to leave it out at all times without any concern for your baby safety – toddlers aren’t able to pull it apart easily, though they definitely play with the sides, opening and closing them. Speaking of safety, like all Boon products (you know, I am a fan), this potty is BPA, lead, phthalate, PVC free.
In use: Lexi definitely takes advantage of all the features of this seat on daily basis. When she goes potty she often pulls out a book from the side to read, or puts her sippy cup in one of the pockets. Once she is done, she closes the lid and steps on it to check out what’s on the side table and play with our coasters.
Prince Lionheart 3 in 1 Potty – Â A potty that has a more traditional donut shape that is a multi-tasker in a different way. It serves as a traditional potty with a removable bowl for easy clean up, then as your child grows and is ready to get transferred to an adult toilet, the top part of the potty gets removed and suctioned down onto an adult toilet seat. It’s sturdy and comfortable and definitely helps with the fear of sitting unbalanced on the toilet for toddlers. Lexi hates being off balance and for a while there she was terrified of sitting on the toilet, until I got her comfortable with using this seat which she has zero problems with. After that she got comfortable sitting on the main toilet seat but I feel the trainer was instrumental.
{doing the Daniel Tiger potty dance: “Sitting on the potty, sitting on the potty!”}
The seat is really easy to pull apart, which is a bad thing if you hate having to put it together 10 times a day, but a good thing because the toddler can be an active participant in the potty dumping “ceremony”. In fact, she had her first poop into this potty and happily took the  bowl to the bathroom and dumped the results into the toilet all by herself.  Because it also doubles as a step stool when turned over, it continues being of use after the potty days are over, so you end up using the toilet seat and turn the potty itself into a step stool, once they are big enough to reach the sink with a stool. The potty comes with a deflector, as well, that can be removed for girls.
In use: As I said above, she loves pulling it apart and taking the bowl to dump the contents herself  and it appears to be very comfortable to sit on due to its round shape. We just recently realized the genius and convenience of a removable toilet seat when we had to take it with us to the gym class (on that later).
This is the simplest of all the potties but will appeal to the minimalists and those trying not to purchase too many brightly colored items in hopes of keeping their home more adult-like. A white, seamless, smooth glossy piece of “art”. The aesthetics of this thing is really through the roof. If it didn’t have a potty shape and hole, it wouldn’t even look like a potty. It’s incredibly pleasant to sit on if you’re a toddler because of its rounded corners and smooth design- Lexi doesn’t even get potty lines sitting on it. The bowl empties easily and gracefully and the potty goes back to its corner looking nice and shiny. Really, I just love the design of this potty – it looks amazing in our playroom. Joovy also sells a separate step stool which can be purchased at $19.00 and features a rubber top for non-slip protect and a very simple complimentary design.
Training Pants
These aren’t really that important, since you’re supposed to leave them bare bottomed while potty training. However, some kids get super excited about being a big kid, so these are so nice and comfy and organic. We got these organic training pants. They are thick and work almost as well as a diaper and have caught a few of her accidents pretty well.
Underwear
I feel strongly about the importance of organic underwear specifically (towels, bedding, sleepwear/underwear are the only three things that I still buy in organic fabrics only), so I ordered a bunch  of Polarn O Pyret ECO underwear for girls once the whole potty thing happened.
POTTY TRAINING STYLE
I went for the low pressure approach described in the Pantley’s book, completely following Lexi’s cues. She would walk around the house bare bottomed and  every time I would notice her body language tell me it’s time to go, I’d whisk her off to the potty (telling her where we are going and why) and we’d sit there reading a book. Even though, she is a pretty active baby, she had no problems sitting on the potty as long as I read to her. She pooped once a day at that point, so that was easy. The peeing happened every 1.5-2 hrs on average, so it was pretty easy to track as well. When she’d go successfully, we would clap and  do a potty dance, flush the waste and run to tell daddy so that he could do the potty dance with us.
The first week to 2 weeks were like magic. The test didn’t lie, she was ready. She pooped in the potty every time, and peed about 60-70% of the time, which is great for a first timer at 13 months. Plus the times she wouldn’t pee were the times I missed the cues and the time. Then something happened. I am not exactly sure whether it was us travelling and dropping the ball, or her changing her mind or something else, but she started refusing to go on the potty. I have a feeling it might have had something to do with the pressure ( however light) that she might have felt under with all the hoopla that was happening when she would go successfully. Â So I immediately backed off. I would occasionally resume the “let’s go to the potty” routine but she refused to pee or poop in it and would pee in the diaper as soon as she is off the potty and had a diaper on. So I dropped it again.
I figured while she might have seemed ready on the surface, when it came to actually doing it, it was too much for her. We weren’t in a hurry to get her out of her diapers, so it didn’t matter to us how long she would take. I just wanted to make sure to keep it out there and keep her familiar with the process, so that when she IS ready, she would feel comfortable and there wouldn’t be a struggle.
So at that point, we were travelling a lot and were in the “back off but educating and familiarizing” stage. She loved watching her Daniel Tiger potty episode over and over again and repeat  the action, but still there was a bit of a resistance to pee or poop in the potty. She would sit on the potty pretty well and long, though.
There was this three day potty training method that I had read about that seemed really good, where you basically do nothing but stay home for three days, keep them bare bottomed and watch them constantly. I was a bit concerned that if we missed the window of her being SO interested in the process, we would miss out on the potty training during the easiest time when they are most malleable. I thought that once I could see that she wasn’t resisting and I could find 3 days in a row to do nothing but follow her, I would try this method too.
But in the end, I thought, Â she will go when she goes and I am not about to push her into it. She is a very strong and determined girl ( not to forget A TODDLER) and I have never seen her budge on things she is really resistant to (granted I only use gentle parenting techniques). So we do it on her timetable, whatever it is.
That was written in November…
We had attempted the 3 day method some time in late November but it was clear Lexi wasn’t ready. No pee in the potty, lots of pee on the floor. The method  got put away until we were seeing that she was more interested in trying it. So we went into a holding pattern again.
And then THIS HAPPENED
 On 12/26/2013,  at 22 months, Lexi all of a sudden told me that she needed to go potty (“Go Poo-poo!“), she took me by the hand and we made our way to her potty. She sat down, waited a bit with a book and peed. I was excited but didn’t think twice about it ( it happened before, though not for a while). She made sure that all her Daniel Tiger plush friends saw that she went potty, too, and seemed very proud. The shocker was when she proceeded to announce “Go Poo-poo!” every time she needed to go potty that day and both pooped and peed in the potty every time. On her own. Without constant prodding or reminders.
Whenever she would act like she needed to go, I’d ask her if she wanted to go potty and she’d either say “Mhm!” or “No!” and we’d act accordingly. She also walked up to me half the times and asked to go potty. At the end of the day I was pretty excited and proud of her. This seemed different, not like a fluke or a one day deal, like it was before. She TOLD us she needed to go and actually went each time. At some point, she told me she wanted to go but then got distracted with some toys and apparently realized that she REALLY wanted to go, so instead of peeing on the floor like she has done numerous times before, she RAN to her potty, quickly sat down and instantly went. This showed me that there was definitely a thought behind it all. She didn’t do the easy thing and pee her pants, but actually went to her potty, even though she wanted to go bad.
The whole time this has been happening we made sure that she went bare bottomed at all times. Luckily, I am not grossed out by bodily functions or waste, so it doesn’t bother me one bit if she pees or poops on the floor. Pee is sterile and easily washes off and poop can get cleaned up. I think that is a big part of potty training is letting them FEEL it. As soon as pants go back on, they think they are in a diaper and feel like something will catch their pee.
Despite this, knowing Lexi and how nothing has been exactly “easy” with her, I was hopeful but also realistic. The next day, we woke up, I went to the bathroom and after seeing me, she said “Go poo-poo!” (that’s what she apparently calls her potty or any act of peeing, pooping and passing gas (“Daddy poo-poo!“- she will exclaim if she hears my husband let one go). So I asked Andrew to take her to the potty. A few minutes later I walk in with her contently reading a book on the potty and Andrew gesturing to me that she went!
Mind blown! It wasn’t a fluke!
So all day she was letting us know she wanted to go pee-pee. Sometimes it was clear it was more urgent than others. We were going downstairs when she said ‘Go poo-poo!”, I acknowledged and said let’s go down fast. So she really hurried down the stairs, ran to the potty tripping over her toys and barely sat down before she started peeing! So this is it!
It looks like Lexi just potty trained herself in one day. With ZERO struggles.
Just goes to show that like with everything in baby-led parenting, when they are ready, they are ready. The key is to facilitate, have it available, gently help and then they will do it when they can. It’s the same thing with sleep or breastfeeding/weaning, solid foods- you name it! I’m just a little surprised it happened so early on and without real training aside from all the prep that we’ve been doing. I was expecting actual potty training sometime after she is 2-2.5 years old.
If I were to completely analyze what could have been the catalyst to this decision to use her potty, I can only think of one thing!
Aside from having a complete understanding of how going to the potty works, what they are for, what she was supposed to do there, all the potty books and Daniel Tiger potty episode watching, I can sort of pinpoint where it started sinking in for her. Though, of course, I didn’t know it at the time. I was just doing what made sense to me as a mother to Lexi.
About a week before this, she started bringing me her”Where’s the Poop?” book. I didn’t think much of it because she often goes crazy over a book and has me read it many many times. But it must have been the birth of her “decision/interest” (?). Â But the “straw” that I think made her go for it was…Daniel Tiger! Here is how:
We got her Daniel Tiger mini plush toys for Christmas – Â all the characters of the show. She loves them to death, talks to them and likes showing off in front of them. We actually think she has a crush on Prince Wednesday. So one of the days before the potty thing happened, I asked if she wanted to go on the potty like I occasionally ask and she agreed. After a while she got up without any result. So I had Prince Wednesday who I was holding at the time look into the potty and go “Lexi, no pee? If you want to go pee, let me know, ok?” (this is something I’ve always said myself, but never on behalf of Prince Wednesday, so I wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary at that moment)
She said ok, kind of looked at him funny and we moved on. Then the same thing happened with Miss Elena toy. Maybe she sensed a slight disappointment that Prince and Ms Elena didn’t find pee when she got off the potty or whatever, but after that she started walking up to me and telling me that she wanted to go. Since I never really told her to do that aside from the characters saying it, I am pretty confident that’s what got her to actually decide to start using the potty. Obviously, she WAS ready, but this, I think, was the “final push”. Either way, we’ll never know what goes on in those little head of theirs, but I am pretty amazed, proud, surprised and hopeful that she accomplished such a big step in her development and ALL on her own.
At this point, she still wears a diaper to bed and is ok with that. We are trying to figure out the whole outings thing because we have lots of activities and she hasn’t had a lot of experience not wearing a diaper for them. The very first time we wore training pants to a gym class she peed in them ( luckily I brought a spare and we immediately changed), so we still need to work on explaining to her that she can go potty outside of home too. I think I am going to approach that by taking her out on short trips to the playground. Making sure she pees in her potty before that and we make it back or go to the playground bathroom, so that she got the idea that she can use the potty wherever she is. Daniel Tiger episode touches on that too, so that helps the understanding as well.
Update 1/4/2014:
She is completely accident free at home except for naps and nighttime, even though she wakes up with dry diapers more and more. Outside is still tricky. She was able to go dry for a few of our shorter outings and have gone to public restrooms for some others. It seems the key is to show here where the bathroom is when we arrive somewhere. That way she goes there on her own when she wants to pee. So we’ll continue figuring this out.
At home both pooping and peeing happens on the potty with very few reminders from us occasionally and it’s pretty amazing. We are still both surprised and in disbelief that it happened so soon after her literally completely rejecting the potty and every time she goes we’re still in amazement 🙂
Once she gets the hang of outings and stays dry through the naps, I will do an update.
How exciting that it just clicked one day! My daughter was the same way, and it was really quite amazing! I would (gently) like to point out, though, that seems like a pretty traditional potty learning timeline. I’m not quite sure why you’re saying she potty trained in one day? I don’t mean to be rude at all, I just think you’re not giving yourself enough credit 😉 Sounds like you’ve been working on it for about 9 months? It does seem like one day it just “clicked” for her and she decided she didn’t want to use diapers anymore (yay! Who wants to wear a diaper anyway? 🙂 ) so that’s awesome! But definitely more than “one day of potty training”, in my opinion. 22 months is still fairly early, go Lexi!
Congratulations! Being diaper free is AMAZING! I do have to say that I do find it a bit ‘misleading’ for you to state that your daughter potty trained in a day… When you’ve been talking about potty training for months and months you’ve been potty training for months and months. Congratulations again, but let’s keep things real.
The main reason I say in one day is because when it “clicked”, we were in the “backed off stage” and weren’t actively potty training.
Obviously potty learning happens over a log period of time for anyone, however active potty training (like those three day solutions) is what I personally consider actual potty training (vs learning) and it happened in one day. 😉 and it was over in one day.
The potty learning process spans months for almost anyone, kids are always learning about potties around that age, but then it takes a shorter period of time to actually train them (doing a more intensive training than just laid back learning), that is when people say ” we are potty training” or he was fully potty trained in 3 days” even though they have been learning for months.
We are still continuing “potty learning” (outside and stuff) but by most definitions she is fully potty trained from that one day.
Hope that explains it.
You can use any terminology you want, but when you pull out the potty and start talking about it, you’re potty training. If you want to refer to the day it ‘clicked’ as her first day of training then I guess every kid trains in ‘one day’ because they ALL have that day that it clicks. If a child is truly ready to potty train in won’t take 10 months of training, it will only take days.
Honestly, I could give two poops (pun intended) about the amount of time it took your child to learn to go to the bathroom properly…. What I can’t stand is that you are constantly trying to make it seem as though your child is some super gifted being when really, she’s perfectly average. She’s perfect, but she seems, in everything that you’ve shared, to be average. I think you do your readers who look to you as an ‘expert’ a HUGE disservice by trying to make your daughter appear ‘special’.
Again, congratulations and good luck with your child.
OMG thank you SO much for “putting me in my place”. I’m surely going to lose sleep worrying about what you think about me and my daughter and how you know JUST exactly how special, gifted, better than everyone else we think we are and how I surely want to make it known through my posts.
Your insight in my life and thoughts is astounding!
NOT.
Stop projecting your insecurities and inadequacies. It’s too obvious.
Her child IS special. Every mommy thinks her own child is special. And they are. I’m sure your blog, if you have one, is all about your own special child. 🙂
Good for her (and you!). I potty-trained before 2 and my mom wouldn’t let me forget it once I started trying to train my own kid. My son, on the other hand, wasn’t 100% potty trained (with no night-time accidents) until 3. I’ve heard it’s easier for girls but I don’t know how true that is. My son goes to day care/pre-school and I’ve noticed more of the girls potty train earlier than the boys. Yay for not having to buy/wash diapers anymore!
I have definitely heard/read noticed that girls potty train way easier.
I mean our journey is not finished since it will take some time to stay dry at night and might not happen for many months. And I’m sure we will have our share of outside accidents but the big thing is done. :))))
How do you deal with long car rides? Does she tell you in the car when she needs to go? Do you have any recs for a protective mat for the car seat in case she falls asleep in the car or has an accident?
To be honest we haven’t had the chance to even think about it. It’s so new to us. No long car rides yet (longer than 40 minutes) and for those she’s been holding it. She had 1 accident once when daddy took her to the playground and failed to take the potty with him or put her on the potty prior to leaving, like he was supposed to. But that’s it so far. For anything under an hour, I always make sure she goes potty right before we leave.
We do have a few long car trips coming up, so I will have to think about how to handle it. In the beginning we’ll probably be reminding her to tell us and make stops until she fully understands that EVEN in the car we can stop and go potty. She’s pretty much gotten the outdoors part down. She knows that on the playground I have a potty in the backpack and indoors there is always a potty (that i show to her before hand).
Oh and I don’t think I made it clear. The one accident that I mentioned was in the car. She , of course, had other accidents while outside before she understood fully that she can go potty outside as well as at home, just never on the car rides.
A travel potty in your backpack? I didn’t know there was such a thing…tell me more, how does it work, where is it from? Cool!!
Yes! It’s called a Potette and it’s pretty small.
Congratulations. I’m glad you had such a great experience. Another app that my son loved was Potty Time by Signing Time. It has great little songs, games, charts, videos & teaches the signs for going potty. Its great for teaching your child to communicate the need to go potty. I had the boy who totally got the concept and idea, but would not communicate that he needed to go.
And I’m sure you know this already, but nighttime dryness is really a hormonal related issue, and I wouldn’t push ‘nighttime training’ before 5 years old. That’s something that really just happens on its own as the body starts producing enough of the hormone that slows down kidney function while we sleep.
Yes I’m very aware 🙂 there’s no “training” involved in nighttime dryness. They do it when they are ready. 🙂
Congrats on the potty training! It is so nice when this happens. I had 4 kids all trained between 20-23 months and I think this is the ideal learning time for this! My pediatricians were shocked when my kids were in underwear before age 2 always telling me not to try until age 3. Society as a whole is just missing the boat with this one imo. Anyway I wanted to mention that we use the Baby Bjorn travel potty (the one with the removable cup but no high sides) in the car and it works well even for my 5 yr old in roadside emergencies. Its a bit bulky to carry around in a bag for these early days for you but has been a lifesaver for car use and very easy clean up! . I think potty training as a whole is so individual and everyone just needs to do what is best for their kid and not listen to what others say. My 3 boys were WAY easier than my daughter to train and she was my youngest (all within a week with very little pressure on them…they were just ready!) . My daughter was just too stubborn for her own good. Where the boys had no control in the beginning she almost had too much and got the run to the potty very early but once there could not release the pee. That was the learning for her! And It only took 3 puddles right in front of the potty to realize she was trying to stand and pee like her brothers! Also, I agree that the nighttime is hormonal but honestly once she really gets the daytime with no accidents even while out the nighttime will just happen for sure. With all 4 of mine this happened within a month of no daytime accidents. And true to form my boys had maybe 3 to 4 accidents at night total and my daughter who has been trained for over a yr still has the occasional accident with no rhyme or reason why! And at almost age 3 I am still carrying extra clothes for her. I didn’t have to do this with my boys. I guess it’s payback for finally getting a girl! HA! And lastly we LOVE Daniel Tiger. I have been in the parenting game for 10 plus years and this is by far the best toddler show I have seen. I truly hope all the comments stay positive as you are just doing what is best for your family and a wonderful job at that!
Wow Meg! This comment is great!
I love how you managed to relay your personal story, give products recommendations, give encouragement and leave on a positive note!
That’s what comments from other moms should always be like- sharing our experiences and encouraging other moms, not “just you waits” and “you’re doing it wrong” as I see so many moms get in real life and on the Internet.
That’s awesome, she is so clever!
My daughter loves all the Daniel Tiger songs. You can make up one for pretty much any occasion, it’s really helpful. I guess kids remember things better when it’s put into simple words to a catchy tune. 🙂
Thank you so much for this post!! So as a first time mom with a now 1 year old girl, which potty out of the three would you recommend to be our best bet? Our house isn’t too big so one will probably be okay. Also your daughters ponytails are so cute!! I can’t wait till I can put my little ones hair up!
Aaahhh this is the hardest question. It completely depends on your style, your house, her preference.
I mean if I had to pick only one I’d probably go with boon especially if you’re planning on buying a separate travel potty but this is such a hard choice because all are really great and you can’t go wrong with either.
Prince lionheart is great cuz it is a three in one.
And joovy is a basic beautiful potty for those cases where the potty stage doesn’t last long (but in your case you’re starting now so it most likely will last until at least 18 months), so go with boon!
You’re awesome, thanks!!
So awesome, Lexi! I hope she continues doing so well! My girlfriend’s daughter potty trained herself just after 2. Her DD just told mommy she didn’t want diapers anymore! She did have a slight regression for a few weeks (which is completely normal) but she just really worked with her to refocus and get back to going on the potty exclusively. Now she’s 2 1/2 and doing great.
We’ve been casually working with DD. But she’s gotten to the point of absolutely no interest. When asked if she wants to just SIT on the potty, fully clothed, she says no and runs away. So we’re not going to push it. She does love the DT potty song, though! She’ll sing it when we ask if she wants to sit. And when daddy or I go. I guess that’s a step in the right direction!
Like you read in my post, that’s exactly the stage Lexi went through before deciding to start going potty. And backing off is what we did too. She was just too resistant. And then she suddenly went!
I love the idea of the personal potty book! My son is going to be 3 in april and has NO interest in the potty what so ever. I was considering starting to slowly start the potty conversation and I think that might be perfect. He loves looking at pictures of himself. Men right? lol
The potty training in one day title on your picture is a little misleading, since this blog post spanned what-10 months? And if she’s still having accidents regularly I’m not sure you should say she’s “trained”. You guys are I the potty traning process!
My kids were ridiculously easy. My son was 2.5, had been pooping in toilet since 18 months, I had a week free before I started a new job, and we were needing to pick up more diapers at the store. I decided kind of on the spot to go for it. 2 days diaper less at home and on the 3rd day we ventured out. Was another 6 months or so before he’d stay dry most nights. Although he had nighttime accidents 1-2x a week until kindergarten.
My daughter was 2yr3months and I had a stretch of working 3 nights in a row (and sleeping during the day). My husband is awesome and when they were at the store he let her pick out undies and he bought a bag of M&M’s and she got 1 piece for sitting on the toilet, 2 for peeing and a handful for pooping. Prior to this shed have nothing to do with toilets. She was done with diapers during the day after that weekend.
We own two potty books total that lasted just fine thru both kids. We have a two story house also and have one sneer that goes on a regular toilet as I was not a fan of cleaning yet another thing n my house daily.
Life and parenting is easier if you don’t over think and overplan. Promise.
Love this post! I have a daughter just a couple months younger than yours, and she’s just beginning to show interest in sitting on the potty (she hasn’t gone yet, but she loves shoving as much toilet paper as possible in. It’s a start I guess!). Your approach seems do-able and encouraging.
And I love your attitude of kids-do-things-when-they’re-ready. I enjoy being able to read and learn about Lexi’s milestones and your approaches without feeling the need to stress and compare.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thank you so much Kelsey!
I’m so glad it’s helpful!
Started elimination communication with my girl at 15 months. Out of diapers by 20 months and accident free at home and in public by 22 months. It’s very exciting. Accidents do happen occasionally but so rarely it’s hard to remember from one to the next. It’s a part of the process. I will be ECing her baby brother from day one when he is born in May!
That’s amazing!!!! Potty learning is so exciting!
I potty trained my daughter at 20 mos. here is a tip if you still need suggestions..if you’re having issues out, take your own potty and go in the car. She might be scared of public restrooms. We used the bonaco potty (check amazon) which is tiny and awesome. It uses diapers or pads (we used left over disposables) and when you’re done, you wrap up the diaper and dump it. So easy, we’ve used ours in the train station, Central Park, you name it, we’ve done it. Our daughter HATED public restrooms and started to come around at 3. We fly to Europe a lot and she would not drink anything before the flights, because she didn’t want to use the plane potty.
Also we never trained her for naps. At 20 mos, we felt that she needed to train herself to hold her pee…so we just let her be. Within 2 months she was completely trained overnights because it was weird to pee yourself. Sounds like you’re not stressing it, that’s how we were and it was super easy. Good luck!
Ha! That’s funny because you just finished my potty story for me. That’s exactly what happened in the last 2 months. To a T 🙂
She’s dry for naps and bedtime. We used a portable potty in the car because she stopped liking public restrooms ( did like them for a while there) :)lol
Hi Elena, I am a fan from China, I am checking your updates everyday now. 🙂