Potty Training

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Potty training is probably one of the top dreaded things on every parent's list. It was for me, I was terrified to even attempt it. I knew it meant staying home for at least a week doing nothing but watching my toddler like a hawk to make sure we got to the potty, no part of that sounded fun and I was exhausted even thinking about it. I won't be one of those moms that lie to you and says "it was easier than I thought" or " I was worried for nothing" it flat-out sucked and I thought it would never end. I will tell you this though, it eventually does get better and you can return to life like normal you just have to be prepared because, to be honest, potty training never really stops you just figure out how to work it into your life better.

A Little Research

Getting started I did all I could to prepare myself, read all the books, online mom chats, and other blogs to try to prepare myself. What I found was a lot of the 3-day method supporters, so I gave it a try, I mean it's 3 days how bad could it be? The concept is you block out 3 days to just focus on potty training, some do a completely naked approach so you can see when your kid starts to pee and get them to the potty, while others go straight to undies so they have the sensation of feeling wet and decide on their own to use the potty so they aren't wet. I decided to go with naked for the first day or till he got the concept a little bit then use undies. By the end of the 3 days, your child should be potty trained to where you can leave the house with minimal accidents. Some of the methods do an every 15-minute timer approach and others say to just remind your child once every hour or so. I went with doing every hour because I felt like every 15 minutes was a bit much.

Getting Ready

The next step was getting the house ready, Braxton and I went and picked out a potty, (we chose this one as it looked the most comfortable) stickers, and some fun pull-ups for nighttime.

I had already purchased him some undies beforehand when they were on sale, but I made it fun when he got them by wrapping them like a present. I also chose stickers as the reward for going on the potty as we were still doing very minimal sugar at the time. When we got home he used the stickers to decorate his potty and we spent the rest of the day with the potty in the living room for him to play with and get used to it being something he can enjoy.

Here We Go

It was Friday and I was ready to go! I got him up we sat on the potty and I explained no more diapers. After 5 minutes on the potty and reading a book nothing happened so we went to play, I kept reassuring him if he needed to peepee to run to the potty. Not even 2 minutes later he did a giant pee while he was walking to his toys, this is where I discovered the first lie of all my research. Let me tell you, there is no getting them to the potty in the middle of an accident. They pee so fast that even though I saw the exact moment he started to pee, all I accomplished by running him to the potty was getting pee everywhere and all over myself and him... it was great! We sat on the potty again and I was very calm telling him he just went pee and that next time let's try to get to the potty. Back to the toys we go (after I cleaned up the mess) and he pees again! This time I let him finish and then go sit on the potty. Long story short he did not have a successful pee all day and that cycle kept happening, he would do a giant pee then 5 mins later do another one just a little smaller. I gave up that night, I felt like a complete failure because he showed the signs of readiness, I had prepared, made it fun, and he showed no signs of getting it whatsoever. He looked like he had no idea he was peeing when it happened and didn't care that he was wet. I decided to go back to the books and give it some time.

Preparing For A Second Time

Fast forward 3 months I find out I'm pregnant and decide I don't want two kids in diapers so I have to make it work this time. I felt a little more prepared than the first time because I didn't have false expectations of my kid. I put the potty in the living room, put towels on the carpet, and blocked off areas of the house I didn't want to clean up pee from, and I got some healthy cookies as an amped-up reward. I also gave myself a solid week to work on this with no other plans.

Here We Go Again

He was naked a lot this time around! The first day was the same again, I was crying by the evening and we did an early bath with jammies on so I had an excuse to put a pull-up on him. I didn't give up this time though we kept at it, I'm so glad we did now but I wanted to cry every second through the process. For 4 days he only had one success on the potty, the rest were all the same, he had no idea he was peeing. It was exhausting! Day 5... four successful pees! With only two accidents, I was ecstatic. Something just finally clicked. Each day after that he slowly did better and better at getting to the potty and showing signs he was about to so I could get him there. We were able to leave the house on day 6 because he was establishing a pattern of after he went whether an accident or not I had about an hour and 15 minutes.

Little Issues

Even though he was doing great we still had our issues... he was terrified to poop on the potty, he did it 2 times (screamed the whole time) and then started to hold it till nap time and bedtime when he had a pull-up on. He also would not use the big potty even with a training seat on it, this was only an issue when we went out places and needed to try to pee. I decided to just let the poop thing go and see if he would eventually just go on his own, I purchased a second smaller potty for the car instead of working through the fear of big potties.

Finally Success

We are now 6 months into potty training and he is doing amazing! We still have accidents especially if he is out playing or with friends but it's maybe once a week. I also still remind him all day long as he still struggles to go independently, so it just helps if I remind him so we don't have accidents. He will now go potty on big potties with a training seat, he got over his fear by daddy making it fun to sit on the big potty and seeing his older friends do it. He also poops on the potty every time now, I have maybe changed one poopy pull-up in the last month. It was really strange actually, Braxton and I got sick over the holidays visiting family in Montana and we ended up being sick for 6 weeks with 3 different things back to back. During this time I was too sick to keep up with the potty so he was in pull-ups the whole time, I was so worried all our training was lost but we got home, got better, and went back to undies. The first two days he had lots of pee accidents but started pooping on the potty all by himself. By the end of the week, the accidents stopped and the pooping continued, I have no idea why, but I'm thinking maybe after all the fevers he went through a developmental leap and it just clicked. For reference, I attempted potty training the first time when he was 1.5 years old and the second time was just before his 2nd birthday.

You Got This

So to the moms who have tried the very misleading 3-day method, there is hope it just isn't easy and it takes a long time for some kids. I know there are some kids that the 3-day method works wonders for and it is all sunshine and rainbows, If you would like to try it, this is the book I liked the most. Potty training sucks but I promise it is worth it, seeing the change in my toddler when he had that sense of independence was so amazing. It has also saved us a ton of money because we don't have a ton of diapers and when he poops now it takes maybe one wipe. You can do this! Just stock up on lots of chocolate and wine for yourself at the end of the day.