Toilet Training 101: Recipe for Success

(Channeling The Pioneer Woman here...)

The essential ingredients: Potty seat, stool, underwear, wipes, favorite book collection, timer, disinfectant hand soap, Clorox wipes, and Swiffer Wet Jet floor cleaner.  Missing: candy of your choosing for reward...

We've spent the last two weeks in Potty Training Boot Camp: staying home day after day with the sole purpose of getting our pee-pees in the potty.  I have never in my life asked anyone if they needed to use the bathroom so many times in one day; I'm sure I've never used the words "pee-pee" and "undies" so often either.  (And I'm pretty sure I never knew how proud I would be of the sound of tinkle in the toilet and the resulting grin of self-pride on my almost 3-year-old's face.)

Jack has done incredibly well so far; it only took him about a day to have success with the sprinkles, and if my memory serves correct we managed the other on the second day.  He's had great days and not-so-great days; he's made it through some naps and had big messes during other naps.  (So far we haven't attempted the nighttime stretch)  He's even gone in numerous public bathrooms, although I'm quite sure he won't be using the toilets at the Public Library again any time soon, given the automatic flush that about sent him into cardiac arrest yesterday.

Because I am so helpful I've documented our "ingredients for success" below; perhaps a few of you will find them useful  down the road.  I know I'll most likely be referencing them when it's Ellie's turn (although that could be sooner rather than later, judging by how many times I've caught her trying to climb up onto Jack's potty seat and then demanding her own M&M...).  Happy reading!

STEP ONE: Mystery of the Missing Diapers

We prepped Jack for days by telling him his diapers would be "all gone" on Sunday; that morning I swiped them all (in Swiper-like fashion) into my closet and showed him the empty basket, and it worked like a charm!  No whining for a diaper, no resistance to wearing his big boy underwear (which somewhere along the line got shortened to "undies," which Jack pronounces "Unnies").

We started cold turkey; he spent most of Sunday diaperless with me asking him every 15 or 20 minutes if he needed to try going pee-pee.  I finally began to read the signs of him needing to go when he would start begging for a diaper (I think he was afraid to "let go" without one); this was a big clue to me to rush to the potty.  (If you're curious for more details on how we got him to go #2 I'm happy to share via email; for now I'll spare the rest of the reading audience from having to read the other "P" word more times than is tasteful...)

STEP TWO: Invest in a sporty potty seat chosen specifically by your trainee; a little creepy (peeing through a soccer ball??), but I suppose no less than sitting on Dora's face (his first choice).

And along with the seat, you'll need:

A sturdy stool for tiny feet to rest upon; must be able to withstand hot water and soap, as well (or at least Clorox wipes--see below).

STEP THREE:

You'll need to purchase gender-appropriate underwear; we started with regular briefs but the 2T/3T variety just didn't cut it.  We then tried, with more success, these boxer briefs in 4T (and these were "tagless" and bugged him much less than the tighties);  I suggest at least four 3-packs, but  it depends on how often you are able to do laundry.

(Aforementioned tighties--a good option if traditional briefs are preferred; these have been our backups on days when we've plowed through all the other pairs.)

STEP FOUR: Good reading material!  We kept a stack of special books by the potty; useful for whittling away the minutes waiting for THIS to go off:

I set the timer for 2 minutes initially, then lengthened it to 4 minutes after he got used to sitting there.  Otherwise he'd hop on the potty, pretend to push hard, then hop right down; didn't even give his body a chance to try "letting go" on it's own.  This way he would sit until the timer beeped.

(Another tip for success: I filled a bowl with warm water and put a few of his favorite bath toys--Thomas trains--in it for him to play with while sitting on the potty.  At first this served as a distraction while waiting but when our battle reached it's peak and he just would not let it come out while sitting there, I plunged his little hands into the warm water and lo and behold...tinkle, tinkle, tinkle.  Beautiful.)

STEP FIVE: Washing hands is a must after any attempt, successful or not, is made.  This "foaming action" soap for kids is fun for your little one and smells good, too!

STEP SIX (and possibly the most favorite): Mmmmm...good old fashioned rewards!  At first we gave 1-2 M&M's for just sitting on the potty.  The first time he let out a sprinkle we upped it to a little handful, then the more he was successful with the sprinkles we lowered that to 4 M&M's for sprinkles...and none for just sitting.  When he finally managed #2 on the potty I made SUCH a huge deal about it and filled one of his little sippy cups 1/3 full of M&M's and let him go at it.  (In case you are wondering, yes, he's been on a sugar/caffeine HIGH for almost two weeks.  Fortunately when the candy ran out he simply observed, "Chah-late all gone" and hasn't made a big deal out of it since.  Well, that is until Eric bought him cookies and now he wants a cookie after he pees...)

Now the REAL fun begins...

STEP SEVEN: Clean up, clean up, everybody clean up!  You can only imagine how often you'll be needing these.  I used at least one or two Clorox wipes on the seat after each attempt, especially the mightily successful ones.  Occasionally I had to use a wipe or two around the base of the toilet, and I tried to Swiffer the floor every night.  Otherwise...well, the gross factor enters in and believe me: you don't want your bathroom to go un-Cloroxed during this period of time!  (An important tip: be sure not to mix up the Clorox wipes and the Huggies wipes; not sure how well Clorox would fair on tiny hineys!)

A few final suggestions:

--Hydration helps!  Keep the water or juice coming!  Also, a friend recommended giving your child Frosted Mini Wheats or apples or some other high-fiber food every morning to help with, er, regulation.  Apples did the trick for us, I just happened to be out of them when I took these pictures.

--Don't be alarmed if your child suddenly adopts this behavior:

  

--This sight nearly makes up for it:

I never imagined undies peeking out could be so absolutely, irresistibly adorable.  Nor did I ever expect his "I DID it, Mommy!" to melt my heart, or to discover a totally new smile on his face after his successful tries, or to laugh so hard when he came running saying, "Mommy, pwowd you!" (after hearing me tell him so often "I'm so PROUD of you, Jack!")  And I never, ever thought I would be just so proud that I would actually make phone calls to my parents and sister, announcing our potty-related achievements.  But I did.

For those of you who have gone before, blazing the trail, who have offered so much advice and encouragement--thank you!

For the rest of you who have this endeavor looming in your future...GOOD LUCK!  HANG IN THERE!  WASH YOUR HANDS!  And stay out of those M&M's...