Potty Training

The first time my son pooped on the potty I cried and literally felt the kind of happiness I felt the day he was born. And no, I am not exaggerating.

Just like everything else in parenting, different strokes for different folks comes true. One day, around the time my son was 27/28 months old, his daycare teacher told me they would start group potty training in class. They told us to pack pull-ups and several change of clothes.

I was ready for him to kill it. I already heard from other parents that his teacher is the Potty-training whisperer. The hubby and I went into it just a bit naive. He came home wearing his first pull-ups and I would randomly ask him if he needed to pee and would dome times take him to just sit there. And when he made his first pee in the potty we made a huge deal and let him put a sticker on a chart. We got a total of 5 stickers on his chart before he started to push back on the pee in in thee potty. Why pee there when he could pee in his pull-up whenever he wanted?

So we continued with the pull-ups, forced him less and less on the potty and then one day his teacher said he was ready for underwear. And we were like, "Oh My Gosh! She did it! She is killing it!" D.U.M.B.

Yea, real dumb.

After about three days of sending him to daycare with underwear and about 5 change of clothes. His teacher came out to pick up and asked "Are you guys even doing anything at home on the potty?"

The answer was no. We were barely making an effort and really kind of just thought he'd learn at daycare and kind of just start doing it at home. Sounds bad, I know. So after that question from his teacher I knew it was time for a real effort.

So the first thing I did was buy a book that everyone told me to buy: Oh Crap!

There are so many different ways and techniques to potty train. My mom told me about the sticker chart way which is why that is where we started, but by the time we really got serious about potty training, he was over the stickers. The "Oh Crap" method is what worked for us. She mentions other things in the book that I do not completely agree with her on, but that does not change the fact that her actual system worked for us.

Here are the highlights:

• Age does matter and trying to get in at the right time matters.

• The first day was fully naked day where you spend the day literally just watching your little ones for his/her peepee cues.

• Once you get the cue and get him/her peeing on the potty (somewhat at least even mid pee) you move to the next stage: Pants and no underpants.

• You try to keep them in pants no underpants for as long as possible (she says can be a month. If you are like us, and daycare makes you put underwear you explain to the child that he/she only wears underwear at school.

• In this stage, you also try out short trips places and get him/her to pee somewhere outside the house

• Then, you graduate to underwear.

• Poop gets its own chapter and it is a difficult one.

• We knew we were traveling, so we got him to 90% before getting on a flight.

• We had a regression, where he got scared of new public toilets due to automatic flushers so please bring tape or something block the sensor at first.

• The floor potty is great for pooping because their knees are up. I get that the toilet attachment is easier clean up, but just a little heads up.

As I mentioned, poop got it's own chapter. Poop was the hardest for us (no pun intended). He held it in for 4 days straight at a time. We got poop on our front door step. We got poop on the floor directly next to the potty. I was drained. I wanted to cry, I wanted to punch the wall. But, really, I just wanted him to POOP IN THE POTTY.

The day we got our first poop in the potty (a four-day build up) I cried, I cheered, I hugged. I felt pure joy. Potty training feels like the first time you are actually teaching them something they don't want to be taught. Its not discipline. its not trying new food. It takes 100% effort on your side and when they get it, it feels awesome!

Here are my favorite potty training buys:

• Our potty training potty - This is our potty and my little one is obsessed! He loves that it flushes like mommy and daddy's potty. We have this one for our other bathroom.

• Potty Time Elmo - Our little one loved going to potty next to Elmo! And his Potty Elmo book.

• Travel Toilet Seat Cover - Light-weight, pumps on and pff so easily.

• Potty to go and Liners - Needed in the beginning if you are trying to go out and go places during potty training.

• Portable Urinal - My only wish is that they made this smaller/ more portable. We needed this for actual flight and driving to our destination (2+ drive).

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