Potty Training: 101

It's hard for me to believe that it's time for my child to start potty training! It just seems like yesterday I was changing her mustard yellow, scentless newborn diaper and now she WANTS to use the "big girl potty". She will be two in November and my goal is for her to be completely potty trained by her birthday. Note: I have not pushed her to potty train, she has given plenty of signs, including literally telling me she needs/wants to use the potty. I have done extensive research on the best way to potty train and have gotten a few good tips that I have used but I have also learned to make it your own.

I have never been a "by the book" type of woman or mom. I like to take tips from other moms, blogs, magazines, ect and put my own twist on them! Making it my own has helped me to figure out what works best for Emery's likes and dislikes. So don't be afraid to step outside the box on your potty training ideas!

These are some tips/tricks that have helped Emery (so far) in her potty training journey. Like I said, these are things that are currently helping HER, so don't freak out if these don't work for your little one.

1. Potty seat NOT chair!

I was so excited to show Emery her new Dora the Explorer potty chair but soon found out that it was not floating her boat at all! She was much more amazed with the "big potty". So I purchased a potty seat, and it has worked like a charm. For some reason my tiny tot is fascinated by using the "big potty" which is a plus for mommy as well because she can't climb off the "big potty" like she could the potty chair (hehe)!

2. Time to Potty App

I'm not one of those people who use an app for everything in their lives but I will have to say that the Time to Potty App by Pull Ups has helped me a lot! The app allows you to customize to your child's age, gender, and what time they get up and go to bed. Then it recommends you to start the child out potting every 45 minutes, which I have found to be true, then when it's time to potty a fun alarm will go off on your phone. You can then document if your child pottied and if his/her pull-up was wet. So far this app has worked like a charm and has really helped me to keep up with Emery's potty times!

3. Rewards

Because who wants to pee in the potty without getting a special treat for it! We have a couple of different rewards for potting. The first is a sticker chart! We have a sticker chart hanging in the bathroom and every time Emery potties she gets to stick a sticker on her sticker chart! Some sticker charts are fancy and have the days all mapped out....not us...she just wants to stick it to the paper. Ba-da-bing ba-da-boom. I know stickers may sound a little lame, but to a almost 2 year old it's like a hundred bucks!

The second reward is a treat jar! Take a jelly jar, decorate it with fun stickers or even your child's name, fill it with M&M's and WA-LA! So every time Emery potties she get's one M&M! :)

4. Real panties

Some blogs encourage this and some discourage it. I have tried it and just the fact of introducing Emery to real panties has helped her. Yesterday, Emery wore her first pair of real panties (just around the house of course). She thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread! She loved them! Then...she had an accident. Immediately she recognized that her panties were wet and there was an unusual wet substance running down her leg that she did NOT like! She came running to me saying "Mommy I pee, mommy I pee" which was music to my ears because I wanted her to know that she had peed on herself. I then sat her on the potty and she finished her business. She is not wearing real panties all the time yet but by me introducing them to her she will grow accustom to them!

5. Privacy

This may sound like a weird tip but it has worked for me! The first few days of potty training I would stand in the bathroom with her and nothing would happen! I would tell her "pee pee in the potty emery" and she wouldn't do anything! So then I thought that she may be getting distracted with me in there with her, so I stepped out of the bathroom but stayed right by the door. As soon as I did I started hearing little trickles of pee hitting the water! She needed some privacy!! Which makes a lot of sense when you think about it. I mean can you pee when someone is standing there watching you?! No! Or at least I can't HA! So giving her a little privacy helped her to relax so that she could use the potty! Now every time I sit her on the potty I step out so she can privately do the deed.



I'm sure I will have more stories, tips, and tricks as our potty training journey progresses but for now...that's all I got! So to leave you with a sweet image...here is Emery's first time on her Potty (which we do not use anymore lol). My baby is growing up!