Potty Training Boot Camp

Okay people...potty training a toddler is no joke! Holy crap is it exhausting; or maybe it was just hard because I have an infant eating every 2.5 hours. I never thought I would nurse a baby in a bathroom as much as I did last week. I documented like crazy, kept logs, wrote down thoughts, and drank lots of strong coffee beer! Haha! Joking. I stuck to the coffee- okay in the a.m. When 5:00 rolled around the brewskies came out! So here is my take on how I potty trained Stella...

List of things I used:

LOTS of undies! Make them fun ones!

Cleaning supplies

a potty

a treat jar- we used M&M's

lots of liquids!!

this potty on the go

**patients!

***Strong Coffee

****Nice Cold Pumpkin Ale

Weeks before, I had read a crazy amount of articles about potty training. I kind took bits and pieces of them all and used what I thought would work the best with Stella. The weekend came and I didn't even think about potty training that Monday- wasn't sure if I was ready...

Day 1

Monday morning rolled around and I woke up and just decided "Here we go-Stella was just enrolled in Mommy's Potty Training Boot Camp 101" (both kids had a bit of a cold so it was a good week to be held captive in the house) Before she even woke up I put beach towels down in the living room, just to have a little bit of a buffer and picked up the playroom rug. When she came downstairs I had her undies out and ready to go. We took off her diaper and threw it in the garbage together! We said goodbye to the diaper and hello to big girl undies! I told her she was a big girl now and we are not going to wear diapers anymore; you can say I made a huge deal about it!! I showed my potty training spirit! She was excited about her undies- they were Minnie! I told her over and over that we don't want to get Minnie dirty and we need to keep her dry! She also thought that the beach towels that were laid down in the living room were the coolest things ever! it doesn't take much to excite a toddler I guess. So I decided to begin the timer at every 15 minutes. Every time the timer went off I made a huge deal and yelled out "Potty Time!!" and did a funny dance to the bathroom! She followed and sat on the potty for 5 minutes. I pushed the liquids and offered her anything she wanted- milk, water, grape juice or orange juice. We had 3 accidents by 10:30. I began to question myself if she was really ready. We had our first coincidental pee on the potty at 11:30. I jumped up for joy and sang a little potty song! She was rewarded with 1 M&M. During nap time we took off the undies and she wore a "sleepy diaper". (same for night time) When she woke up from her nap, we immediately took off her diaper, she used the potty and we put on her girl undies. All day long I reminded her that she was a  big girl, and she doesn't wear diapers anymore and big girls go pee pee on the potty! We had three more Peepee's on the potty that day. I was amazed because by the evening she was telling us she had to use the potty. Sometimes she would go, sometimes she wouldn't.

Let me just paint this picture for you from this day:

Stella said she had to go potty as I was nursing Ricky. Put Stella on the potty as I am still nursing. Ricky shats while nursing. Goes up his back, through his clothes, through my clothes. Quickly grab the changing mat, and clean things for Ricky. As Stella is still on the potty, I clean Ricky and put him in a dry diaper and clean clothes. Stella says she doesn't have to go so while I am still covered in baby crap, I wipe her anyway and get her dressed. Stella leaves the bathroom, I pick up the clean babe, still covered in shit and I hear Stella yell "Oh no, Peepee on the floor!" Yep- she had an accident in the foyer. DEEP BREATHE. Clean the floor, change my clothes. Reset the timer!

Day 2

When she woke up in the morning I put her right on the potty, gave her all the 'what big girls do' reminders, and put her undies on. I continued to push the liquids and bumped the timer to 25 minutes. I would hear her yell "Oh No Peepee on the Potty!" And I would whisk her to the bathroom. We had many false alarms that day. I think it was all stemming from the M&Ms. The times that we did have Peepee on the potty, I noticed she would just begin to go in her undies and she would stop herself and want to go to the potty. I was seeing lots of good signs! I kept telling myself- we are almost there and this shit is tiring! I remember telling Rick that I wondered if there was anyone out there that I could pay to come potty train this toddler. :) I still continued to use the sleepy diapers during nap and night time- which we will for awhile. I was feeling good about this. I rathered a million false alarms and a few successes in between than accidents.

Day 3

I continued what I have been doing the first two days. However, I started stretching the timer a little bit at a time. 30 minutes...40 minutes. We had two accidents this day and she told me right after each time that she had one. I noticed if she was doing something extra fun- like running outside in the grass for example, she would not stop to go potty. I guess I had to keep things boring. I would constantly ask her if she had to go- if she did she'd answer yes and she would go on the potty. 

As I was rewarding her after one of her peepee's on the potty I placed 1 m&m in her hand- it was a blue one- the color she always requested. She looked it over and spotted a chip in the candy coating. She told me it was broke, threw it in the trash and asked for a new one. Damn straight this girl wasn't going to be jipped out of any bit of that 1 m&m. :)

Day 4

I remember texting Rick that morning telling him that I was feeling discouraged because we had a major setback this morning. We had gone through more undies this morning than any other morning. I kept rewarding her when she'd go and make a huge deal about being so proud of her Peepee on the potty! As much as I read that this was totally normal, I still felt that we were doing too good for this to happen. But we kept at it...the timer, constant reminders, the rewards. Not to mention, I was beginning to get cabin fever! So we decided to have a picnic way out in the yard on a blanket. She thought it was the best thing ever! Nice change of scenery. She began asking to give Ellie a bone instead of an m&m as a reward. I was totally on board with this idea! So we changed the reward and the rest of the day began to turn around. That night we had our first POOP on the potty! And that was the first time Stella ever really saw what it looked like....a perplexed look is an understatement. At the end of the day (days 1,2,and 3 as well) I remember looking around at the house, having no energy to clean it up- what a disaster it was. As well as myself- I looked like a hot mess. this too shall pass.

Day 5

I needed to get out of the house before someone  I went batshit crazy. 5 days in the house in a row is too much for me. In the beginning of the week I purchased a potty on the go to keep in the truck. I showed Stella it before putting it in the truck and acted all excited about it! I also showed her the pull-ups which we call truck undies. I chose to take them for a walk on the towpath so we could stay close to the truck in case she had to go. We put the pull ups over her undies so if she had an accident the pull up would catch the pee but she would still have that being wet sensation from the undies. It was a successful outing! She didn't have to pee while we were out and went straight to the potty when we got home! 

Stella ready to go with her potty to go in hand...

As of right now...

She continues to tell us when she has to go. She is doing a great job and has had very few accidents. We still continue to use pull ups over her undies during our trips out and we have had plenty so far- shopping which went great; she told me she had to go and held it until we were done checking out and went on the truck potty. We also visited a pumpkin patch and festival in which she told us when she had to go and used the truck potty. She is not a fan/very unsure of public restrooms and has yet to use one- good thing for the potty on the go. We still use sleepy diapers at nighttime. She gets excited to take it off in the morning and put on her undies. If she is already in her diaper for the night and has to go pee, she still tells us and uses her potty! We still remind her to keep Minnie clean and not get her dirty! And if she asks for an M&M, I praise her and quickly change the subject. 

Any advice: 

Stick with it- even when it seems so much easier just to slap a diaper on them and be done with it.

You need to be 100% ready and have your head in the game!

Your toddler needs to be ready- showing physical and behavior signs!

I can't even begin to explain how proud of Stella I am. Funny, but when she goes potty- she sometimes looks right at me and says "Mommy proud of me". Talk about a proud mommy moment.