a boy & the potty {child led potty training}

that’s right, connor is potty trained! woot, woot!

well, honestly i am attempted to scratch out that word. that word trained.  he was hardly trained by myself or kyle to be truthful.  he did it all on his own with only a few reminders from kyle or myself to let us know when he needs to go.

here’s the story of how it all went down…

it seems like ever since penelope was born which was 3 months ago, connor has wanted to be naked all the time.  i’m not sure the correlation between the two so i’ll just leave that for what it is…  anyway, we’d let him be naked and of course, that came with having a few accidents on the floor which aren’t my favorite thing but you know, it happens.  you clean it up and move on.  thank goodness for hardwood floors – easy clean up! every time he would have an accident and here and there in between i’d just casually ask him to let me know the next time he needed to go and i’d bring him to the potty and let that be that.  i never pushed it.  honestly, i didn’t quite think he was ready anyways.  a few weeks pass and we continue with this trend, slowly he starts telling me he needs to go. we’d go sit on the potty, he’d go, flush the toilet and then we would finish it off with a little “potty dance” afterwards which was always a big hit.  and then about 2-3 weeks ago everything just clicked.  he started telling me every single time he needed to go.  he’d hop on the potty, look up at me and say “mommy, i’m gonna push it out….. i’m pushing it out! yay! yay! yay!” soon enough he started running to the bathroom all by himself, staying dry during naps, sometimes even nights and he has stayed dry during playtime out so far!

so, you’d say i’m a happy girl.  a few less diapers to wash as often and no more screaming fits on the floor when it’s time to change diapers.  he now only wears one at night! we still have a few accidents every so often which i expect for a while especially when he’s distracted or when we can’t get to the bathroom quick enough.

i thought that when this time came around i’d have a great post with all my advice and tips on how to successfully potty train your little one but i don’t… so i’ll just hit on a few ideas that worked for us:

• normalize the idea of using the potty early.  this is my biggest tip for you! we would bring connor in with us for as long as i can remember and tell him what we were doing and why.
• don’t be forceful especially when they show zero interest. they will at some point.
• we eventually skipped those toddler pottys.  we had one out for a long time in the living room. just to have it available but i soon realized for us, it was silly.  why not just introduce him to the real deal. i didn’t want to have to unnecessarily transition him yet again – from toddler potty to real potty.
• have lots of naked time! (or at least pant-less time)
• connor was a little shaky when i first put him on the potty.  he prefers to sit backwards (facing the tank) straddling it so that he can have something to hold on to. this makes him feel much more secure. plus he doesn’t have to rotate his body when he climbs up alone. eventually he’ll grow out of this.
• just stay calm and don’t expect too much right away. it will save you a lot of headaches and battles.
• be confident in them and in the fact that they will succeed. remember, for us this was over a 2-3 month period. it was not overnight and totally child led <– this helps promote confidence and capability within.
• accidents happen. i try to be overly sensitive and empathetic when they happen so he never thinks i will get upset with him if he loses control of holding it.  i mean, let’s be honest, i have a hard time sometimes! it’s not uncommon to see me dashing to the bathroom full speed these days.  bladder + delivering 2 kids does things…. <– alright, too much information, sorry.

i hope if nothing else, i’ve given you some confidence and hope that the transition out of diapers does not have to be a such a horrific, frustrating experience. letting your child lead the way with your support and confidence can do wonders, not only for the task you are trying to accomplish but the child’s overall self worth.

stay calm. be confident. be supportive. be patient.

oh p.s.  have you voted on top baby blogs lately….? xoxo