Potty Training.

I do not have all of the answers.

I can't even say that what I did was the "right" thing to do.

However, Caroline was completely potty trained at 21 months. Emma was right before she turned two. We are just now finishing up night time potty training. We are on night 5 or 6 (I've lost count) with no tee-tee! Yayy!

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. A friend of mine posted a picture of her new potty that she was buying for her little one. It brought back a lot of memories. I truly enjoyed potty training. It is difficult at times but totally worth it in the end.

My kids my suck at sleeping but they love peeing in the pot.

Here are a few tips...

1. Buy a pretty potty, potty seat, or just use the toilet you have. Either way, you and this potty are going to be BFFs so make sure you like it.

2. Buy lots of "big girl pants" or "big girl princess panties". Act like these things are the greatest thing since sliced bread. "Look at Bug in her big girl pants! She is soooo big!" Talk them up. "Caroline, you look soooo beautiful in your big girl pants!" Act like these panties are the shit.

3. If you buy a new potty, let your kid play around with it... explore it. This potty will become their best friend. Let the potty become their TV chair. Let them carry it around. Just get them use to the potty.
If you are using the big potty, talk it up. "WOW! LOOK AT THAT BIG GIRL POTTY!" Be sure to flush the potty. Flushing is a scary thing to a little kid.

4. For the first week or so, sit your little one of the potty at certain times during the day. For the first few days of potty training, we always started with bath time. I would sit Caroline and Emma on the potty at night as we were getting in the bath. After night 2, they were all about sitting on the potty "LIKE A BIG GIRL! YAYYY!"

5. Every time you go to the bathroom, let them go with you.

6. Keep their attention while they are in the bathroom with you. Tell them what you are doing "Mommy is tee-teeing in the potty like a big girl! Yayyy!" or even sing a song.
Here is our song... no judgement please...
"TEE TEE IN THE POT-TEE. TEE TEE IN THE POT-TEE." We would sing and dance around over and over and over again.

7. Let your little one wear their big girl pants as much as possible. Let's be honest, tee-teeing in a pull up is no different than tee-teeing in a diaper. Now, big girl pants are a different story. After they tee-tee in them that first time, they will know very quickly that it is NO fun. Little girls do NOT like tee-tee on their little legs. (A secret... I didn't buy pull-ups at all for Emma. Not even one! Yayy me!)

I know this is a hard one if you are a working mom. You have to start somewhere though. Start on a weekend when you are home. Monday morning, send your little one to preschool or daycare like normal. Let your childcare provider know that you are beginning to potty train. Tell your childcare provider what you what them to do with your child. When you get home from work, throw on those BEAUTIFUL big girl pants and keep with the routine.

8. BEWARE: Potty training= pissy and poopy carpet. Prepare yourself. Go ahead and buy loads of Spot Shot. Again, it is not a long process and it is totally worth it.

9. Never punish your child for having an accident or for not tee-teeing in the potty. You don't want to scare them about the potty. This is a big event in their little lives and you don't want to embarrass them either.
Let me add, if you threaten your children with the bathroom when you are in public... stop. "I'm going to take you to the bathroom if you don't stop throwing your food!" "Be quiet or I am going to take you to the bathroom." This type of talk makes the bathroom sound like an AWFUL place. You want them to think of the bathroom as a fabulous, cool place to be.

10. Always reward your child. Keep the rewards within reason though. Our reward was toilet paper, flushing and washing our hands. Sounds crazy, I know. Emma would sit on the potty while we sang. She would yell YAYYY even though she hadn't tee-teed. Then she would want to wipe, throw the toilet paper in the potty, flush it and wash her hands. These were all rewards for her because she loved it so much. She was only able to wipe, throw paper in the potty, flush and wash her hands IF SHE TEE-TEED! These rewards worked for Caroline too. We tried candy with Caroline first. One M&M turned into 4 M&MS and it just got out of hand. Ha!

11. Consistency is key. Again is was easier for me because I was a stay at home mom. Here was our what our schedule looked like...
7:30- Wake up with soaking wet diaper.
7:30- Sit on the big girl potty and try to tee tee.
8:00- Sit baby back on potty
8:15- Sit baby back on potty
8:25- Sit baby back on potty
8:30- Sit baby back on potty
WE HAVE TEE-TEE in the potty.

Then our 30 minutes would start over. The key is to get them to tee-tee in the potty just one time. Make a HUGE deal out of it and they are going to want to do it again. By putting them on the potty over and over again with less and less time between each potty visit, you are increasing your chances of your baby peeing in the potty.

Keep your child on the potty for as long as they will sit. Sing, read books, play a silly game. The longer they sit on the potty, the greater the chance of them tee-teeing.

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So there you have it. Hailey's Crazy Potty Training Tips.

This will be one of the craziest times in your life as a parent.

Hold on tight and don't give up.

Pull on YOUR girl girl panties and be strong.

Let your little one wear those big girl panties as much as you can no matter how bad you want to throw a diaper on that little butt.

For those of you that have potty trained... leave your words of wisdom in the comments for my friend. I am sure she would love to read tips and encouraging words.

PS- Sorry. When it comes to boys, I have no idea what to do. I don't even know if you are suppose to wipe them after they tee-tee. Weird. Haha! If you have boys, comment too. Tell me how different boys were to train.