Potty Training Notes I

Ted and I have been talking about potty training Wells seriously for the last month. We started to really notice little signs of readiness. I always thought I would want to potty train while I was pregnant. I am running to the bathroom so often, he might as well be going with me. Originally, I thought about trying it around 18 months. When that time came around, I was weaning Wells from breastfeeding and definitely did not see signs of readiness on either of our parts.

A few clues to know that Wells was possibly ready to be potty trained:

At the beach or pool, he would always tell me either right before he started to pee or as he was peeing.

At home, he would talk about making a "stinky" as he was either peeing or pooping in the diaper.

He started to want to be changed immediately after wetting or pooping in his diaper. He would get a new diaper and lay on the floor waiting. 

Those few clues started us in wanting to test the waters. I also knew that it's now or months after I have baby #2. I was nervous about starting wondering if he was really ready or if I was going to be pressing the issue. I put it off for two weeks as I had doctor appointments and fun play dates to entertain us and keep us out of the house. Then, I decided to give it a go. If anything, I'll see how day one went and see if it's a total disaster fest. Maybe I would reevaluate need be even though most encourage you to stick to it once you start.

The plan.

Our plan was to stay home all week and try the go naked approach with using the big potty and training potty. I really want him to learn on both and mainly the big potty, but our bathrooms are so far away from our main playing area that I knew I needed a closer potty for him. We would encourage him to try to use the potty. If he started having a accident, our goal was to catch it in action and mid-stream move him to the potty to finish his business. We would reward pee and poop in the potty with one of his favorites - chocolate chips (other people use stickers, but he wouldn't care about those). After spending time naked around the house, I plan to put him in underwear as round 2 before heading out to our normal weekly activities. We will put him in diapers for nap time and bed time.

The prep. 

Sunday night, we rolled all the rugs up in the main areas of the house that we would be using. I made sure we had plenty of paper towels and spray cleaner for accident clean up.

Day one.

Once Wells woke up, Ted took his diaper off and talked to him about going pee and poop on the potty. We set up a training potty in the living room and he also walked him to the hall bathroom. He set him on the toilet to see if you needed to go and he didn't. He had two accidents before I woke up.

I woke up and took over as Ted was leaving for work. I spent the morning asking him to sit on the potty. Every time he would pee in the potty, we would sing and dance. He was so excited and really got into the praise and absolutely loved his reward of a chocolate chip.

He had one accident while playing with toys. I noticed he was going and got him and sat him on the pot. I told him he could finish peeing on the potty. We cleaned up the pee on the floor and talked about going on the potty next time. No shame, I explained accidents happen.

Later, Wells was playing on the steps, stopped, and ran to the potty to make a little dime size poop. You'd think he scored his first touchdown. I clapped, danced, and sang my praise. We took the training potty, added water to get the poop up, and poured it into the big pot. I let Wells flush the toilet and we said goodbye to the poop.

At nap time, I put Wells in a diaper and let him do his normal nap routine. When he woke up, his diaper was full of pee. He laid down for me to change it. I took it off and let him throw the diaper away. He was naked again. I showed him where the potty was and told him to tell me when he needed to go.

Day two.

Wells was not happy when Ted initially took off his diaper after waking up. After five minutes, it didn't seem to bother him anymore. He didn't have any accidents nor did he use the bathroom until after Ted left for work. Midmorning, I knew he needed to go both pee and poop. I keep encouraging him to sit on the either the big or training potty. He didn't pee after waking up for several hours. He did pop a little speck that we applauded, flushed, and awarded with a chocolate chip.

Since I knew he probably needed to pee and/or poop, I was concerned he was holding it back. He ate his normal breakfast and mid morning smoothie, but didn't really want any water (which is unlike him).

He started asking to put a diaper on. I knew he only wanted to poop in the diaper. I just kept encouraging and giving him opportunities to poop on the potty. I worried this would create some kind of fear of pooping, but stuck with the plan.

Our morning was pretty uneventful for times on the potty, but he had no accidents. Before lunch and nap time, he went pee-pee in the potty and seemed to empty his bladder. After lunch, I put a diaper on him for nap time. He slept. He woke up. He peed and pooped in his diaper during or just after waking up from nap. I changed his dirty diaper and let him throw it away. He asked for me to put him in another diaper, but I reassured him that he can use the big potty now and diapers are only for sleeping. It seemed to appease him.

The afternoon was uneventful with one pee on the potty before Ted got home. Ted got home and were all in our bedroom. While we were talking, Wells rushed off to the potty and went by himself. Woooohooooo! Praise, reward, and a goodbye flush! As we were preparing dinner, Wells had a little accident but ran and sat on his potty right afterwards.

The biggest thing about day two was he was saying peepee and poopoo more often. He was excited when he actually made it to the potty and he expressed some bladder control.

At the end of the day, I didn't feel that successful. I still questioned if he was ready and really learning. I also was exhausted and felt a little overwhelmed. Maybe I was a little crazy to start all of this while 8 months pregnant? Nevertheless, we were sticking to it. It has been helpful for me to be distracted from sitting on any furniture. Instead I've been sitting on my birth ball, squatting, and doing all my exercises to turn baby #2 out of breech position. (We haven't been sitting on our couch because we don't want Wells on the couch in case of accidents.)

Day 3.

Wells only fussed a little bit when Ted took off his nighttime diaper. He didn't use the potty until after Ted left for work.

His first pee of the day ended up in an accident as we were climbing different toys (one of his favorite things to do) and jumping off. I immediately moved him as he was still peeing to the potty and he finished on the pot. I still praised him for having some go into the potty and reminded him that next time when he feels like he has to pee to tell me so I can help him get to the potty.

After that accident, we had a really great day. He would sometimes run and sit to pee without me asking if he needed to go. Other times, I'd see clues that he may have to go like when he would hold himself and then I would ask him if he wanted to sit on the potty. He was drinking lots of water which helped give us good practice all morning.

He also would run and sit on the potty to pass gas. I would praise and reward him the same as if he actually pooped. He made his first very large poop on the main potty today was so happy to say 'bye bye poop' as he flushed it down the toilet. Victory dance and chocolate chip score!

I put a diaper on him at nap time and took it off without any meltdowns when he woke up.

I was feeling really encouraged about this process throughout the day. I feel like it's clicking and we are getting into a good groove.

When Ted came home from work, we all headed to the pool. We brought Wells to the pool bathroom before he got in the pool and he peed. We tried again before we came home, but he didn't go. It was a great first outing and felt so good to get out of the house.

Send us all the positive potty vibes you can muster.

I'll be back with more updates as we continue our 'Potty Training Bootcamp'.