Potty trained before two years old? An end to 8 years of diapers!? A parent can dream.

And, I never thought Thing 3 would be potty trained. But now he is! It’s something we’ve been working on for upwards of a year. It was going so poorly at one point we abandoned potty training completely, hoping he’d eventually come around. He was the only one left in his preschool class in pull-ups. Just getting him to give up diapers for pull-ups was an enormous struggle that took months.

Last week we went to Target and Thing 3 picked out the underwear he wanted. They were two sizes too big, but I didn’t care. He can wear a bra and panties for all I care as long as he doesn’t pee and poop in them. When we got home, we put all his pull-ups in a trash bag and threw them in the garbage. That was about 10 days ago. He cried for the pull-ups for a couple days but I told him they are all gone, he has to wear underwear now. We’ve had some accidents but for the most part he’s been peeing in the potty, especially at school. Pooping was where Thing 3 made his final stand, but I’m happy to report that tonight we had our first “splash down”.

We’ve been offering Thing 3 as many desserts as he wants for the last year if he’ll just use the potty. Tonight, we happily made good on the promise.

Now I’m ready to reveal the secrets to potty training.  Follow these easy steps and your life will be so much easier and your child will be using the potty someday.

Don’t Start Too Early
Everyone wants their kid to be potty trained as soon as possible. Diapers are a pain and expensive. They won’t let your kid into preschool unless they are out of diapers. So it’s understandable that parents sometimes push their kids before they are ready. Don’t do it. Especially if your kid has the slightest stubborn streak. There will be screaming, crying, frustration, and a lot of pee on the carpet.

Don’t Take It Too Seriously
Many parts of parenting are important and should be taken seriously. Your child’s education. Teaching them not to talk to strangers. Applying to college. Potty training is not one of them. In hindsight, most of what happens during potty training will seem very funny. Just have a look at some of my potty experiences so far. If you aren’t laughing now while cleaning the poop off the floor, you will later.

It Will Happen When It Happens
This is without a doubt the most important secret I have discovered. Being able to use the potty is a stage of physical development. Just like crawling, walking, and talking. Despite what some people think, you cannot change when these milestones are reached. It just happens and you are along for the ride. So it is with potty training. Have you ever heard of someone who never learned to go potty?  I didn’t think so.   It will happen, probably by the time they start kindergarten, no matter how much or how little you do to help or hurt it. So stop worrying about it, sit back, and enjoy the ride.

Note: I am a paid Pull-Ups Potty Training Partner

Ah, yes, when indeed. We have been engaged in potty training Thing 3 since the bootcamp back in July. We’re now well into October and while there has been definite progress since then, we are very far from declaring mission accomplished.

How much progress? He generally will go potty 3-4 times a day now at preschool. Except when he decides he doesn’t want to for whatever reason. What reasons could he have for wanting to be in a wet Pull-Up when he knows how to use the potty? This is Thing 3, remember. It might be the wrong day of the week, or he could be wearing the wrong color shirt, or he might not like how the teacher asked him, or he may have heard a sound he doesn’t like. At home, he still wants no part of the potty except the last few nights he has gone just before bed like his brothers. Oh yeah, he still has yet to poop in a potty, preferring to do his business in the Pull-Ups.

It’s one step forward, two steps back.  Sometimes I think Thing 4 may be potty trained before her brother even with the nearly 3 year head start.

Disclosure: I get paid as a Pull-Ups Potty Training Partner.

That was going to be our approach to potty training him last week.  We had the marathon training session on Sunday, then sent him to daycare in underwear on Monday.  He had some accidents but generally sat on the potty willingly.

Then came Tuesday.  He went into meltdown mode when the teachers tried to get him to go potty.  He screamed.  He fought.  There were reports of poop on the floor, and something about him pooping on a teacher’s hand (not something for which I wanted to ask for clarification).  So on the teacher’s recommendation, we pulled the plug on potty training for a while.

Yeah, ripping the band aid off quickly works sometimes.  But other times, the bandage is stuck to the wound, and pulling it off opens it back up and it starts bleeding.  Metaphorically speaking, that’s what we got this week.

Anyone have any great potty training ideas for Thing 3?  Maybe ask one of the potty training experts.  Oh, wait, that’s supposed to be me.

Most every transition has been tough with him. Like all three year olds, he is a creature of habit and routine. But Thing 3 takes routine to the extreme. His daily routines sometimes border on the bizarre. Every detail is important, from which episode of Diego to watch, which color cereal bowl he uses, who opens the car door, and on and on. It’s a delicate act that we have all but perfected.

Until a new milestone occurs that throws a wrench into his carefully scripted world. Moving from a crib to a bed was a big deal. New shoes? Watch out. New classroom at daycare? Forget about it.

And so, we have dreaded potty training. We’ve been casually introducing him but he’ll have none of it. Now with just one month to go before he moves up to preschool, where being potty trained is a requirement, we are forcing the issue.

Yesterday was 12 hours of potty training bootcamp. We threw away the diapers (or so he thinks) and I watched him like a hawk all day, and offered him bribes of candy to sit on the potty. I had to clean pee off the carpet more than once but cold turkey is the only way to go with him. It was marginally successful.

Today we sent him to daycare in underwear and with four extra changes of clothes. He came home wearing underwear but with a pull-up underneath. For him, that’s actually progress.  It’s going to be a long, long week.

We’re officially in potty training with Thing 3. To say it’s been tough is an understatement, but there has been some progress lately. This potty scene should hardly be surprising given his history.

Yes, that’s a potty in the middle of the family room.  And of course he’s wearing a football helmet.  Doesn’t everyone?

We have been trying to get him to give up his diapers in favor of pull-ups for months. But he goes into a tantrum at the slightest mention of a pull-up.  So this weekend I asked him if he wanted to wear underwear.  To my surprise, he liked the idea.

He didn’t just like the idea of wearing underwear (which we let him do around the house).  He just really loves the underwear and it has now become another one of his odd comfort objects like the flashlights, my ratty old t-shirts, and his broken Buzz Lightyear toy.

He carries the underwear around.  He takes it to pre-school with him, keeps it in his cubby, then takes it back home.  Tonight, he wanted to sleep with the underwear.  Not wear them, mind you, but just next to him in his bed.  That is, until he decided he does want to wear them.  But I won’t let him do that because he’ll end up soaking wet during the night.

So he is now wearing the underwear on the outside of his pajamas with a diaper underneath.  As I said, it just keeps getting weirder.

The Little Looster is a plastic stool that surrounds your toilet.  It is designed to help little ones climb up on the potty, and because of its unique wraparound shape, gives them a place to rest their legs while sitting.  Ingenious!

The stool is made out of sturdy plastic and was able to easily support my weight.  It is wide in the front and narrower along the sides, providing a nice fit along the toilet base.  And it’s slim enough not to interfere when adults use the toilet.

It arrived in a big shipping box, with bubble wrap, which was enough to get Thing 3’s curiosity way up.  I was hoping the excitement would be enough to get him to actually sit on the potty.  But he still refused, and I know enough not to push it with him.  Luckily, Thing 2 was more than happy to demonstrate how it works.

You can find out more about The Little Looster  at littlelooster.com.

We did the usual triple bath last night – all three boys in the tub at the same time.  It can get crazy and cause a mess, but it’s the quickest way to get baths over with.  Thing 3 likes to has to stay in the tub until all the water is out.  Even then it’s a fight to get him to come out.  This kid loves water.

He was sitting in the tub, with no water, when I was helping Thing 2 brush his hair.  When I looked back at the tub, whoomp! there it was.   I had my iPhone handy to snap a photo for this post but I thought I’d spare you all and leave something to the imagination.  Since he isn’t potty trained I tried to turn it into a teachable moment.  “Poop goes in the potty. “  He wasn’t very impressed.  I fear we’re in for more of these adventures as he goes through potty training.   Does anyone know a potty training “expert” I can call?

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