Potty training was something that always sat in the back of my mind. It was never one of those things that I was focused on or had a plan for. With Mason’s bottle, milk and soother I all had intentions. Bottle needed to be gone by age 1 and no bottles before bed. Same as milk. Age 1 no more formula or boob. His soother is a different story. I said I would not allow him to have it past the age of two. And while he doesn’t have it during the day he still gets it for naps and bedtime. I KNOW he doesn’t need it as he doesn’t use it at day home but because he is in the habit at home of having it he asks for it, and I am okay with it for now. As me again in 6 months.

So anyway, back to potty training. Mason hangs out with older kids, he always has. So he sees things and is interested. I like to think he is advanced, not to mention he is super tall and a tank so he just seems older than he is. We get asked all the time if he is 3. So he has known what the potty was for some time now. We bought a seat for our toilet back in January and he peed a couple times on it and knew what it was and what it meant. But he, and I, was not ready at all yet.

In my head being potty trained is more work than not being. I have no problem changing diapers, it comes with having a kid. But being potty trained means the high possibility of accidents. It also means asking if he has to pee about 20 times every single day. It means testing the waters and seeing how he does in public places. Having to stop on road trips more times than every 3 hours or so. It generally means a lot more work for me. And I just was not ready for it.

But of course he started to show more interest in it and just turned two so we said LETS DO THIS! Please note my husband was off for an entire week so we tackled this together. I could not have done it without him. He did so much work, most of it for the first day actually.

So, here is our story. I am thankful that I have amazing Mom friends that sent me this link. There are so many ideas on potty training, just google it. I found it daunting and too much information. I needed someone to tell me exactly what they did and what worked.

Oh and before I get started, make it fun. Make it a weekend for the family. No TV. No going out. No phones. Our house was an absolute disaster. We played with his toys. He insisted on wearing his bike helmet for lunch. We ran in the ran. We ordered in junk food. We watched the storm. (by WE I mean mostly my husband. He really truly played a huge part in this being successful)

 Just make it fun and about your child. It’ll be worth it.

Click here to find out the method we used. All the credit goes to her, this is just my story!

We went out on Wednesday and bought everything we needed.

Portable Potty (one you just sit wherever you need it to be). We bought this because it seemed more handy for us if he preferred it to be closer to wherever we were at the time. Even though he did not use this in the living room and preferred it to be in the bathroom, he liked this better than the toilet seat potty.

He instantly sat on it and peed on it. Like I could not get it out of the bag fast enough. This was a good sign. And when he did this I totally freaked out. Jumped up and down and got so excited. We were committed!

Undies. This was a whole task on its own. We were told to get the super thick training pants that Walmart has as it at least absorbs a bit of the mess when there are accidents. Well it turns out all of Edmonton was training their two year olds that weekend too. We drove to 3 different stores and finally found some. Good thing his little butt fit into 18 month ones because that’s all they had.

Juice. Pop. Chocolate Milk. Totally against this but I decided to make a weekend out of it. This was not going to harm my child. We made it fun and enjoyable and something he completely looked forward to. I cringed at all of the sugar but it really worked wonders.

Candy/Snacks. We bought things like smarties and gummy bears. Something that was small but big to a little kid. He loved these!!

Potty Training Day One

Had breakfast and put on big boy undies. Man are those things adorable!

We had 2 accidents in an hour and after that the morning was full of accidents and saves. A bunch of pee everywhere including the potty. It was messy and frustrating and in and out of the bathroom every 15 minutes. We had a ton of treats and made a sticker chart. He loved both of that. He would get a sticker and a treat each time he made it to the potty.

We actually did not do the doll part. Okay well we did one time but he did not understand it at all. He just wasn’t into it. We also did not do the running back and forth part. We would explain to him that he doesn’t pee on the floor or in his undies but he needs to pee in the potty. I don’t know why we didn’t do it, we just didn’t. No reason at all.

Nap time we chose to stick to undies only. No diapers because of the method we were using. Yes. He peed while he slept. But that’s what the good thing is about waterproof mattress covers. It just is what it is.

After nap time he seemed to have lost all interest in everything. Literally peeing every 5-10 minutes on the floor and not even thinking about it at all. He struggled a lot as did we. We got frustrated. We ran out of undies. All our towels were dirty. It had been a long day. He woke up after 2 and by 4 we hadn’t had a successful pee yet. We filled him with fluids. I’m talking water. Juice. Pop. Everything. We all needed to regroup and take a breath.

So I started taking him every 15 minutes to read a book on the potty. No accidents and went within minutes of being there. So again, I just freaked out completely. Jumping up and down. Giving double high fives and stickers and junk. He was so proud it was adorable. This is how the rest of the day looked.

410 pee on potty

445 pee on the potty

520 pee on the potty

535 pee on the potty.

All of the times I put on a timer and told him PEE TIME. But the last time he ran on his own.

We did decide to use diapers after all for naps and bedtime. You see, Mason is a sleep pooper hahah. He has been since he was born. I don’t actually even know how many diapers I have changed during the day when he is awake. So sleep diaper training is a whole new ball game with us.

One step at a time I guess right!

Day Two

I didn’t track everything to a T like I did for day one but it was a super successful day. There were accidents and there were successes. The morning started out rough as he completely forgot about his progress the day before. But ones he had his first pee on the potty it all came back. The sticker charts, the snacks and that alarm on our phone was the key for us. It even had to be a certain alarm on my husband’s phone that triggered PEE TIME for him to go. He would hear it and run so fast to the bathroom. It was hilarious and also so great. We definitely had more successes than accidents this day. We were proud parents to say the least.

Day Three

We all got up, instantly put on his big boy undies. Had breakfast.

PEE TIME!

He asked to go on his own. He went. Turned on the light. Pulled down his adorable undies and peed.

STICKER. TREAT

It was amazing. We didn’t set timers and we didn’t force liquids. This wasn’t something we wanted to continue by any means so we thought we would see how it went.

Every hour we asked if he had to go pee or if we saw signs that he did (he would stand and freeze right before he went or he would grab himself). My advice is literally watch him like a hawk. My husband and I were both on our phones in the morning, go figure, and he had an accident. We were the only ones to blame. We weren’t watching and missed the signs. You need to dedicate this week to your kid. If he said NO PEE on the hour we would take him in there anyway, sit him down and say we were going to go get his treat. What do ya know? He would go pee.

So yes, he gets a tiny treat when he pees but I am totally ok with that. If it keeps him happy and motivated then I am fine with a bit of sugar. At day home he isn’t getting his treats and he is totally fine. At home he obviously pushes a little bit more but we will get out of it soon.

So that’s it. It’s now a week later and we have hardly had any accidents. He has had no accidents at all at daycare. We went for a 3 hours walk and he held it the whole time. He has done absolutely amazing and we were beyond stoked and shocked and so incredibly proud.

If you have any questions at all, please do ask. I would love to help if I can.

N