Pee pee in the pah-taay!!

Yesterday I had the luxury of going out to run a few errands while my husband worked from home and Sydney napped. I dropped off the dry cleaning, grabbed a few essentials at Target and browsed through Ross, hoping to find a suitable replacement for my favorite yoga pants - which have been missing since Christmas - and a cheap package of play food for Sydney's kitchen set. While I dug through the piles of toys in the back of the store I came upon a brand new potty seat for $7.99. My friend Lizzie has been initially potty-training her daughter (who is one month older than Syd) with some success, and I went for it. Mostly I was interested to see what Syd would do when she saw her potty chair. Would she know what it was for? Would she show an interest in sitting on it?

As soon as I got home I showed it to her. She flipped the lid up and down. I explained to her that this was her new potty chair and when she was ready, she could go pee pee and poo poo on her new potty seat! She immediately sat down on it! Then she got up and started heading to the back of the house to her bedroom. I brought the chair along. As I stood in the doorway she started grunting and pointing to a spot on the carpet right in front of her. I set the chair down ... she sat on it.

I interpreted all that as showing an interest. And we moved on to the bathroom.

I set the chair down on the floor between the toilet and the bathtub and she again took a seat. Then stood up to look at it and open and shut the lid. And sit down again. All the while I was talking to her about going potty.

Later when Grandpa came over she took him to the bathroom to SHOW him her new potty seat. This is when I came up with a plan. So far we know one time of the day like clockwork when Syd will pee ... right when the water starts for her bath. For a while we got peed on every night before we figured out to put her in the bathtub before starting the water. I know its kinda gross, but its better than pee on the floor or on your sweatpants! John and I came up with the plan to set her on the potty as he got her bath ready and see what happened.

Well, guess what? SHE PEED IN HER POTTY! LET THE PEOPLE REJOICE! You should have heard the praise and the excitement in our house as we congratulated our daughter on a job well done and then as Grandpa in the next room called Grandma and Aunt Caci to share the big news! It was exciting stuff people!

(So when she pooped in the bathtub like 5 minutes later we didn't get so upset. Sigh.)

I don't have a plan at this point other than to keep the potty chair in the bathroom and let my daughter lead the way. We'll keep plopping her on there when she's getting ready for bath time and maybe I'll put her on there when she wakes up from her nap with a dry diaper (this is happening more and more lately). I definitely am going to get the Elmo potty video ... I mean honestly when else will I have an excuse to buy a video that features songs sung in all seriousness with the words "poop" and "pee"?!

Comments

[Lily]

Excccccccccccccciting!

[Morgan S.]

Manda, you should check out this potty video...it is hilarious!

http://www.amazon.com/Bear-Big-Blue-House-Potty/dp/076783822X

That is so great Syd is interested! Hadley is too. She says "pottttttttty!?" and pulls her shirt up whenever she enters the bathroom...she even pretends to wipe!

Get ready to spend vast amounts of time hanging out in your bathroom.

[Jenny]

Yea, Syd! I think it's wise to let her lead the way - esp since she's so young. But Ali was potty trained and fully in panties (minus sleeping times) by her second birthday. Yea for girls.

[Caroline]

IF she is interested !! Go for it!

[S]

Go for it, no reason to wait if she's interested. I started my kiddo at 16 months just because she showed interest and she took to it quickly.

I would put her on the potty right after waking up in the morning, after nap and right before bed regardless of whether she wet herself or not (there was almost always more to come anyway). Once she got used to that, we transitioned to the big potty with no kid seat because it was easier than having to empty the little potty. The change to the big potty has gotten her fully poo trained, the way her butt hangs down in the toilet kinda helps her feel that she's ready and helps her to push it out.

Then slowly over time we increased the number of times we put her on the potty, and she's getting to where she can tell if she needs to go. She's in regular panties other than night time (she makes it through most nights), doesn't have accidents very often and will be two in about month.

One recommendation, don't bother with the thick panties, they feel like a diaper.

[A'Dell]

All you people with a potty trained two year old are like magical apparitions to me.

You're saying, TWO YEARS OLDS EXIST THAT ARE POTTY TRAINED?????

[S]

A'Dell, I'm an adoptive parent, and when we were moving our kiddos from their foster home to ours, we asked about potty training cause the foster mom was training her 18 month old. She said something that stuck with me... it's easier to start training them really early because they don't know how to say no yet. You can't expect it to be quick but they'll be comfortable with the potty before their body is ready and that's the biggest battle.