Good morning! 

Hope you are all having a great week and staying warm. In a sad case of reality, winter has hit Louisville and I’m not happy about it. The bitter cold has been reminding me of Chicago and I am beyond ready for warmer weather. 

Over the past few weeks I have been receiving a lot of questions since sharing we were potty training Zain. I won’t lie, I had heard horror stories and expected the worst but it really ended up being an easy process for us so I thought I would share what I could. 

Get A Potty Seat Early

We ordered this seat for Zain a long time ago just to introduce it! I think it was nice to not throw too many new things at him at once over the weekend. It was also helpful to have him get used to sitting on the potty like a big boy slowly. He would use it off and on so that when we went to start potty training, it wasn’t foreign to him.

Also, this may just be personal preference but I prefer these over the tiny toilets. I didn’t want to have to teach Zain to go to the bathroom on a tiny portable toilet I had to clean out and then make the jump to a toilet. In my head, that just added more work?

Don’t Rush It

Obviously every child is different and needs different types of guidance so I think you know your child and what will work best. My greatest fear was starting too early and I really did my best to not rush the situation. You will hear that boys mature later than girls so I kept that in mind and a few months ago talked to Zain’s teachers about it. I was feeling pressure that he was late and I should have already done it and they reassured me that there is no magic age and you should do what feels right! It’s the best advice I got. 

Stay Home

In the past few months, we felt Zain had matured a lot and knew it was probably time. Finding a weekend that we had no plans was the hardest part and I think the long weekend was extra helpful. If you have plans, errands to run, things to do I would pass on even attempting and wait till you really have some time to set aside and focus on the potty 🙂

Go Pantless

We did not buy or read any books before potty training but I had talked to enough friends about the ‘Oh Crap’ potty training method and we knew we wanted to do some abbreviation of that. We originally woke up Saturday morning and threw some big boy underwear on Zain and thought that would work. We quickly realized the feeling of underwear was giving him the same security sensation of a diaper and ditched it. That morning he started to pee 3 times in underwear and after we ditched it, he never did again. 

Time It

The first two days (Saturday and Sunday) we kept our eye on the time and would remind Zain about the bathroom and take him even if he didn’t need to go. Saturday we checked every 30 minutes and Sunday we checked every hour or so. I think it’s good for them to go sit and try even if they don’t have to go. It got him in the habit!

Find A Reward

You know what your child loves and mines LOVES M&M’s 🙂 We told Zain each time he peed on the potty he would get 1 and each time he pooped on the potty he would get 2. Luckily after a few days, he let it go but it worked like a charm. I suggest going with a tiny reward!

Add Pants

By Monday, I wanted to test out pants to prepare for school. We went with pants and no underwear that whole day and he did great. So, I then sent him to school for a full week without underwear and to my surprise he never had an accident. I kept expecting him to come home in his spare clothes but it never happened!

Wait To Tackle Naps

We are still putting Zain in a pull up during his nap and at night! Our pediatrician recommended not trying to pull the band-aid off there until he was having 4-5 days in a row of dry diapers and we knew he was holding it. 

Add Underwear

After the first week back at school, we added underwear and it’s been working great. He gets very excited to pick out his underwear and I just can’t believe my little boy is out of diapers. 

Honestly by the time Sunday rolled around, we felt like we didn’t need to be behind him. He would tell us when he had to pee or poop and go by himself. He usually calls for us when he’s pooped and I still like to follow behind him to make sure everything is kosher. 

I made sure to send plenty of extra clothes to his first day back at school but he did amazing and his teacher was texting me all day! In our case, I really think waiting till he was ready was key and I am fairly certain it will not be this easy with our next child! I am thankful this was a smooth and pleasant experience for us and I didn’t need to get my carpets and couch cleaned. 

I hope that this helps in some way and if you have any other questions feel free to send them my way!