Potty Training Day 1

For those of you that follow me on social media, you have probably already seen my posts and updates regarding our first day of potty training. The weather was glorious, apparently ideal for potty training according to all of those who have told me to ‘wait until the weather is warmer’ until I embarked upon the potty training palava. I decided to dress E appropriately for the task in hand and rather than putting her in the usual long-sleeved top and leggings or jeans with a nappy hiding underneath of course, we opted for a long-sleeved top, skirt and tots bots cloth trainer pants combination because less is more and all of that malarky, well it is certainly ‘more’ useful when potty training anyhow!

We began the day as usual by cleaning around the house, during which I asked E whether she needed a ‘wee’ almost every other minute. Things seemed to be going well at first and we managed a couple of pees on the potty. An hour or so later E had her first accident, despite assuring me that she didn’t feel the need to use the potty and failing to alert me to the fact that she was wet. Accidents are bound to happen and so I cleaned her up, changed her knickers and asked her where we do our wees, to which she correctly replied “the potty”.

We continued to play in the living room together, checking whether or not E needed the potty every ten minutes or so. I felt that I was beginning to sound like a broken record asking “Do you need a wee?” continuously. We managed yet another wee on the potty and I introduced stickers as a reward which E seemed to like, although they weren’t super sticky and so now there seems to be bits of random stickers which have fallen off E’s top scattered around the house.

A few more hours passed by, E was happily stood playing by her toy box when I noticed I had a wet sock. I firstly presumed that E had spilt her drink as this seems to be a regular occurrence, I quickly realised that this was in fact the second accident of the potty training pursuit. Poor E also had wet socks and wet everything else, yet didn’t seem in the slightest bit bothered by this. Once again we got cleaned up (both of this the time around!) and continued on our mission.

I realised fairly quickly that E wasn’t actually asking to go to the potty herself and it was only when I physically took E to the potty that she would ‘perform’. This made me question myself as to whether or not she was truly ready for potty training. I remember when J was being potty trained, he seemed to be far more aware of when he actually needed to go. He also seemed to trigger the whole potty training process as he began telling us when he needed to go. I think E is less aware of her bodies sensations and so this may take some time to develop. We have plenty of time to get this whole potty training palava cracked, ideally though, we will have got it sorted before September when E starts pre-school.

I decided to take ‘assignment pee on the potty’ outdoors for the afternoon to make the most of the glorious sunshine. It’s not often that we get such good weather and so I got the sandpit out from the garage, where it has spent most of the winter months and filled it with warm water. I collected some of E’s plastic play cups and saucers and threw them into the water to make a giant washing up bowl. I grabbed a tea towel to complete the ‘washing and drying’ game accessories and we began discussing the idea of ‘wet vs dry’, whilst washing and drying our pots, my idea being that we could relate it to the sensation of having wet or dry underwear.

Whilst the game seemed fairly effective, I was aware that playing with water would most likely heighten E’s need to use the potty and so I ensured that she had the chance to do so every ten to twenty minutes. Things seemed to be going really well with ‘Project Potty’ and I felt that we may be onto a winning streak. E also seemed fairly pleased with herself as she had managed to acquire a fair few stickers to celebrate her potty training progress.

I wasn’t entirely sure what to do when it came to the school run but soon decided that there was no point in confusing E by going backwards and so I took the carry potty along with us on the school run and placed a plastic bag onto E’s car seat to protect the seat in case of any accidents.

Upon arriving at the school I put the potty into the boot of the car and sat E on it, she had a quick wee and off we went! Following picking J up, I took the kids to their Nana and Grandad’s so that I could go to work. I left E with a bag of spare clothes, knickers and a nappy for just incase. Apparently she did fairly well and whilst there was the odd accident or two apparently we ended the day with almost an even score for potty training accidents vs achievements.

Tomorrow is another day and we will continue to battle on with our potty training mission, lets hope for less mess and more success, and for anyone that wishes to even try and suggest that you can potty train a toddler within a day- MY BACKSIDE!