adventures in potty training! a little how-to guide…

we adamantly did not rush into potty training at. all. that was important to me. and then, once we took the dive… well, we knew no matter how long it took to get things “right,” well, we’d get there when we got there! but until then… God bless all the geniuses who invented potty training gear that gets you through it! one thing we still rely on, and probably will for years to come, is keeping a package of pull-ups® training pants on hand everywhere we go. man, those things are sanity SAVERS on so many levels.

anyway, there are definitely a handful of important steps that we took on the front end of potty training to make sure we had a strong start!! i mean, things are going to go wrong, but my theory in all of life is that if you lay a good foundation, you’ll totally be okay.

so… here is how to potty train according to our experience!

1. buy a fun potty training book! before we eeeeven touched potty training, we started planting the idea by reading a cute little book that i knew was right up our girl’s alley… a book about a princess who just loved using her potty! that was the best first step ever. it helped get her really interested in using the potty, and even came with a crown to put stickers on as a reward system! and you know, we couldn’t use that crown until we started using the potty… soooo… 😉

2. let them pick out cute undies and pull-ups! once we made that very first official trip to the store and i let her pick out all her very own big girl stuff, she was so excited. thaaank goodness these things come with all their favorite little characters on them! our favs lately have included the fabulous doc mcstuffins learning designs® variety [who doesn’t love doc mcstuffins?], which have been recently updated to provide more coverage, capacity, softness, and stretch than before! we’ve used these for a long time and i’ve noticed the difference. also, they can be easily snagged at wal-mart, along with just about everything else you can use for potty training!

anyway, we started from the beginning with both underpants and pull-ups… the underpants we practiced with and talked a lot about, but man… the pull-ups are what keep you sane, i think! we’ve always used them for bedtime, at the very least. often in the earlier days, we’d make sure and wear them for long errands that could make things complicated, as well. and for car trips and plane rides, oh, absoluuuutely! basically, i always just keep some with us in case the need arises… because honestly, especially as they get a little older, they really don’t want to have an embarrassing accident any more than you want to clean one up! peace of mind on both ends!

3. make it easy and convenient for them. initially we purchased a simple little potty that we would keep out for her to use, as well as a potty seat that goes on top of the big potty for when she was ready. we also knew she needed a fun stool to use to wash her hands or get on the big potty… and i could not believe my eyes when i was browsing through an antique shop and came across the exact same stool that i used to have when i was little!!! it’s this adorable wooden step stool that also turns into a chair… and she loves using it! even the little words on it are exactly the same as the one i had, and i still can’t believe it. i have crazy little flashbacks every time i look at it!

4. be consistent with the reward system! but also, change it up! as time went on, i think part of what happened when we would have “off” days was partly that we’d kind of get lazy with the “special treats,” forgetting to reward her every time… and partly that she got bored with the special treats we had! we typically use things like chocolate chips to reward her [organic, of course!], but sometimes when she really wasn’t feeling the potty deal, the same old morsel of sweetness just wasn’t incentive enough. it helped a lot to change up the treats! once we had on hand a few that she wasn’t expecting, she got excited again! i know some people do a box of toys they can pick from, too. we haven’t done that, but it sounds like another fun idea!

5. don’t get mad. let them go at their own pace! it is absolutely miserable at certain points where they may not be catching on like you’d really love for them to… but it’s really not worth it to lose your temper. that can do even more damage to their progress, actually! it’s a tough adjustment, but they will get there!!

also, keep in mind that life changes can totally set them back in their progress. for example, we had a new baby arrive… and then we moved into a new home! you can darn sure bet there were days we just made sure to keep her in her pull-ups, and let her decide when she was ready to use the potty instead of trying to ask or make her go all the time. if she did, she did! if she didn’t, she didn’t! and it was all OKAY! those suckers don’t leak and they’re super soft and comfy… so, we knew our new sofas and rugs were safe and there was less pressure on her! that was seriously a huge learning period for me. just eliminate the pressure when it gets to be too much!

6. make it an adventure! have you heard of the pull-up fairy?! well, you have now!! haha! we’ve made a little game of getting pull-ups on… so, no matter where we are, if it’s getting late and we think it’s a good time to put one on, we’ll say, “wait… do you think the pull-up fairy came?!?!?!” and she can check and see if the pull-up fairy left a little something in her chair for her! or, sometimes at home we’ll say, “you don’t know where the pull-up fairy keeps her secret stash, do you?? no. there’s no. way. you know where the pull-ups are. only the pull-up fairy knows where the pull-ups are!!” and she can hardly resist that kind of challenge!