Potty Training Tips!!

Potty Training is a really rough time. I'm not quite sure how many time people would give me advice or somehow "console" me by telling me that boys take longer to potty train than girls.

I was happy with the progress that we made on potty training. We started when our son was about 2 and a half. We bought him his own seat that goes on top of the toilet. Our bathroom was way too small to even entertain the thought of a little potty just for him. So we opted to lift him onto the seat every time he neede to go.

We then got him pull ups. We are lucky in that our son is extremely independent, so he enjoyed having something besides diapers that he could put on himself. Next, we introduced rewards every time he went potty. These were helpful, but didn't quite take him to the finish line, especially when it came to going #2. Eventually, we made sure that anytime he had an accident in his pullups, he had to change it himself. We also did this in the mornings. We saw this hint on a Today show segment about a woman who does a potty training boot camp! He really disliked doing this, but it was effective.

There were a few staples in the bathroom: Cheerios, books, and stickers. Fortunately, we had a really great book that combined two of my staples into one.

Zach's Potty: A Learning to Go Book

This was really helpful for us becauase our son really liked the stickers and the story related to what the stickers were for.

The other book that we had..er.. have in our bathroom is Potty Time with Elmo. Obviously great for any kid who likes Elmo - and what kid doesn't?

Potty Time with Elmo

Eventually, we started letting him watch the Elmo's Potty Time video. I guess we figured that he liked watching movies and we really wanted it to sink it that it was time for him to start going on the potty.
Elmo's Potty Time

We were pretty persistent and would put him on in the morning and then throughout the day. It's a lot of work and frustration; however, our son was potty trained (daytime only) by the time he was 3 and then potty trained overnight by 3 1/2 ish. He still has accidents every once in a while, but overall he does great.