Wednesday Randomness: Six Things
- Ryan’s Pre-Baby Hair Challenge
I don’t know how I’ve failed to mention this on the blog but Ryan is about six months into growing his hair out! This is not motivated by a desire to change his hairstyle at all – I mean this is the same guy who brings out the buzzer and periodically asks me to “just buzz it all” and spends .02 seconds on his hair every morning – but his challenge began when we first found out we were expecting again. Once we made it past the first few nerve-racking prenatal appointments, Ryan realized he had yet to get a much-needed haircut and then decided maybe he should just roll with the longer locks since they’d served us well so far. Now you can expect to see longer and longer hair on Ryan for the next few months until our little one makes their debut early this summer. For what it’s worth, I think Ryan has fantastic hair (I have major hair envy because his hair is so thick and beautifully wavy) but we laugh at his new look regularly when he experiments with different parts and styling that often look like they’re straight out of the ‘80s.
- All Kid Music, All the Time
I never thought I’d be a mom who played “kid music” at home or in the car but the moment I introduced Chase to the likes of Raffi and Nancy Cassidy, there was no turning back. (I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree because I LOVED this music when I was little.) Chase adores kid music and we play a LOT of it in our house and in the car. In the same breath, by the time Chase goes down for his nap, I often find myself in need of a little Jack Johnson or Dave Matthews Band to bring some chill back into my life and mellow things out after the 10,000th round of “Baby Beluga.”
- Potty Training Prep
We’re getting ready to tackle potty training over here! (Well, I say that but I also just ordered another diapering bundle from The Honest Company on Monday… so we’ve got some time. Ha!) I took your advice to heart on my last Chase update post and ordered the Oh Crap! Potty Training book and I’m hoping that once I take some time to flip through it, I’ll feel ready to tackle this beast head-on.
I do have two rather specific questions for the potty training veterans out there before we begin:
1.) Did you use a mini potty or train your little ones using your adult-size toilet? I am rather tempted to just use our large toilet because I feel like that’s the most real world applicable (and less messy!) and I’m curious if the Oh Crap! book has any thoughts on this, too. I’ve seen the toilet inserts that let you make your adult toilet seat accommodate a little hiney as well and I really like that idea!
2.) Did you use pull-ups for naps and nighttime or diapers? (I have zero ambitions to potty train through the night for a while.) Chase’s preschool teacher said she thinks pull-ups can confuse kids a bit during naps/nighttime sleep since they mimic the movement of underwear and this makes a ton of sense to me. I feel like introducing underwear and pull-ups at once might be confusing and just doing underwear for daytime and sticking with diapers at naptime and nighttime when Chase will be in a pee-friendly zone makes more sense in my mind. Thoughts? Any personal experiences to share?
- Two for Two: Meatless Meals
We’re two for two on this week’s meatless meal plan adventure and going strong! Monday night’s homemade broccoli cheese soup was a hit and last night we dug into The Minimalist Baker’s Vegan Sloppy Joes. While they were quite sloppy (especially when we tried to serve them on top of whole wheat buns), they were incredibly easy to make and absolutely delicious. The whole thing took me about 30 minutes to make (and that includes the time it took to cook the lentils) and I’m planning to eat the leftovers for lunch sometime this week in a bowl topped with plain Greek yogurt and cheese since the recipe felt a little chili-esque to me as well.
On a less healthy and completely unimportant note, I’m dying to make a batch of these chocolate chip cookies after dinner one night this week. My friend Melanie shared the recipe on Facebook and gave them rave reviews and now I need them in my life.
- Easter Excitement
I had no idea Easter was April 1 this year until I saw it in my calendar this week and it seems like it’s coming up SO fast! We don’t have any big plans for the holiday and will be staying in Charlotte which is 100 percent fine with me! I am already looking forward to hiding eggs for Chase, the Easter service at church, making Easter baskets for my boys and decorating eggs with friends. As far as Chase’s Easter basket is concerned, I haven’t given it a ton of thought yet but have been gradually accumulating a few goodies here and there, including another Water Wow! pad, a new Dr. Seuss book and a Paw Patrol toy. I’m planning to add some fun sweet treats to my next Thrive Market order to round everything out. I just LOVE this kind of stuff!
- Afternoon Cereal Fiend
There’s something about cereal and pregnancy that go hand-in-hand for me but the weird thing is that I almost always find myself craving a bowl in the late afternoon rather than the morning. Something about cereal just calls to me around 3 p.m. and I find myself snacking on a few handfuls or pouring myself a bowl of cereal nearly every day. Can’t stop, won’t stop.
And on that random note, it’s time for me to sign off for the morning! I’ll catch up with you guys in the comments section of this post throughout the day and hope to share a Wednesday recap on the blog tomorrow. Have a great day!
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I’m a week behind you in my 4th pregnancy right now! I have 3 boys, 2 of which are potty trained. I highly recommend getting a tiny potty to have in the car + under stroller if on long walks when potty training. Boys are easy in the wild when it comes to pee {just find a tree 🙂 } but being out when #2 hits and no potty is around is not fun or easy. At home we never used the training potty. It was simply for when we were away from a real toilet. For the real potty, we used a smaller toilet seat with our first (we actually had one attached to the bathroom in their room where you could flip it down for tiny bottoms and up for big people). For our 2nd son, we just went straight for the big toilet seat namely causw….lazy. both wear pull ups for naps and bedtime (ages 5.5 and almost 4). We haven’t had any issues with distinguishing between a pull up and undies and they make it easier to pull down if they have to potty before they fall asleep (delay tactic)
We just potty trained in May. I used our regular toilet with an insert – for me I felt like I would have to retrain him again to go from the little potty to the big toilet so I just did that. I will also say, we spent alot of time outside (when the weather permitted) during the first few days and as soon as I see him start to potty I’d say “pee goes in the potty!” sweep him up and put him on the toilet, where he’d finish! By letting him start to pee and me tell him on the potty! he was able to relate the feeling of have to pee to going on the potty (because this is a whole new feel for them!)
We did pull ups for naps and night time and we called them “night time undies”. we then gradually stopped using them at nap time when he’d wake from nap with a dry pull up and then we gradually stopped using them at night when he would wake up dry (he would actually wake up during the night and tell us he had to go potty, not sure if chase is in a big boy bed yet?)
Also, once you start taking trips outside the house I highly recommend this travel potty. I let my son pick which color he wanted which made him even more excited to use it! He even asked to use it while at home. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C5TOH52/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Good luck!
Hi Julie!! I’m in no way a potty training expert BUT here is what worked for us with my oldest! We got the insert that you place over the regular toilet and she used that at home. But since we do go on road trips so I also bought a super cheap portable toilet and the mini trash bags to go over the bowl part of the seat (easy clean up!) so when your child says i have to go NOWWWW I can pull over on 95 and stick her on the toilet in the trunk of the car. I then tie up the bag if needed for #2 and throw it away at the next stop we make. If it’s just #1 I dump it out Lysol the bowl and hit the road again. It’s a bit gross but if needed it’s there instead of a few miles between rest stops!
As far as naps and overnight we used diapers at naps till she consistently woke up dry and then a pull up at night since that was easier for her if she needed to wake up and go.
Good luck! Once they are out of diapers it’s glorious!!!
Now to work on my little one lol
Have a good day!
Hi Julie! We never used pull ups. It was either underwear or a cloth diaper when sleeping. That worked well.
We got this potty: https://www.amazon.com/BabyBjörn-051062US-BABYBJORN-Smart-Potty/dp/B002Q0YA4O/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&ref_=ya_aw_oh_bia_dp
I think it helped our son to be more comfortable while learning. This one is small and low profile in my opinion. Good luck!
Hi Julie!
So glad you found Minimalist Baker’s blog! She was the first blog I followed for plant based meals that require minimal ingredients and prep and I absolutely adore her recipes! The Lentil Sloppy Joe’s are our family’s list of “all time favorites” for the bomb flavor and easy prep. Hope you delve into some more of her delicious plant based meals 🙂
I can’t wait to try more! We loved the sloppy joes and her site seems like such a great resource for plant-based recipes!
My son is a few months older than Chase, and we also used the “Oh Crap” method. He mastered pee so quickly and at school they have even stopped putting a diaper on him at nap, which is awesome. BUT he still poops in his pants just about every day. It doesn’t seem to bother him, whether he is naked, commando, wearing underwear, etc. I am so tired of cleaning up poop!! I know this isn’t helpful advice – hopefully your experience will go smoothly! And if anyone else has a trick to master the poop situation, let me know!
Oh my goodness Laura…we are in the exact same boat. My daughter will be 3 and 1/2 next month, and she has been pee pee potty trained for almost a year. However, she still waits until she gets into her pull up at night to poop. She has battled occasional constipation since she turned 1 so I knew that going into potty training she might have poop issues. However, I did not expect for her to still be pooping in her pull-up almost a year later. I have tried everything, and honestly I have bad mom guilt thinking that I “broke” her. So now I am just letting her do her thing, and I know it will just click one day (I also tell myself occasionally that she won’t be 16 wearing pull-ups hehe). Good luck to you and your boy!
Good luck with potty training. Try not to stress too much! I promise, promise, promise he will do it when he’s ready. I didn’t believe the dr when she said that and it turned out to be very accurate.
I used the training potty bc I found my daughter did better when her feet were planted on the floor. She was quick to move to the regular toilet with a potty seat.
We used pampers easy ups at nap and bed, but truthfully, once she decided it was potty all the way she never wore a diaper or pull up at night or naps. Accident free
My daughter is a couple weeks older then Chase – we used both the potty insert on the big potty and the small portable potty. We always had the smaller portable one near us just Incase we couldn’t make it to the bathroom in time. As far as sleep – we ditched diapers all together and went straight to undies and pull ups. I personally think pulls ups are more diaperish then undies but I guess that’s just my opinion. She would only go in pull ups when sleeping – we wanted to use the all or nothing approach so no pulls ups during the day – luckily her preschool was cool with sending them in undies when they were still learning. Good luck – I’m sure you will figure out what works best! 🙂
On the potty training issue:
1: We use both a mini potty and regular potty (with toddler seat). After the first day, my daughter hated sitting in the bathroom longer than 30 seconds and kept trying to get off the potty, rather than focusing on trying to use it. We got a small potty for the living room area and she was much more apt to sit there for 15-20 minutes at a time. Once she got the hang of it, the mini potty moved to my vehicle and has been a life saver when she screams out “I have to pee” in the middle of nowhere!
2: We still use pull ups for nap and bed time (heavy nighttime wetter still). We started using pull ups because my daughter was unfastening her diapers and end up in a urine soaked bed almost every morning. We call them “sleeping panties” instead of pull ups or diapers in an attempt to get her to understand that she needs to try and keep them dry like her regular panties. At nap, her regular panties stay on and when she wakes up wet, we talk about how its okay but we really need to try to not pee in them. I feel like maybe it’s harder for her since she is still in a crib. If we don’t go get her the second she wakes up, she usually pees because she can’t get out of her crib to go to the bathroom.
Hi Julie! I am thinking about training my 2.5 year old boy AGAIN. I tried right before the holidays last year, 1 month post baby #2. MISTAKE! I am reading the Oh Crap book now. It says to put diapers on for nap and bedtime. Once you start reading it you will get a better understanding of why and how that works. We did pull-ups for holiday travel last year and it was a mistake, he started treating them like a diaper even after having a couple weeks of going on the potty.
PS GOOD LUCK! I hope this book works! The 3 day method book I tried last time was not successful for us.
We had a small potty on hand, but found both of our children preferred the big potty and never actual used their own. We also found we had the best results when we put big kid undies under the pull up. They were less inclined to soil those. I think the pull up gave them the sense of wearing a diaper. After we were successful with staying dry during the day, we began to use this tactic for sleep as well, and in no time at all they were staying dry at night also. Both were about 2 1/2 when we took on this challenge.
My 3 year old recently became fully potty-trained (during the day at least) after trying for over a year. I really think we started before he was ready. That being said, once he got the hang of it, he did great, despite a few accidents here and there. We put him in pull-ups day and night until he consistently used the potty and stayed dry. Then we switched to underwear but he still wears pull-ups at night, and it doesn’t seem to cause any confusion. We also bought a small potty for him to use but when we are out in public or on the road he will use a big potty with no problem. Good luck! Bribery with M&Ms and sticker charts went a loooooong way!
You must get this seat:
https://www.amazon.com/Prince-Lionheart-weePOD-squishy-trainer/dp/B005ZBHZDO?th=1
I have 2 boys, (2 years old and almost 4) This seat is amazing, it is soft and is raised in the middle which is key for boys. I highly recommend and we tried many different seats and this is the best one. In my opinion it is best to train on real toilets, rather than toddler ones. That is what worked best for us.
Good luck!
When potty training my daughter I initially had one of the stand alone kid toilets that she played with for 6 months or so before we actually started. Right before we started training I had the revelation that I didn’t want to have to train her all over again to use the regular toilet, didn’t want to deal with issues when we weren’t at home and didn’t want to constantly clean out the other one so we just started the whole process with the seat that sits on the regular toilet and I am so glad we did, would definitely recommend it. I also didn’t want to buy separate pull ups so I continued to use diapers for naps and overnight. I stopped diapering for naps shortly after. We also used M&Ms for incentive which worked really well, especially since she never had candy other than that. Good luck mama!
Also wanted to add, you can buy a foldable seat to take with you when you’re out of the house.
We used both the big potty (with an insert, especially for boys who don’t understand aim when they learn sitting down) and a small potty seat that we kept close to wherever we were (living room, bedroom, etc). We actually bought 2 at a consignment sale (so cheap) so we could have one on each floor of the house. My son really used the little seat almost exclusively at first but we gradually migrated to the big potty. Especially for poops! I took the approach of the little potty was alot easier to clean than the floor and clothes and furniture and rugs! So if he used it, I would clean it. I kept clorox wipes handy. I preferred the all hard plastic ones with few crevices and attachments and such for clean-ability. We parked the potty seat in the living room and at times I even turned on the tv to distract him and get him to just sit there for awhile till he went.
Our school suggested switching to pull ups during the day before he potty trained because they changed them standing up by the toilet. They also I think don’t make you feel quite as dry as diapers do, so they may start to get a little uncomfortable, in a good way. There is one type that actually is supposed to have a cool feeling when they get wet to help kids know when they have gone. We kept pullups at night and nap for awhile. I like that it mimicked putting on underpants so our routine didn’t really change when he stopped wearing them.
My biggest tip is to listen to your kid. If they seem interested and motivated, DO IT. Take 3 days and stay home, go commando, and give lots of drinks and salty snacks so you have lots of opportunities to practice and can get some success to celebrate. If they are not interested and motivated, don’t push it because it’s likely not to work and then you both get frustrated and anxious about trying again. I took cues from our son and he basically let me know when he was done with pull ups at nap and then again for bedtime and we only dealt with maybe a week of a few accidents each time. I know every kid is different and ours was on the easy side to train, but this is what worked for us 🙂
GOOD LUCK!!
Thank you for all of this!! And Chase definitely seems interested and motivated, mostly because one of his best friends just went through it and now he’s quite curious!
Toilet seat with insert for sure! Try to find one that is one piece/easy to wipe down, and not foam and plastic (comfy, but harder to clean and can get smelly). I stuck with regular diapers and never really toilet trained at night – He just sort of outgrew it, if that makes sense.
So my son is about 2 weeks older than Chase and we are potty training right now! We have two options for him – he has a potty chair in our small bathroom on our main level and a potty seat insert in the kids bathroom upstairs. He doesn’t mind either one.
I found a wonderful tool called the Pee-Ka-Boo in Parents Magazine. it’s a heat sensitive sticker so when they go potty on this sticker, an image appears. My son is big into fire trucks so I got him this one and it’s amazing. Then, when you rinse the potty chair or it gets “cold” again, the image goes away. We’ve been using it for 2 weeks and it’s awesome.
We use a pull-up at nap time and have him go right before and right after nap, that way he gets used to +trying+ to stay dry at naps. At night we still use a night diaper.
We have only had a few accidents in almost a week of training – it’s been wonderful! Good luck to you!!
Hi Julie!
We finished potty training our daughter a few months ago. I read bits and pieces of advice all over and applied what she seemed to understand. We had planned to use the toilet insert but she wasn’t loving it so we got a princess potty that she used for a week and then decided she was ready for the big potty. I was blessed to have my mom around to help for the first week. We put her in underwear and let her have accidents and she learned rather quickly that she didn’t love that and slowly we all learned her habits and she learned the feeling of needing to go and started telling us. Night time we used pull ups and once she went more than a week with a dry pull up we switched to under wear. Haven’t had one over night accident. We stop water and milk an hour before bedtime and make sure she goes potty before bed as part of her bedtime routine. You will find what works best for you. This was our 2nd attempt by the way. The first was alot of tears and frustration and I just decided to wait until she was ready. (Even though unsolicited strangers or family think they should be trained by 2) It was so much easier to wait and know that she understood it all. Im hoping her little sister will be ready sooner but we shall see!
Good Luck and God Speed!
Brittany
I’m reading through all the helpful comments on potty training. I have no idea either what we’re going to do about little potty or tiny seat on regular toilet. I don’t want to start anything until the summer because that just seems like a nicer time to potty train, but I’m also waiting for her cues to tell me when she’s ready. And thanks for the reminder on Easter chocolates! I already have a few things for her easter basket but completely forgot about hiding chocolate. I’m so excited about that! I think she’ll love it this year.
I have two boys who Are potty trained. We used the little potty chair. One thing to keep in mind is how far your bathroom is from whatever rooms you spend the most time in. Our first house had the bathroom all the way at the back of the house. If my son had to go there was no way to get him there fast (and you need to be fast because they don’t give a lot of warning at first) I either would have had to let him just go where he was or carry him all down the hallway lol. The first couple of days we put the potty chair on a bunch of towels in the living room in front of the tv and put on something they loved watching. That way it would be more likely to sit there for longer periods of time. They’d be watching tv and just go and then when we were super excited they went potty in the potty chair they caught on to the fact that is where we want them to go. I think it helped connect the dots for them as to what we wanted them to do.
We just used diapers at night and bedtime.
Good luck! I’ll be potty training my daughter this summer. I haven’t heard of that book before. I’ll have to check it out. I might learn something new ?
We started out with a mini toilet, but quickly resorted to a potty ring (we bought this one: https://www.target.com/p/prince-lionheart-weepod-basix-potty-ring/-/A-15279879?preselect=13820869#lnk=sametab) that sticks to the toilet because it is a) much more realistic, b) you don’t have to clean it out, and c) it keeps the kiddo from falling in the toilet. We also bought a step stool and leave this and the potty ring next to the toilet. My son, now 3, still uses it and is able to put the ring on by himself, put the foot stool next to the toilet, and go all by himself so that I don’t have to help him every single time.
Hey Julie! Sooo if it makes you feel any better, we’ve literally just tackled potty training with my daughter 3 weeks ago, and she is only a few weeks older than Chase. I kept putting it off and built it up to be the hardest thing ever, but she has done really well. We did the 3-day blitz where we went straight to undies and I gave her a bunch of water and juice all day so she would have to go a lot. She picked that up so quickly. It took about 10 days for her to go #2, but eventually she got the hang of it. We do pull-ups over night, and that seems to work really well. I’m in no rush to do undies overnight. I’ve heard everyone say to just wait until they start waking up dry. We gave my daughter one m&m for every time she went pee and told her she would get three if she went poop. It worked for her, and actually after a few days, she forgets a lot. Alllll that to say, you can do it!!! It’s not as horrible as I built it up to be in my mind, and it’s actually been a joy to see how proud she is of her new skill!!! Good luck!
Hey Julie!
Potty training tips: I used a mini potty at first with my daughter and I wish I hadn’t, although if I think back hard enough, she was deathly afraid of the toilet, so I think I just rolled with what I thought was easiest. It’s definitely easier to use if you are in your first few days and need a TV or something for long periods of time. We did eventually transition her to the normal toilet and we did get her an insert as well.
As far as pull ups. The research I’ve done said children that young don’t have the brain development to night train. That comes much later (like kindergarten age) So, we are all about Pull-Ups. My daughter didn’t get confused about them, but we also just explained to her that during the day when she is awake she wears big girl underwear and for naps and night time she gets “special underwear” to help her out. Don’t be afraid to experiment and don’t be afraid to quit. I quit 2 times before it actually stuck and when it did start to stick I was actually about to quit again! You’ll know what’s best. I know lots of mom’s say that, and I use to hate it because I would think, “I do not! I have no freaking clue what I’m doing. I’ve never potty trained anything before!” But you weirdly do know what to do. Also, I have a couple good incentives for your little guy, if you are looking for some of those too! Good luck!! You can do it! Nothing tries your patience like potty training, but you can do it!
My mom potty trained us on a potty chair (at least me and my two younger sibs, I don’t remember for sure about my three older siblings) and then transitioned us to the adult toilet, with a small seat so that we fit. I don’t have any personal experience, but just throwing it out there.
I’ve been potty training (attempt #2) my 2.75 year old for the past two months. We got one of these for each of the two toilets she regularly uses at home:
https://www.amazon.com/Mayfair-183SLOWA-000-1883SLOWA-Elongated/dp/B00EPET9SQ/?tag=lucslis-20
It’s so easy for her to use and mimics a regular toilet, so she easily goes on public toilets, too.
The “Oh Crap!” book will recommend that you tackle day and night training at the same time. I didn’t want to, and she started with wearing diapers at nap and night. After about a month, she woke up dry from nap all the time, so we stopped at nap. She also is regularly waking up dry at night. She wore underpants overnight once last week and was fine. I should probably push her a bit more.
Good luck! Also rewarding with an M&M worked the on our second attempt.
Both of your observations are right on in our experience. My son is 3 and potty trained at 2 with no issues. We used the insert and a stool on the big potty so he wasn’t confused. The Montessori teacher said best to keep consistent with what they’ll use long term. Also, nothing with bells and whistles because real toilets (when you’re not home) won’t do that for him. Also less for us to clean!! We went cold turkey during the daytime over Christmas break. Stripped him down below the waist for 3 days and pumped the fluids (we used mio in water for this), and set a timer for every 15 min to go try. We gave marshmallows as a reward when he went. By day 3 he was done! They don’t like the wet running down their leg and the immediate feedback is good. Just put towels over the couch where he sits ;). Also, he still wore a diaper for naps and bed for a few months after that, but once they’re consistently dry, ditch those too. No need for pull-ups ever. It worked well for us and he not regressed at all over a year later! Good luck!!!!
Hey Julie, Both of your potty training questions are answered in Oh Crap Potty Training. But I would totally get a little potty. I potty trained my son at 22 months using the little potty and we threw away allllll the diapers on day 1 for day and night. He had some nighttime accidents until about 27 months, but none at all after that. Chase is older so should have fewer night accidents at this point since his bladder is more mature. I do think it’s totally confusing to tell them it’s time to use a potty and then put a diaper on them. The little potty is easier for them to use independently, which is key, and wayyyyy comfier for them when pooping, which is also so important. My son is now 32 months and has started using the big potty with an insert for pooping and standing on a stool to pee. Good luck with it! Love the book you’re using and have confidence! Confidence from mama is key!!!! 🙂
I have twin boys who will turn 4 this week! One of them truly didn’t require our help to potty train; he was just READY to start using daipers. The other is still in pull ups at night, but not for naps. We call pull ups “sleeping undies” so he would understand from the beginning that they weren’t diapers. We wanted him to know he can’t default and just pee in them, and also that he’s “a big boy who doesn’t need diapers anymore”. Once we started potty training, we have not use any diapers at all. Cold turkey. They understood it and bought into it, but he just took longer than his brother did. We used (and still use) mini potties, the small seat on the toilet, and step stools. One, because we needed something portable for the car; two, sometimes you just need options to encourage them; and three, we wanted them to be able to go in a variety of places not just the one option they are used to at home. You will figure out what works and sounds good for you!
Good luck!
We did only underwear during daytime (including naps) and diapers at night by recommendation of the teacher and I was surprised by how little accidents we had. Of course, get a waterproof mattress cover. I would do waterproof mattress cover, sheet, waterproof mattress cover and another sheet because I’m lazy and I could wash one and not have to make the bed again and get her back down. We did use a little potty (just because she preferred it we offered both and the big one was intimidating for her). We would have her use the potty before naps. I recommend listening to your gut during the process! Every kid is so different and it’s wonderful to have the ground work of where the heck to start but I found myself tweaking some things. Perfect example, if I asked my daughter every 15 minutes to sit on the potty and put her on it, she would be livid and it became such an awful battle. I stopped asking so often and within a day was telling me each time she had to use the potty! May the potty gods be with you!
We are about 90% trained at 3.5 here and lazy parents and a new baby the day after our son’s birthday are to blame. We started with the small potty but then we had to get him to use the big one so I suggest (like several others) start with the regular potty and forget the mini plastic one. We also let him pick out his potty seat insert ($10 Elmo seat at Target). These are great because they have that little “catcher” up front for boys but they don’t have this at school so he often forgets and has “splashes” there. In retrospect we should have taken the catcher off on day 1… the less extras we start with the better for long term training.
We also use overnight pull ups and have no issues.
Did you know that Raffi is completing his final tour this year?!?!? Trying to get tickets right now to bring my 1.5 year old. He was my favorite growing up.
don’t train until he is 100% ready! i tried to push my little guy too hard for a while…then i stopped completely for about a month, and suddenly, he was ready for big boy underwear. we put them on him the next day and never looked back – pull ups for night time only.
We used the same book to potty train 6 months ago, i didnt read all of it but i think atleast the 1st half. Regarding your 2 questions.
Used the adult toilet, and order a kid cushion seat to go on top. Also, used a regular or nightime diaper during nap and bedtime.
We used the little potty to start, but they soon decided they were “big girls” and would refuse to use it and run to the big potty. But I do think it was an important step bc we could carry it to any room in the house 😉
Hi Julie! I tried to read a few comments to try to avoid repetition. We started Oh Crap! in July (at 25 months). Because I’m a working mama, we could only loosely follow the method. I had my little guy help me throw out all the diapers on Day 1 and we haven’t looked backed. We did use pull ups for naps, travel, and night time (and still do for night time – he just will not wake up independently to pee – ever). We refer to them as “travel undies” or “night time undies.” Anyway, I found the Baby Bjorn potty to be helpful (we still use it, as we wake once at night to pee and it is far easier to have it right next to his bed than to take him to the bathroom). We also used the Potette and I highly recommend it for travel. We have not had any issues with confusion with the regular potty and he generally goes on the big potty with insert at home. We haven’t had issues with sticking him on the toilet when out and about (ie, Target) (just be careful of automatic flushers and stick post-it notes in your purse to cover the sensor to avoid a traumatic experience). My best advice for a boy? Reminders to “point your penis down!” and “shake it off!” Good luck, mama!
Hi Julie, My daughter is around Chase’s age so here are some of my potty training tips!
1.) Did you use a mini potty or train your little ones using your adult-size toilet? We couldn’t decide either. We ended up getting this: https://www.amazon.com/Primo-Toilet-Trainer-Stool-Pastel/dp/B000BXKTMA/ref=sr_1_37_s_it?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1521147143&sr=1-37&keywords=potty+training+seat
It was great because it was the best of both worlds. At first, N was nervous to sit on the big potty (and she’s so tiny that she was probably afraid of falling in) but now she is comfortable going without any insert. This is a good product to gauge Chase’s comfort with the potty in general and help him to dictate his preferences. PRO TIP – if you go with a free-standing potty – always leave a little water to help with #2 cleanup.
2.) Did you use pull-ups for naps and nighttime or diapers?
I think Pullups are awful, they always leak. I’m not sure if my daughter is just a pee monster or what, but we need to use 2 #5 pampers on her at night. We started potty training using a diaper at nap, but once she got really comfortable and stopped having day accidents we just make sure to visit the potty before naptime and she’s good for a 1-2 hr nap.
Hi there!
I am in the throes of potty training using the Oh Crap! method. I’m a big fan although the first few days are TOUGH. Hang in there though, it will click. The book will clarify your questions, but the short answer is you’ll want a small potty because in the beginning you’ll be whisking your child to the nearest commode as he pees. I’ve found the transition to the big potty (with my first son) was simple. Also, the author says pull-ups basically are a diaper and does not encourage use of them. Your child will be commando for at least a month. Underwear, she believes, also mimic a diaper. We are still using diapers at night, but not naps. Good Luck!!
The Oh CRap method isn’t amazing!! Stick to it and don’t let anyone’s judgement get in your way! The first day is rough bc literally all you do is stare at your kid waiting for cues but it’s so helpful!
We ordered a potty with steps off Amazon for our daughter. It’s been helpful and allows her the independence. The real world potties Chase will experience in restaurants and stores. So help your back out and invest in one with a step stool. I’m expecting too and was right around the same week as you are when we started.
As for pull-ups the Oh Crap method doesn’t recommend them. You go from bare butt to comando to undies. It’s all about muscle memory training which at first I was skeptical of but now it totally makes sense to me. Our daughter still wears diapers at nighttime and nap (I ? sleep) but is 100% potty trained during the day!
Be patient and confident in your choice to use this method. Lots of people thought I was nuts including my husband!
For potty training, we had a small potty available as well as the regular toilet. For our toilet, we haf a seat to put on top so he wouldn’t fall in plus a stool (he still uses the stool). He loved the big potty pretty quick but the small one also gave him accomplishment bc it was easier/his size.
He will be 3 in june and we still use pullups at night. He isnt to the point he understands/wakes up at night. We did pullups at nap for awhile, bit my MIL (watches him during the day) used “nap pants” (plasticy type undies over his undies). The last few months, he just wears undies at nap, without mess unless he sleeps too long. I’ve heard (not sure if it’s true) that usually 3 or 4 is when they can sleep thru the night w/o accidents, bit every kid is different. My nephew was 2 or so, but my SIL said even during the day, he holds it and has to be reminded to go.
My daughter is about Chase’s age and we have a potty insert seat (works great and I like that there’s no mess to clean out!). We also use diapers still for nap (dry about 50% of the time) and night time. Our daycare dislikes pull-ups because of same reason you mentioned. However soon (hopefully) when we get rid of nap diaper, I may switch to pull-ups for night because it will be easier in case she does have to go potty.
I just day trained my two year old daughter. Great idea to do this before the baby comes; I did it with my 3 month old and wished I did it while I was pregnant.
We used a small potty, but twice she’s used a big potty when we’re in public. However, she prefers the little potty at home.
She was really freaked out by the sensation of releasing her pee, that took about 5 days to overcome. It was slower than the “long weekend” I heard possible, but everyone learns at a different pace. Know what motivates and how Chase learns, and use that to your advantage.
I use diapers for naps and nights. Cheaper than pullups, I think, and in my mind, it’s more of a logical path for toddlers: “I will switch from diapers into undies.”
Good luck! You and Chase will do great!!
We use the seat that can go on the toilet. There are times my daughter, 2.5 yrs, prefers not to use it which is fine because she doesn’t have it in public. But she is fine either way. We tried pull ups but something about them she didn’t like and refused to put them on so we have stuck with diapers. It has never bothered her and she knows she has to wear them to bed. I am no where ready to night time train and have been told by our pediatricrian it’s fine to wait. I was a nervous reck when we decided to start but it went much better than I expected. Just be prepared for some accidents and take Chase often. Best of luck!!!
I’m a cat mama so I have no idea about potty training. My Dad however for my nephews (my parents were the main day carers and baby sitters) did put wheels on the bottom of one potty so they could scoot around while doing their business! I think it made the transition from diapers to potty easier. The transition to the toilet I can’t remember how they did that! If it was a human mama making potty transition I’d get one the fits over the grown ups seat. Less to clean up!
From what I have heard the pediatricians say at worry (I’m an NP, but only adult trained), nocturnal control of the bladder has a lot to do with hormones and not a thing that should necessarily be “trained”. My daughter turns 3 this week, and we just let her take the lead, once she had a few successes we just changed to panties during the day, then at nap time and we’ve been fine. We also had baby #2 on the way when we started and I didn’t feel like dealing with regression so I never forced the issue. Just buying 1 pack of pull-ups every three weeks IS amazing though…
We used that book and it has worked for the most part. We bought the toilet seat that you install on the pot so the toddler has a small seat. Mayfair was the brand on Amazon. Take the book with a grain of salt, the author says you will be out at Target at 12 a.m. buying the mini toilet – we were not! And at some point you need to leave the house and Target has an adult toilet not a mini one. It’s been fine!