{The mess-less of Potty Training}

Starting early 2011 I had 4 in diapers; ending 2011 I have 1 in diapers.  I have been asked by several friends, and friends on Facebook to share how I potty trained my kids.  For us, luckily, it was quite mess-less, and even pain-less, so many asked what we did and here it is.  In NO way am I saying that this is the best, only, or we know everything type of post, but this is what worked well for us, and I am always a sucker for tips that could help me in my life or with my kids.

We started to realize Cole was ready when he was waking up dry every night.  I know for most that this may not happen to start off with but for us this was huge.  Especially since our children tend to drink their sippy's quite often.  Remember that each child is different so this was our sign with Cole but it may not mean a thing with your child.  With the twins, well they basically were telling me they wanted to go potty in the to-to.

My girls have princess underwear, but decided they wanted to wear Cole's underwear for about a week.  Well whatever they are as long as they are dry, mommy does not mind.

1~Commit. Once you decided  you are going to potty train-well you HAVE to potty train.  Never start and then stop, this will make the child confused.  You committed now you are in for it.  Consistency is the key.

2~Make a potty chart.  This was Cole's favorite thing to do.  We made a super easy one out of craft paper and picked out stickers that we knew would be fun to put on the chart.  1 sticker for pee-pee 2 stickers for poo poo.  When the chart was finsihed we told him that to get into chuck-e-cheese he had to bring his sticker chart.  He was so proud and handed the sticker chart to the front desk.

3~Pick up essentials.  I took each kid with me when it was time to start to go pick out their big kid underwear.  This got my kids excited to wear underwear with their favorite cartoon, or princesses on them.  They couldn't wait to come home and wear them.  Pick out a little toilet seat, little toys, and a big toy. I also suggest picking up some carpet cleaner, as well as some little candies.  With the girls we went to Target and picked out baby potties for their babies.  This was HUGE for our girls.  They love babies so it taught them that when you need to go potty you go in the to to and not in the diaper.  ( baby potty, baby underwear, other baby essentials at target I think was 10.00  Circo Brand)

4~Candy Jar.  We sat a jar next to the toilet on the counter and every time they went they would get a little scoop of candies. This quickly became an incentive to go potty and after a while they forget about the candies anyways.

5~Potty seat.  I suggest using a potty seat and not a little potty.  We originally bought a little potty with Cole but quickly learned that was not the route WE wanted to go down.  I didn't have time to clean it after every little potty time and decided that we would teach him to go on the big potty.  This has been a HUGE thing for our girls and we are glad we decided to go with this.  We now use our little potty as a stepping stool to get on the potty seat.

6~Be prepared. Be prepared to take them every couple of minutes.  Even set a timer for every 15 minutes just to make sure you get at least a little bit in the to to.  Be prepared to drop everything and go when they need to go.  Be prepared to have set backs and to feel a little frusterated.  With Cole he got the pee pee thing down in 1day but the poo was a whole different story it took a couple weeks til he stopped asking for a diaper to go in.*  With the girls however, they got both down within the first day.  You have to continue to be prepared for the frustration and continue to stay positive.

7~Stay positive.  You have to continue to stay positive with the kids for the first 3 days.  After 3 days we started to tell the kids if they had a little accident or that they didn't quite make it to the toilet that it was not okay and they needed to go as soon as they felt the urge and not to wait for the last second.  Although we continued to praise them for their accomplishments they need to know that it is not okay and that it needs to stop before it becomes a problem.

8~Potty Dance.  When they do go for the very first couple of times, make it a huge deal.  Do a dance, tell them how happy you are of them.  Keep praising them and telling them they are such big girls/boys.  We made this a huge stepping stone and made sure they could flush their own to to.

9~Trust.  Start to try and trust them that they will tell you when it is time to go potty.  The first day I think we spent the majority in the bathroom getting on and off the toilet, but after a while you have to trust that they will tell you and guess what they ACTUALLY do!

10~Pull-Ups.  With Cole we started right with pull ups, but like I mentioned earlier Cole had a problem doing all of his business in the toilet.  I do partially think that this had to do with pull ups. The problem is pull-ups are too similar to diapers for some kids and they cannot tell the difference between the two.  With the girls we never even started with pull ups.  I think they can be great for night time if your child does continue to wet the bed but if your child is dry you may have to suffer through the changing of the bed sheets a couple of times to get them in the habit of continuing to wake up dry.  

11~Don't make it a chore.  I have heard of some people that make their child clean up their accidents or keep them in their dirty unders for a while, but I KNEW this would not work with our kids.  I think that this would of made potty training more of something they didn't want any part of.  Instead we decided to keep it completely something that they would enjoy and not a chore.

12~No social life.  Don't plan to do anything for at least 3 days.  You don't want to take your child to an unfamiliar place and have them not be comfortable or have them forget about the whole potty training thing in the first place.  You also don't want to embarrass the child if there is other people around if they have an accident.  We pretty much stayed home at all times and this is why I think our girls caught on so fast.

13~Extra wash.  This may just come with the territory of potty training but we were constantly washing even more than we already do!  Also remember back to the day of carrying extra clothes with an infant, you may want to carry extra set of clothes for a couple of weeks in my opinion.  Just in case.

14~Don't start.  Don't start potty training let's say if you plan on vacationing shortly or moving, having a baby soon or even starting a new routine.  We were set in our routine and ways and I think you will get the best outcome in the shortest time possible.

15~Sanitize.  Right away let your child know that after they use the restroom that they need to sanitize and/or wash hands.  We have sanitizer right by the to to and they love to wash their hands.  This is a great way to get a good habit going and a way to cut down on sicknesses.

 16~Be Proud.  Lastly be proud of your little bean.  It is such a hard thing for them to comprehend and to do.  It is a huge deal and the first step to actually feeling older, they are proud and you should be too. 

*I have had several people ask me about how we got Cole to go poo poo in the toilet.  I have heard everything from telling them the poo feeds the fishies to letting them go on the floor and showing them.  What we did was we eventually did away with underwear for a day and gave him apple juice.  Every time he sat on the potty we told him if he went poo poo in the toilet we would go right that second to the store and get any prize he wanted to.  This worked like a charm so off at 11:00 pm Cole and I went to Wal-Mart and got his prize.  My advice is maybe just continue to ask and tell them that big boys go in the toilet and you might get a tummy ache if you keep it in.  I have heard that boys have this problem more than girls.

If you have any other questions feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to answer them.  Good Luck.  Trust me our potty training was quite mess-less and quite pain-less, hoping yours is too!