It was around Christmas time G started to say he had to go potty or wanted to go. He would pee in the potty before he took a bath every night. He was showing interest. I was worried if we didn't try to potty train him while he was interested he would be 5 before he showed interest again. I was scared to death to try this whole potty training thing again. I knew at some point I was going to have to do it. Not only was he showing interest, but also talking great. When he was 22 months I taught him the sign for potty. He couldn't say pee or poop even at that point.
I decided to do the 3 day potty training. I let him run around naked for almost a week. I put the potty chair in between our family and living room near where his play area was. I wanted him to have easy access to getting to the potty as fast as possible. I felt it was important he make it to the potty than running all the way to the bathroom peeing all the way there. We didn't have anywhere to go that week.
Monday morning we woke up and started. He just wore a tshirt. I turned the heat up in the house. We played with toys. I was right by him. He peed on the floor. I just told him you need to go to the potty. Within 4-6 hours he got it. He was able to run to the potty when if he started to pee a little. We were in the kitchen cooking. He jumped off the chair saying pee pee and ran to his potty. What a relief!
I will say pee was the easiest when he was naked for the first month. If he wore clothes, was busy playing or we were out he would just pee. When we went to the store I took him to the bathroom right away and before we left. At home he did great wearing underwear. It was too hard for him to wear pants and go to the bathroom alone. We went through A LOT of underwear each week. A lot of times he would leak some then run to the potty. I kept putting underwear on him because he needed to get use to wearing clothes.
Now poop was a whole different story. I guess he was just so use to going in his diaper he thought he could go anywhere. The first week I was in tears a few times. I am going to spare the details of this. There were times I felt I had an animal living in my house. Once we were a week into potty training I got an idea to make some surprise eggs for him. He loves to watch this kid on Youtube Ryan opening these surprise eggs. I decided to make him some surprise eggs with plastic Easter eggs and little boys I found at Target. I told him if he pooped in the potty he would get a surprise egg. That did the trick. We rarely had anymore issues with poop.
The first two months were a little difficult when we went out or he was preoccupied playing or watching a show. Month three there were very little to no accidents at home. By month four he was telling me when he had to pee. We left him over night with my friend when we went away for our anniversary. I was really nervous with leaving him for so many reasons. One we had been potty training and I was going to leave someone else deal with all that. I just decided hey she has done this before. She offered. She is fine with all this, so go have some fun. After that weekend he rarely had any accidents. He didn't have any with her at all. Maybe that was the trick he needed to see he could do it all on his own without me. Or have someone else praise him.
I used pull ups for nap time and diapers for bedtime. I think the 3 day potty training instructions say to not use any diapers at all. I wasn't willing to wash sheets constantly. He was still filling up a diaper completely at night. Sometimes the diaper even leaked that is how much he was peeing in the night. Within 3 months he no longer wore a pull up for nap time. I would say half the time he was dry. I stopped using anything at nap time. Night time we still use a diaper. He has only woken up a few times to pee in the night. Lately he has been waking up with dry diapers. Once he goes for a little while with a dry diaper I will stop them. Maybe I won't need to buy anymore after this pack.
I didn't use prizes constantly. When he first started we did lots of cheering for pee. I used the surprise eggs for maybe a couple weeks. I didn't even give an egg every time. If he didn't ask for one I didn't offer. When he seemed to be having trouble or rough days I would offer fruit snacks, beef sticks or whatever other thing he was currently into as a treat. It worked for us. I don't give him any treats now for going to the bathroom.
There are two items I would recommend.
1. Change your toilet seats to the child seat and adult seat all in one. You can find them on Amazon for like $20 HERE. Using the child seat you have to take on and off is a pain! This is just so easy and easy to clean. I took off our old seat and put on this new one. You will need a step stool to wash hands, so you can use the same stool to climb up on the toilet. I felt these seats help for when you are out and need to use a regular toilet. They aren't as terrified of a big toilet. Thankfully G hasn't had any fears of falling in or of public toilets.
2. If you are potty training a boy get one of these little urinals. I bought ours on Amazon for $5 you can find it HERE. They are freakin hilarious, but also fabulous for a boy! Boys are TERRIBLE with their aim! I first trained G to sit down and pee. One day he told me "no, momma me pee like da da". That was it! He stood to pee after that. The night thing when we are out is I can just hold him up to a toilet and let him pee. He very rarely sits on a seat in public.
I had talked to a friend who had potty trained her little girl 6 months before G. We were 2 months into it. I said does this get any easier? When do the accidents stop? I was feeling a little discouraged one day. She said by month four she stopped carrying extra clothes and her daughter started telling her when she had to go. I am so thankful for her encouragement because I would think month four month four month four during rough days. I have to agree by month four things were soooo much easier.
Hopefully our experience will help someone who is getting ready to start the potty training journey!
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