All I can is ‘wow!’. Besides trying to get the kids to sleep through the night, potty training has been the second hardest thing about parenting so far. I can clean dirty diapers, remove snot from their noses, and even cut their nails with little to no effort. But potty training is hard!
Potty Training
It’s hard because it’s difficult to explain to a 3-year old, ‘ok when you feel you have to pee pee or poo poo, just tell me’. How does one explain to a 3-year old the feeling you get when you have to pee or poo? Lead by example? Show them how other kids do it? Show them a picture of kids in a book on potty training? Reward them with treats? We pretty much tried all these things. For our kids, when it happens it happens.
For Jasmine it has happen sooner than later. Just one day without us prodding her, she asked to go pee pee in the bathroom. We were like, ‘wow, sure baby’. It was all about diaper down, seat down, climb up, pee pee! She did it! Then it was wipe pee pee, throw away, flush, put seat away, cover down, and wash hands. She did it again! It was/is really a miracle! For almost a week now she has routinely gone to the bathroom to go pee pee. Now, she has added poo poo to her ritual. When I mean ritual, I mean it literally. She spends more time in the bathroom than she ever has before. We are so very proud of her! To top things off she even went pee pee at the gym at the childcare area, twice! So now she can pee at home and in public places without any problems. We really hope this continues (knock on wood).
Justice on the other hand is going to take a little more time. He is about 50/50. Sometimes he goes pee pee and other times he just stares at the wall. We think he just sits there because he is copying Jasmine, who may have just went to the bathroom. He does get an ‘A’ for effort God bless him! I’m confident he’ll catch on.
I really do not know what did it for Jasmine. She could have seen other kids at the gym childcare go to the bathroom or seen it from the TV or something. Regardless, we are happy that we are on our way to having them potty trained.
Here’s what helped us:
- Disney princess toilet seat
- Cars toilet seat
- Kid’s step stool
- Plenty of gummy bears on hand
If they were going to sit there to do their business at least they could have fun with lively toilet seats. We give the gummy bears as a treat after they have successfully pee’d or poo’d. We give them about 2 gummy bears for their hard work. After several repetitions, I don’t give their gummy bears unless they remember. I’m trying to make it a non-event as much as possible.
Patience is required because they will just sit there daydreaming or talking up a storm until they do their business. I no longer hang around. I just say, ‘call me when you’re done’.
Other than Justice and Jasmine gaining some independence from us we are mostly happy because we do not have to buy diapers as much as we used to. The savings will help us down the line, at least temporarily.
What are your tips for potty training?
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