Potty Trained: child led and how it went down

 

 

I hate to think when I say my almost two (21 month old) is fully potty trained that people assume it was forced. Trust me we did not make her sit on her potty. She did not get in trouble for not going on the potty. Truthfully even with two in diapers potty training was not something I was looking forward to. I won't lie that I am slightly lazy. However Molly had other plans and potty training kind of fell into our laps.

 

It started at about 15 months when other moms I knew were buying potties to softly introduce. We went ahead and bought one too. There was never any making her sit down. She went on the potty the first time we got it out and we cheered and made a big deal over it. I swear you can teach this girl anything by clapping for her. Girl loves an audience.

 

A month went by and she would go any time we mentioned it without having to sit there for awhile. At this point it wasn't something I wanted to pursue 1) laziness and 2) Natalie was coming and I didn't want her to regress after her birth. So we just kind of let Molly take it where she wanted to.

 

Molly is a total nudist. She loves to be naked. As you can imagine that can be a little tough at her age. So about two weeks into her new naked craze she learned not to go on the floor. She would pee every single time and would hold poop till she had clothes on.

 

Once Natalie came home I figured that would be the true test if we would keep going or put a hold on it. A lot of kids will regress or want bottles and such but Molly seemed to want to set herself apart. Like she was the big girl and she could do all these things. Maybe because we would go on and on about how cool it was that she was so big and could do things and Natalie was so little. Who knows.

 

So then at 19 months she really got into the potty. She would tell us every time she had to pee and would sometimes pull her pants down herself. So I went ahead and bought pull ups. Not sure if I would recommend these or not. I think the best thing to do is really wait till they are ready and go to underwear. The reason being pull ups made her lazy. She would still have pees in pull ups, because she knew she could.

 

So this past week I told Adam no more pull ups. If she could stay dry the entire time with nothing on she could learn underwear. So we cut her off the pull ups and it took two days I would say till it really clicked.

 

Being out and about she really liked the big potty. Holding her over a potty is not the funnest thing in the world so I went ahead and got a potty ring and step stool. Now she pulls down her pants climbs up and down without even needing to tell us. We go everywhere in underwear and she sleeps naps and night time in underwear. It's kind of a trip to walk down the hall and catch her in the bathroom like this.

 

 

Before the potty ring she really didn't like to poop on the potty, but for some reason she has no problem going now. She had one poop accident since this potty and once she tried it the next time she hasn't had problems not wanting to go on it since.

 

It seems so weird, because I really did not expect for her to be potty trained at this point in time. It really was not something I had on my radar until two and a half maybe. This girl is fiercely independent though and she loves encouragement. I really feel like those two things play a big part in why she did it at this age.

 

I'm glad that we were able to keep this child led and that she didn't feel pressured to do so. I think readiness is so important when it comes to potty training your child. It's a huge step and a lot of dedication. As much as I don't miss buying diapers I do miss how easy long trips and the like were.

 

So here is our list of potty training items. Not that I'm some expert, because keep in mind this is the only potty training I have done as a parent.

 

This is the Summer Infant Step-By-Step Potty Trainer. It was a good first potty. We never put toilet paper on because that would be a nightmare. The wipes last about five seconds in the back so that didn't last long either. All in all it worked well. The only complaint is that it says you can use the soft ring on a regular toilet, but I think it's pretty small. Unless you toilet is smaller than average. It slid around and one time Molly fell in. Which was kind of funny and luckily funny to her too.

I bought this Sesame Street Potty And Step Stool Combo  when we realized she no longer wanted to be on her little potty. It doesn't have the best reviews, but I think it works great. It's a bit of an eye sore, but she loves that it's Elmo and for some reason thinks Oscar The Grouch is her dad. I also like that the step stool has grippers on the bottom so it doesn't slide. She can get on and off the potty by herself and she is pretty petite. I really think this option is probably a better first step. Not all kids are the same, but Molly finally started to poop on the potty every time with this. She likes to grip the handles for leverage.

I used this potty chart for about a week. We stopped because she liked going regardless and I ran out of stickers. She found my stash and stuck them everywhere. So that was that. It's a free down loadable chart and comes in boys and girls. It was really cute and she did like to stick her sticker on it. At each lollipop they get a treat. I think anyways. That's what I assumed.

This is mainly a recommendation if you have a child who is younger than average potty training age or just smaller. Which Molly is both. We use the Fruit Of The Loom undies. We got all of hers at Walmart for a little over $5 for a six pack. She also has a set of Hello Kitty ones. Those are her favorite, of course. I tried to go a little cheaper Faded Glory pack so we could have more and they are swimming on her. This is all in the 2T-3T size range.