(note: this is a looong post and I am sure it will be very boring for most, ok all, of y’all. But I want to make sure I record everything about this experience so I remember it for the next time! Feel free to skip.)
I have had that song (see the title of this post) in my head ever since last Friday when we started potty training around here! (Am I the only “Look Who’s Talking” fan? Check out the whole scene here.)
I have been going back and forth for the last few months on whether I should potty train Sam before or after his baby sister arrives. Here are the things I was weighing:
- Diapers are sooo convenient. Am I ready to have a potty trained child?
- Sam will be 2 years, 4 months when his sister arrives. Potty training before baby meant that Sam would only be 2, which is still a little on the young side. But if I waited until after the baby was born and we were in a comfortable routine, Sam would be 3 which is towards the later side.
- I have heard 2.5 is a great age to potty train, but I knew there was no way I would be up for potty training with a 2 month old in tow.
- Is it better to have two in diapers or just one?
- Is it easier to potty train while big and pregnant or sleep deprived?
I knew I was going to use Lora Jensen’s Three Day Potty Training method. So, I decided to read up and see if that helped me make the decision. And it did. She actually thinks potty training at 22 months is ideal. Wow! At first I thought she was totally crazy, but then she explained that the older the child gets, the more attached they become to their routine of using a diaper. Sam is Mr. Set-In-His-Ways, so that made sense to me. It was also helpful to read through the book and see how much work it would be to do the potty training. You basically have to commit to being glued to your child’s side for 3 days. I knew this would be really hard to do with a breastfeeding newborn and a mom who was operating on very little sleep. So I bit the bullet and decided to just start potty training now! Ben was pretty much fine with whatever I wanted to do, but agreed that “before baby” did sound like the better choice. So here’s how it all went down:
FRIDAY:
Friday was rough! I got Sam in his big boy underwear and we gathered up all the diapers in the house and put them in a box to save for baby sister. We talked about how Sam is a big boy now and would be using the potty. He was really excited! I gave Sam juice in a cup with a straw and ice which was a special treat and got him drinking a lot. Then the accidents started. He peed on the floor FOUR times in less than TWO hours! I thought I would die rushing him upstairs each time and then cleaning it up afterwards. And Sam was really upset about it. I stayed positive and didn’t scold him at all, but my neat little guy just doesn’t like to make a mess. But then that afternoon, Sam started getting it. He told me he needed to go pee pee and actually peed on the potty a couple of times!!
SATURDAY:
Saturday was better because Ben was home to help out. I even got to slip away to the MOMS club consignment sale. And when I got back, I learned that Sam had pooped on the potty! The rest of the day was pretty tiring. Sam was telling us when he needed to pee, but he would tell us about 20 times before he was actually able to pee on the potty. He really hated to sit on the potty, so as soon as he sat down, he would stand back up and say he was all done. And then of course, all the up and down led to a few small accidents when he had waited to long.
SUNDAY:
Sunday was a lot like Saturday. Lots of trips to the potty with a few successful trips. Sam started liking the potty a bit more (I am sure the jelly beans he got after each successful potty trip helped!).
MONDAY:
Sam had a good day. We even left the house for a short errand in the morning! I was super nervous about it but he did great. Then that afternoon we had our family photo shoot which I knew would be pushing the limits. I decided to put a pull up on Sam just so we wouldn’t have to worry about the potty while we were there. Sam did great until we were about to leave and he had a little accident. But of course, we weren’t really reminding him or encouraging him to tell us when he needed to go. We were just trying to get our pictures taken!
TUESDAY:
This was the first day of preschool. I was super nervous about sending Sam to school and worried that his teacher would hate us. I knew it would be harder for Sam to tell his teachers when he had to go, especially in a class of 7 other students. And at school they use real toilets, which is harder than Sam’s little potty chair. Of course, when I picked Sam up I learned that he had peed and pooped in his pants!! Not a great day. But his teacher was really cool about it and reassured me that this is part of her job. She also said it was exactly what she would expect for the first day of potty training at school. That evening Sam had a big accident at home, which I think was him feeling overwhelmed and frustrated by the whole experience. I started questioning our decision to potty train Sam and was feeling really out of sorts when I went to bed that night.
WEDNESDAY (and beyond):
I guess Sam knew I needed a little encouragement because on Wednesday Sam had a PERFECT day with NO accidents! And, other than one more accident at preschool (peed on the playground, which apparently is pretty common, even with the 4/5 year olds!) Sam hasn’t had any accidents since! I really feel like we are in the clear now. Don’t get me wrong, I am sure Sam will have more accidents (I mean, even 1st graders have accidents from time to time!). But I feel like we can leave the house, go out to eat, play outside, and not worry. Pooping continues to be more of an ordeal and Sam is not a fan. But we’ve been bribing him with getting to watch videos after every poop in the potty and it seems to be working!
My overall review of this method is definitely positive. It is kind of like a Rachael Ray meal: it took a little longer than it said it would take, but it was still pretty fast and I am happy with the result!
NAPS AND NIGHT:
I decided to leave Sam in his underwear for naps and he has only had two accidents during nap and they were in the first few days. For nighttime, we started putting him in a pullup because I thought there was no way he would be able to stay dry the whole night. Before we started potty training Sam woke up every morning with a very full diaper. The first few days Sam woke up with a wet pullup but then he started waking up once or twice a night to tell us he needed to pee. It was so tempting to just tell him to pee in his pullup but I knew that was probably the wrong message. For the last few days we have been making a concerted effort to eat dinner earlier and not give Sam any liquids after dinner and he has actually slept through the whole night and woken up dry! We don’t even bother with a pullup anymore. I am really surprised because I was sure it would be a while before he was nighttime potty trained.
FUNNIEST MOMENTS:
- When we flushed down Sam’s poop in the toilet. We both waved and said, “bye bye poo poo!” and then Sam added, “See you later!”
- One time after pooping on the potty, Sam bolted up. Before Ben could even say, “Wait. Are you all done?” another piece of poop fell down to the floor. Sam started crying and running around and of course ended up stepping in the poo. Sam was really worked up about the whole thing but Ben and I couldn’t stop laughing.
OUR FAVORITE THINGS
There are a lot of things you can buy these days to make potty training a little easier. Here are some of our favorites.
- Jelly Beans (great motivation)
- Random cat that my dad brought us from China. Sam loves it and somehow it has become the potty mascot.
A note to future Sam: I am sure some day you will read this post and be very embarrassed. I am sorry for telling all of your potty training secrets to everyone on the internet. I hope you’ll forgive me!
