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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We are in the same boat for potty training. My daughters teacher actually said switching back and forth between diapers and pull ups tend to confuse the kids. She suggested using night time pull ups instead of diapers.
We used a little potty AND a potty insert. We actually brought the little potty in the back of the car (I have a Subaru, so the hatchback portion is pretty spacious and he could stand up/down!) for when we were out and about because public bathrooms can be a bit intimidating for someone new to using them! Now that he’s comfortable using a public bathroom we put the little potty in our downstairs bathroom and the insert is upstairs.
And I’m totally with you on the pull-ups. Our son uses them during nap only and a diaper at night and I don’t see those going anywhere anytime soon. He does great during the day in underwear but night time is a whole other situation.
We started out with the mini toilet which allowed my son some independence since he didn’t need help getting on and off. Now we have an attachment on our regular toilet seat which works great. We also never did pull-ups. We used regular diapers at nap and night until he didn’t need them anymore. And definitely get a portable toilet for the car. You will use it all the time! (I find the word “potty” incredibly irritating so we just say toilet, pee and poop!)
I also bought a couple new books for him to read in the bathroom. It got him to sit still longer on the toilet 🙂
We used a potty seat and a toilet seat for the big toilet. My house isn’t that big but we still needed that small one to take around the house with us and just have for easy access when she was naked. The big potty if the only one we used after a few weeks, but in the beginning, it was much easier for her to sit on that! Also, we use diapers for naps and nighttime. I bought pull ups, one pack, and still have over half left. I just don’t see the fascination with them, and since they cost more than the diapers we use, I just stuck to diapers. I have no goals of potty training at naps and bed for a while. ha!
I second Chase’s teacher 🙂 I’m a preschool teacher as well (But as a disclaimer, I am NOT a mom myself 😉 ), and go through potty-training with my students every year, and I will say that not always, but WAY more often than not, pull ups don’t work. Kids are definitely smart enough to know that pull-ups are basically glorified diapers and they can easily just “go” in them anyway. Pull ups are appealing because they are less mess to clean up, but it’s super helpful for kiddos to actually experience that uncomfortableness that comes along with having an accident (obviously I don’t mean by letting them sit in wet undies, but by actually “going” in undies, noticing that it causes wetness, and then advocating to be changed). Most of the time, they won’t like it and will learn to alert you when they recognize their body’s cues! Hope this helps! <3
Thanks for your insight! Chase’s teachers are wonderful and seemed to share your line of thought! They also seem really great about following whatever we decide when it comes to potty training and I definitely appreciate their (and your!) opinions.
Yes! I completely forgot to include that above all, every family makes the choice that is best for them and THAT is always the way to go — you know Chase and his needs/what will work or not work for him better than anyone else 🙂 Have a wonderful Wednesday!
I’m in the same thought as Kaitlyn (was a preschool, not yet a mom). Pull ups always seems like a way to “cheat”. They’re good that they teach kids how to pull up and down like underwear but we often saw kids transition faster if they practice in underwear on weekends or short times during the day.
I would vote for using a regular toilet for training instead of the tiny potty. A lot of stores (Target, Home Depot, Amazon) sell a 2-in-1 seat so you guys can still use the seat but Chase has a smaller seat to use. We always encouraged parents to have their child go to the bathroom with them (if you’re comfortable with that) so they can see mom and dad do it and get excited. Good luck!
Cereal is my go to snack while I was pregnant too but I still love it now! To answer your potty training question, I’d go with the big potty that way if your out and about if Chase needs to go he won’t be intimidated by using a normal potty. However, it might not be a bad idea to keep a mini one in the car (sounds strange) if you know you’re not going to be close to a potty, he’s a boy so going behind a bush works too ? I’d for go the pull ups too! His teacher was right on about the confusion! Have a great Wednesday!
We had both a mini potty and a potty ring for the big toilet. If I were to do it again, we’d just use the ring. We really like the blue squishy Prince Lionheart one for boys especially because it has a higher lip it prevents a lot of splashing. We did the Oh Crap method and did diapers at nap/bed for about 6 months before sleep training him. We explained to him every time we put a diaper on that he’s such a big boy, but over night is a long time to hold his pee so it’s for “just in case”.
The book is great! She’s going to tell you to get a small potty because part of her methodnis to stay home, stay in one area and for that they need quick access to a potty.
That method is also going to require them to go commando for a bit. So for naps and nighttime, we introduced a pull up and called it his sleep underwear. In my opinion, you want to cut our diapers completely as not to confuse them.
If you follow her method exactly, staying home and paying some attention to chase and not doing basically anything else, you’ll get get to know his cues and be successful!
Good luck!
HAving a potty trained kid is seriously the best and worth the work! We used one of the little potty’s for our oldest although it’s certainly not necessary. The first week was a little crazy and then I swear it just kind of clicked (I also bribed/rewarded with a small piece of candy, not ashamed). I found that going in undies for naps was fine once she had really mastered the concept. We left her in pull-ups at night for awhile then one day she told me she wanted to wear undies for bed like a big girl and that was that. Best of luck to you as you start the process! I’m actually getting ready to potty train our second, so….solidarity!
The Oh Crap will help you with both of these questions! We ended up doing a little potty for our house and daycare only did a big potty. Our kiddo is comfortable on both now, which is handy for going places. We did not do pull-ups – the book and daycare strongly recommended against it. Daycare also nixed diapers at nap, which we worried about, but worked really well (no accidents). We tried to do diapers at night, but our daughter woke up crying at night and we realized it was because she had to pee! I guess once she knew what the “have to pee” feeling was, she couldn’t let herself go in the diaper. There were a few accidents, but generally we’ve been good about limiting liquids after 5pm or waking her up gently to pee when we go to bed (both suggestions from the book).
Oh we also didn’t do pull ups at any other time but sleeping! Samuel hates being dirty so that helped. Has Chase seen other kids using the potty at school? Samuel did and that definitely helped!
He has! One of his best friends just went through potty training and he is WAY more interested in it now than he’s ever been before!
That’s really helpful! He knew what to do from watching them at school. I also really watched him closely to learn what his cues were. His is really obvious, he grabs his crotch while he talks to you!
Good luck potty training! We had both a kid potty and a insert for the normal toilet and we pretty much only used the normal toilet. When we got serious about it and he was saying he was ready I took him to pick out the underwear he wanted, that seemed to be a big motivator for him.
The potty training method we used, and had great success with!, suggested using a mini potty to start. It’s less scary and easier for them to go, especially when learning to push poop out on the potty since their feet are on the ground. We put the mini potty out a few days before we started so my son could check it out, sit on it, and get familiar with it. Worked great! We transitioned to a potty insert about 3 days in. The mini potty did not go to waste because I keep it in my car now for emergencies (which is super helpful). Also we had a little hesitation on public potty’s for a week or so and used the mini potty in my car a few times while getting over that. I was against the mini potty because I felt like it was another transition, but it worked great and I’m glad we went that route.
We use diapers for nap and bedtime. My son is very clear on why we need diapers during those times and only those times. We never even brought pull ups into the house because I didn’t want to be tempted by the convenience of using them during the transition. We went straight to naked, then underwear, and had a few messy accidents but he was fully trained in a week.
I went to a potty training seminar at our preschool and I’ll try to find you the simple literature she provided and share it with you. She’s also available for phone consultations for a small fee if your struggling with something in paticular. It was a 3-4 day process, had very specific steps and instructions, and it was great! I was dreading this, and hated the first week, but now it’s totally behind us. I highly recommend her process!
Thank you for sharing all of this!! I have the same reservations about the mini potty but it DOES seem easier to use in the beginning, so I’m relieved to hear your little one made the transition to a big toilet relatively easily.
Hi Julie! I just potty trained my son who will be 3 at the end of July. The process was relatively painless. I would recommend once you take the diaper off to not put it back on! That is confusing. What I did for sleep is put on a pull up over his big boy underwear so that what he felt was his underwear and the pull up was there for extra protection. I tried to not draw attention to the fact he was wearing a pull up. I also trained right on the adult potty with a step stool and toilet insert. One less transition down the road! Good luck!
I’m so glad you had a good experience, Courtney!Is your little one now also potty trained through the night with your pull up/underwear method? This is so interesting to me! And I need to get a step stool! That’s on my potty training supply list, too! 🙂
Not 100% but almost! Some days he wakes up dry and some days it seems like he goes once because he doesn’t wake up really wet like he used to in diapers. I used this method for leaving the house too in the beginning and it worked for that!
We bought both a little potty and a potty insert for the big toilet. My son used the insert my daughter used the little potty. I think it depends on the kid. We also used the nighttime pull-ups for bedtime, just because I really didn’t want to have to change sheets all the time. We didn’t have to use them very long with my son, my daughter took a bit longer figuring out the whole nighttime thing.
Highly recommend two of our favorite children’s musicians -Jim Gill and Laurie Berkner.
Also – if you haven’t picked one up – a foldable potty seat that goes over the toilet when out and about. I kept it in a ziplock and then when we would get home l would sanitize and put in a new ziplock bag.
Little potties just seem so gross to me….ugh….we don’t use them for my son. Like you said, I just wanted to start on the regular toilet, since that is what they will be using. Plus, who the heck wants to clean a potty all the time?? However, I LOVE the toilet insert. Super helpful and easy to toss in the car when you are traveling. Another thing you might want to do…..several of my friends with boys trained them standing up to begin with, and swear by it. They had them aim at Cheerios! 🙂
As for Pull-Ups, avoid if you can during the daytime. We use them out of sheer laziness, and I really wish we had not. They are essentially glorified diapers, and expensive ones at that. Like others mentioned, best to go right to underwear. They don’t like the feeling of wetness, which will motivate them to train a little quicker.
Also, I should note that my son is 3.5 and still not potty-trained. (Mainly our fault since we have just not been motivated). I am far from an expert in the matter, but these are just some pointers of what I have learned in the process.
For potty training we used a little seat that pops onto our toilet. We got the Thomas the train seat on amazon and he’s four and still uses it. Good for boys because it has a little lip on the front to block the pee 🙂 and really inexpensive. We had a little stand alone seat too but he never used it except on our long car trip when he was afraid of automatic flushing toilets. Skip the pull ups. We used maybe two of them and he treated them like diapers.
Ooooh! Anything Thomas the Train would likely REALLY help Chase feel motivated/excited about potty training. Looking into this! Thank you for the recommendation!
It’s really cute. It has “all aboard” written on it. 🙂 There’s also a Thomas the train stool on amazon that we have so he can climb up by himself and reach the sink to wash his hands.
I have a busy busy boy and the best thing we did was put the little potty right in the middle of our family room…he didn’t have to think about running to the bathroom (on the other end of the house) and it was easy to transition him to the regular toilet after he had it down. We did the 3 day weekend potty training method and it worked great for us. Having
him help me “throw out” all the diapers in his room, pick out exciting underware at Target, sticker chart, and mostly M&Ms were key!
The biggest potty advice I can give is be positive and instead of asking if they have to go have them check if they’re still dry and praise them if they are, give them a pretzel or cracker or juice, and then have them try to go. You can’t force the nighttime training. They’re body will do that when they’re ready. Mine did that first but some kids don’t until they’re 6 and that’s fine.
Our son is just a few months older then Chase and the Oh Crap! Book was a life saver. We went into the process ready for battle and it was seamless and he did so well. We had a small potty which was great for the first few days where he’s really getting the hang of it and needs to pee ASAP. We now have the toilet seat inserts in all of our bathrooms and have retired the little potty. We did diapers for nap/night and now just use pull ups for night time – you’ll notice the diapers/pull ups staying dry once they get the hang of it. Good luck!
xo
We followed the 3 day method over Christmas and worked so well! No accidents and things were going perfectly. Then when she got to school she flat out refused to sit on their potty since it was so different than ours (we got the adapter seat for our regular toilet to make it kid sized). I wish we had just had her sit on the big potty from the beginning since that’s what she will need to be able to use in real life!
We stopped pushing her and then one day, several months later, she decided she was ready. 🙂
I crack up every time you mention being pregnant and craving cereal! I was the same way when I was pregnant! I had to have cereal! I also justified it because captain crunch (my go to) had 100% folic acid. As if I wasn’t getting it from my vitamin or anything… haha!
We trained following Oh Crap, as well. First, a little potty is so so much easier for several reasons. 1. You can cart it around the house – we had his potty in the kitchen, playroom, living room, etc., so we weren’t running for the big toilet and dripping pee or poop throughout the house. 2. Kids are less scared of the little potty because it is their size. 3. You can travel with it (we took it to swim class for a bit). 4. Even now, 3 months in, he will use the big potty, but having the little potty in the kitchen close by is so helpful because it takes them a long time to understand the sensation of needing to go and having easy access prevents accidents.
Second, while Oh Crap advocates for training naps, nights and days at the same time, I honestly don’t think toddlers are ready to train at night. We used diapers for naps and nights and called them his naptime or nighttime undies. (We only used diapers because we had a ton, otherwise we would have done pullups). After a few weeks, my son was waking up dry from naps, so we ditched the nap diapers. We haven’t even attempted night time training because everything I’ve read suggests that kids are not mentally / physically ready to hold it for potentially 12 hours (how many times do you get up at night?). Most of my mom friends have done it the same way. Eventually, night training is easy because the kid is physically ready to hold it for that long.
Cereal is my favorite food and I’m terrified that if I get pregnant one day, I will have an aversion to it. While it would be good for my waistline, it would be bad for my soul!
Pull ups just for nap and nighttime sleep over here. And we had floor pottys because then they didn’t have to ask for help to get to the potty at the house. They would just go when they needed to. And when we were out, usually I would just take them when we arrived somewhere and when we left just to avoid accidents in public.
Favorite potty training item: the potette – my girls are 5 and 3 and we still use it on road trips! It’s a lifesaver!!!
We have a mini potty in one bathroom. This one, specifically: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Summer-Infant-My-Size-Potty/46337212?wmlspartner=wlpa&adid=22222222227034274395&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=73610954312&wl4=aud-310687322322:pla-142859033792&wl5=9003006&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=online&wl12=46337212&wl13=&veh=sem I love it because it looks just like a grown up potty and makes flushing sounds like a grown up potty. We then used the potty training toilet seat that you install in our other bathroom. That way my daughter could use what she preferred when she was learning. Now she uses either one with no problem. In the beginning, we just used regular diapers for nap and bedtime because we didn’t want to confuse her. Now that she has been potty trained for a few months we have switched to pull-ups for sleep time and it’s working just fine.
We are hoping to start potty training my almost 2 1/2 year old at the end of April. I have the SAME question about the nap/nighttime ordeal. I’m planning to keep my son in a crib for as loooooong as possible 🙂 and so I feel like nighttime potty-training will have to wait until he can get in and out of bed by himself. But I’m worried this will lead to some confusion on when it’s okay to pee in a diaper and when he has to use the potty. Hoping people comment and give some advice on this one and good luck to you guys while tackling this!
My daughter turned 2 on November 1st and she has been potty trained for a few months now. My son was about 2.5 when he made the transition. So I do feel like I have been successful in my two attempts and this is still very fresh.
Here are my tips:
1. No pull-ups, ever. They are confusing. I never had success with them. Go straight to undies during the day – and stock up, you will go through a lot those first few days. If Chase has a favorite character, try to find undies with that on it, like Lightning McQueen or Paw Patrol. Just increases the fun factor a smidge.
2. Plan to stay close to home the first couple days – car rides are hard. My kids relax in the car, and so do their bladders. Make sure they go right before you leave and right when you arrive when you get started. It sets the precedent that we have to go potty before we leave, every time. My now 7 year old son still does this most of the time out of habit.
3. I am a fan of using an adult toilet sans insert. Mainly because my son was and still is a very routine kid – if he used that all the time at home, he would expect it to be available at all potties – and I’m not carrying a potty seat with me at all times. It worked for my son, so we did the same for our daughter. They have no problems using any adult toilet anywhere (except help getting on)
4. Expect a lot of accidents at first and be ok with that. To save laundry, I do a lot of undies only at home so I am not going through pants like crazy (or even bare bottom tbh).
5. I do not believe in treats or prizes. Just praise. That is totally a “to each their own” opinion, but for me praises have worked and it avoids having to dish out m&m’s every 15 minutes or a sticker – and again having to carry that with me in public places.
6. We use a diaper for nap and bedtime. When they wake up dry consistently for a few days (it will happen faster than you think) try naptime first in undies. You will know when it is time to try overnight. My daughter is still in a diaper at night even though she hasn’t worn one during the day at all, naptime included, for about 3 months. She is almost ready though. She wakes up dry but can’t hold it long. So if I take more than a couple minutes to get her to the potty she can’t hold it once she is up. I think in the next month or so she will be ready for overnight too. But she knows diapers are only for bed time.
7. Set a timer! This is huge for me. At first I would have them sit on the potty every 15 minutes. Then we would try 20 minutes. Within 3 or 4 days it was an hour or longer stretches. But time slips away from me if I am making dinner or we are playing a game. A timer kept me on track. The more success they have the faster they will own this process! I didn’t want to allow them to have an accident the first few days so all they heard was positive reinforcement. And if an accident happened it was no big deal. I make them help with clean up (put clothes in washer, help wipe off their legs) and then I sit them on the potty so they can finish. I found if they had an accident they would stop themselves, so they would get cleaned up and dressed and 5 minutes later have another accident. They just needed to finish, so always have him sit on a potty if he does have an accident.
8. TRUST YOUR GUT! You will learn his signs quickly. More often than not you will know he has to go potty before he does, so encourage him to try, even if he is resisting. The biggest battle is getting them to stop what they are doing and take the time to go sit on the potty.
9. Just in case no one told you, potty training is a lot of work – as much as diapers in my opinion, maybe more. You still have to wipe butts. There is a lot of hand washing for you and him. Laundry is increased at first. But it is pretty cool too! My daughter is so proud of herself and to see her gain a little more independence, well that is what it is all about. Raising them up!
Good Luck!
After reading this I feel like it was a little directive. Didn’t intend that at all, but I did want to share my tips and tricks. I do feel like my method worked really well for my kids and have shared it with some friends and they had a lot of luck too. So I genuinely hope it helps.
Another point, be sure to share your preferences at pre-school. Everybody does this a little different, but being consistent will help!
We got a potty insert on Amazon and keep it in the bathrooms in the house. He has a little stool to climb up to it. I also use diapers for naps and night time. He gets the difference, he will be 3 next week.
So funny about Ryan’s hair. After our 2 miscarriages, we had a good first appointment with my third pregnancy. My husband wore the green polo he wore to that appointment for every single subsequent appointment and the delivery. It became a big joke around our doctor’s office. There are sweat stains on it from the stress of each appointment. He jokes that he is going to save it to give to our son one day. 🙂
I bet Chase will have a blast doing Easter this year! Easter egg hunt on the agenda?!
Ryan cracks me up with his hair challenge! My husband decided our wedding day would be the last day he ever shaved his face and now it’s almost been 2 years since he’s been clean shaven…ughhhhh I just want him to cut it off!
Once we switched our daughter to pull ups versus diapers, she used those as a crutch to avoid potty training both during the day and at night. As soon as we completely went to underwear (day and night), the process was so much easier. My daughter would literally have a pull up on, walk over to me and say look mom I didn’t pee in the potty I went in my diaper. We knew at that point it was not doing any good. Once we switched to the underwear be ready for some accidents- this is actually a good thing because it helps your child be aware of needing to go to the potty right away. You also need to setup a potty time schedule- like every two hours go take him to the potty whether he needs to go or not. My daughter to this day still fails to remember to go to the potty when she has to go and we have to remind her- and she’s been trained for 1.5 years. Kids get busy and don’t always think about it.
As far as seats, I recommend this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016Q0ZY3U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1
I will also say, if he’s in a crib at night that will pose problems with potty training, since when he needs to go he cannot get out to go.
Once we committed to potty training our 2 yr old, we stopped using diapers. I found diapers to do the confusing because using them is straddling both sides of the fence, in my opinion. For sure, at naptime and night, they will wake up with a wet pull-up, for some time, but eventually it’s just a catch to avoid messes. We had both a small, move-able potty and the insert for the big toilet. The small one is useful early on so you can easily move it to the room where you’re playing or even outside especially because it helps as you are watching the cues for being ready to go and having it at the ready. The simple board book Potty by Leslie Patricelli and the book My Big Boy Potty by Joana Cole may be helpful to read before getting started. We read them many times and also kept Potty in the bathroom for “reference.”
We just finished up potty training and we used the insert for the big potty because that is what they use at daycare so it helps with the continuity. Also my experience with night training is that it is biological and every kid is different. My 5 year old stills wears a pull up at night, but my 3 year old who just potty trained two weeks ago has been dry through out the night and naps from the very beginning. Good Luck!
We have a 5 year old and are still working on the nighttime issues…so again, with parenting, just be prepared to ebb and flow! He caught on very quickly to daytime potty training, that was great. Nights have been something else. After a year of changing the sheets daily, we resorted back to pull-ups. He just sleeps really hard and doesn’t wake himself up when he pees…he doesn’t even know he’s doing it! I love the idea of the potty seat in the car because to be honest, the grossest part of parenting is taking a boy to the women’s restroom and dealing with a restroom built for adults and navigating it with a two year old. You get a whole new appreciation for people who design bathrooms well.
I’m not a parent (yet), so I can’t help you there… But I can second you on the deliciousness of cereal. It’s my favorite evening snack after a run!
We have a mini potty and an insert for our regular toilet. My son didn’t like the small potty (said it’s too small and he’s a “big boy”), so he’s never used it. The insert was super helpful for potty training, especially at the beginning when it would take him a little while to get comfortable and go. However, it does make going in public restrooms more challenging because he’s so used to the insert. We bought a little portable seat insert that folds up, and we use that sometimes when we’re out to make it easier, but at some point, we’ll have to transition to just using the regular toilet.
We started potty training in February, and we still do diapers for naptime and bedtime. From what I hear, they’re more absorbant than pull-ups, and they’re cheaper. He’s always dry after naptime, but I’m not ready to risk it just yet! He still wakes up pretty wet every morning (even when he goes right before bed), so for us, diapers definitely seem like the better option. We just told him that he’ll still wear diapers when he sleeps for a while until he gets used to using the potty.
Good luck! For us, the first couple of weeks were exhausting (not really having accidents, you could just tell he was mentally drained and very emotional). Between weeks 2-3, things just clicked.
I serve vegan sloppy Joe’s in a pita pocket/pocket thin since they seem to be slipperier than meat sloppy Joe’s. Otherwise more filling falls out then I eat with the bun!
I’ve potty trained two kids now and we used both the little potty and the big potty. as well as pull-ups during nap/night. One thing I found as a pro for pull-ups during naps was it helped them ease into going number 2 on the potty. With my first daughter, she mastered peeing in the potty like a champ within 1 weekend, but she was much slower at going number 2 on the potty. Allowing her to wear a pull-up for bed/nap let her do her poop while she had it on. This is no way stinted her potty training and within a few weeks she was pooping in the potty and we switched to using undies all day and night. The same thing happened with my second. We used pull-ups while she got confident with pooping on the potty…and quickly switched over to full time undies in a matter of weeks! 🙂
As for the little potty, one thing I like about it when you have more than one (so when baby number 2 comes!) is that they can use it independently. When I was potty training both girls, I had a newborn as well, so when they inevitably hold it until the last minute and then yell “I have to go potty!” they can run over and sit down by themselves (where as I had to help them get on and off the big potty). As soon as they could get up onto the big potty independently, we took away the toddler potty. We still travel with it though, because its a heck of a lot cleaner to use a toddler potty on the road than it a lot of public restrooms!!!
I followed no method for potty training other than letting my kid take the lead (after listening to his preschool teacher) because I had a high needs infant at the time so couldn’t really focus on it. But…it ended up being super easy. He was definitely capable when he was about 3 but it quickly became a power struggle and I realized we were being ridiculous offering rewards, toys, etc. and he would just scream when I suggested using the potty. So…I totally backed off for a few months except suggesting the idea of using the real toilet anytime he announced he had to go. For a few months he always said no and then suddenly one day he just said yes! So that day, we pretty much stayed home and I set a timer and we brought him to the bathroom every time it went off (pretty frequently…maybe every 20 min or so) and he went to school the next day in underwear. He had one day time accident when we were at the children’s museum a few days later but that was the only accident he’s ever had. He was about 3 and 3 months.
We used diapers for nap and night because he did not like the pill-ups and totally didn’t get the point. And after a few months we just ditched the diapers because he was totally dry or was waking up to use the bathroom if necessary. He’s now almost 4.5 and has only had one night time accident and it was when he was sick. I realize that is rare so I think the night time training is really kid specific.
Anyway- all that is to say…don’t stress about it too much and the lazy approach I took can work too and it ended up being super painless. We had one day where we scrapped some plans and stayed home (or close to it), never had to clean those gross little potty things and he was very independent with it quickly. I realize he was on the older side of potty training for sure but hey…who’s counting and who cares?!
Thanks for your thoughtful and fun blog posts. Love reading along and watching your family grow.
Thought I’d chime in as I just potty trained my 2 yr old.
1) Highly recommend small potties. The ergonomics of pooping with your legs dangling is poor. Also, it’s much easier for them to drop their pants and sit on a small potty in the room rather than walk over to a toilet, get on the stool, turn around, etc… I high my recommend ikea potties. Super cheap so we got one for every floor in the house. They sell a mini one I put in our car. Keep a jug of soapy water to wash it out plus toilet paper and doggie bags in the car. To deal with car poops you line the toilet with tp before they go so you can slide it out without too much mess into the zip bag.
2) We did pull ups for naps, bedtimes, and outings where toilets would be hard to get to. Neither of my kids seemed confused by the mix of underwear/pullups. As we noticed them being dry longer we’d drop it for each.
Hope that helps! Every kid is different though so take it with a grain of salt 🙂
I may be in the minority here, but I actually really like using pull ups. I have twin girls who are almost 2.5. They started getting interested in potty training when they were about 18 months, so we gradually started working on it. We started with pull ups and letting them use the potty as they wanted to. We’ve kept it pretty low key and relaxed the whole time. By the time they turned 2, they were in panties full time, except for naptime and bedtime. We still use pull ups for those, and it has worked for us. I know they may not work for everyone, but I thought I’d share another opinion. 🙂
As far as potties go, we went with two small potties, mostly because we were doing 2 at the same time and they always wanted to go together. A few months ago, we bought a little potty insert for out toilet and that’s what they prefer to use now. They also have a lot more patience and are able to wait their turn.
Mostly, my advice is just to stay relaxed about it all! I always tell myself they won’t be in diapers when they’re 18…so there’s absolutely no rush for them to be perfect at it now.
Ditto! I really liked pull ups too and it sounds like our daughters were about the same- mine became interested at around 18 months but we just took it reallllllly slow. She’s been in big girl panties for 2 months now and rarely has accidents during the day. She still naps in pull ups (and is usually dry when she wakes up) and we use nighttime diapers for the night! We also did a potty insert and the little potty and she even does pretty good with going outside if we’re at a park that doesn’t have a restroom. Just take it slow and don’t stress!
My reference point is having potty trained using the oh crap! Book when my daughter was 26 months old. She was waking up from naps and bedtime dry so we did the same thing during sleep as when awake. Worked amazingly!
Dedinitely get a little toilet. You are out and about a lot and will want to bring it with you at first. It is easier to have a toilet convenient in the same room. Even if you only use it for a few weeks.. Plus your son is small so climbing onto the regular toilet might be more challenging for him. We have a squatty potty for a step stool and a small baby bjorn ring for our regular toilet which also works great but imho is not a replacement for the small baby bjorn toilet. My daughter is 35 months now and we still use the small toilet downstairs, but we do not have a downstairs bathroom in our house.
We had gotten the hanna andersson training unders (more crotch material to catch oopsies but all xotton so they feel wet) and best bottom trainers but barely used them. The intention was to have them for time in the car seat and sleep, but we got lucky about not really needing them. I would NOT use pull ups. Too confusing. The oh crap has a lot of guidance on this.
Also really like the hanna andersson brand underwear.
We’ve been potty training for a few weeks now casually, and it’s going really well! I think keeping it low pressure has been key to our success! We have both an Elmo potty insert for the “adult potty” that she can sit on and a small her-size Minnie Mouse potty that she LOVES! I would HIGHLY suggest getting him his own potty that he can “own” and be proud of. Pull ups are synonomous with diapers – I would avoid them! I would just let him be naked! Everything I read said pullups are just a waste of money 🙂 I’m no where NEAR the beast that is nighttime or naptime potty training though…so that will be a whole ‘nother ballpark!!
Hey! To answer your potty training questions, I’ll place this by saying our oldest basically trained herself at 2. She was in a Montessori daycare at the time though, so she was in undies and regularly given the option to sit on the potty. Here’s my $.02 though. 1. Big potty with the insert/fold down seat all the way! They are pretty inexpensive at Home Depot/Lowe’s. I hated the idea of cleaning those little potties (bleh!) or having some bulky item that I had to figure out where to store. Plus, it made it easier when we went out because she was already used to sitting on a big potty. So public restrooms weren’t a huge ordeal. I had friends who struggles to get their kids to potty at restaurants because they were so used to the baby potties. 2. I’d suggest sticking with diapers for the exact reason you mentioned. I think it’s less confusing for the kiddos. Good luck!! We are about to enter this territory with #2 and I’m just crossing my fingers that she will be as easy as her big sister!!
Hi,
We did the Oh Crap method a few months back w/ my guy who’s 2 weeks older than Chase. So the book is clear in saying no pull ups.
Day 1 – Naked baby!!! and you watch him like a hawk and run to the potty as soon as he starts peeing. I followed it basically, but we had his first dentist appointment that day and I didn’t want to switch anything, so we did actually venture out that day and he went to the potty at the dentist and right before we left before going home to be naked again. We didn’t have any issues incorporating that into the day, though the book is very adamant about not doing anything else during naked baby stage.
Naps and bedtime he goes back in diapers (overnight pullups). He was not confused at all about wearing a diaper at those times. As soon as he’s up, off they go.
Day 2/3 – Once you are comfortable w/ naked potty training, then the kid goes into pants w/ no undies and no diapers. The book talks about why and I thought it made total sense. Quincy was going commando for over a month before he finally started wearing undies.
Quincy had a little potty that we had way before we actually started training. I think it was a waste. He uses the big toilet and when he has to poop he puts the insert on top himself cause he knows he’s gonna sit there a while (lol). He basically stands 75% of the time he pees cause he wants to be like daddy. Oh, another reason for big potty – you don’t want to clean poop out of the kiddie potty, gross. Just put him straight on the big one (with an insert).
Good luck! Chase and you will do great!
Marianne
My advice is to focus on potty training during the day — no pull ups ever, just underwear. Some kids once they are trained never pee at night and are able to stay dry — well 2 out of 3 of mine managed that. My other 1 I used pull ups at night and took it right off in the morning right away. You don’t want them getting used to doing that first morning pee in the pull-up. Eventually, with our little one who needed a pull-up at night (and I mean after a year or so,) we would start to wake our child up at 11:00pm or midnight to do a “nighttime” pee to help her make it through the night dry and eventually took away the pull-ups. Good luck!
Good luck potty training! I know it is tough; my sister tried with my nephew but ultimately didn’t push it too much until one day Gio was just like “I am going to pee pee on the big boy potty”, and that was that!
My parents bought him a mini toilet that actually looked identical to a real toilet, just miniature, but Gio liked to play with it more than ever actually try to use it. (When he did use the potty he went on the real one, not the mini one) My sister tried the “go on the potty and get an M &M”, but found that didn’t really work. I know she also did a day of no pull-ups and just undies. He had several accidents but liked the feel of the undies instead of diapers so I think that is what made him really want to start using the potty. She used pulls up for nap time and nighttime at first, but then switched it to just nighttime because he wasn’t needing them for nap time anymore. My other nephew Enzo is turning two (today, actually) and is still just in pull ups 24/7, I’m sure she will think of potty training sometime soon, but she doesn’t really rush it.
Anyways, I hope you have a great day! And again, good luck with the potty training!! Xoxo
I used pull ups and the little potty with my older son. Little potty bc of the Oh Crap book, pull ups because daycare required it. I will absolutely not be using either with my younger son. The little potty was so hard to get him off of even after he was well past the point of needing it. It was convenient because he didn’t have to take as much of a break from playing to go but when it comes time for #2 to train I want to get him used to taking those breaks even if he fights it. Pull ups are just diapers and just prolonged things and I hate them. Go big or go home. We used diapers at nap/night because we use cloth diapers and it was cheaper. Now that my son is older we do use pull ups at night so he can get them off himself to use the bathroom if he needs to. But no more pull ups during the day in my house (famous last words?). Supposedly they need to “feel the wetness” but my kid DGAF about that. He would stay in pee pants all day if we allowed it. Based on my younger son sliding through a puddle yesterday and continuing to play, I doubt he will care either. I’m also due in June and hoping by the time this baby needs to potty train there will be some kind of summer camp I can send him or her to for a week that sends them back potty trained. Good luck!