This kid is....potty trained!!!! Woo Hoo!!!
I took this picture last Wednesday because Brady came home from daycare wearing the same clothes that he left at 7:00am in, meaning no accidents :)
We potty trained Brady a couple months later than we did with Chase but that is one of the key elements of potty training...wait until they are ready! Chase was potty trained at 2 years 6 months, right before I had Brady. Brady is 2 years 8 months so pretty dang close :)
I have to give Craig and I a little pat on the back for this because I feel like we have handled potty training with both boys like champs and I definitely have some tips that work for us and I would pass along to any parent trying to potty train their child.
1) Wait until they are ready - don't be in competition with other parents. There is a wide range of ages that is totally normal for potty training. Do not force it on your child, it will only traumatize them and make it a negative experience going forward! For months Brady has always wanted to try and go potty right before bath so we would humor him even though he would never go. That was step 1. He also has, for the last few months, always wanted to go in the bathroom with us when we are out in public places so we take turns taking him in, he would sit on the toilet with his pants still up and after 1 second say "all done!" Then he would flush and wash his hands...getting interested - lol!
2) Do not use kid potties. This is a personal preference but I really just don't understand the point of the little kid training potties. I mean, you would have to train them to go on the baby potty and then train them again to transition to the regular potty, sounds like a lot of work to me! We have trained both boys to just go straight to the regular potty with no issues. Save the money and also save yourself from having to deal with the nasty mess of those training potties!
3) Have a bootcamp weekend! This is what we have done with both boys and it works like a charm. We pick a weekend where we have no plans and you can stay home all weekend. (Hence why we waited a little longer with Brady - we had no free weekends - lol!) Here is how bootcamp weekend works:
* Go with your little one to the store on a Friday evening and let them pick out the underwear they want and buy them
* Saturday morning put on the underwear and set a kitchen timer for 30 minutes. Every time the timer goes off they have to run to the potty and try and go! You have to make
it fun and say, "Oh the timer went off - yay- let's go to the potty, hurry
hurry!!" They won't have to go every 30 minutes but you should hopefully avoid accidents this way.
* Have a treat ready for when they are successful with going potty. With Chase we used M&M's but with Brady, since he hates sweets, we use Cheetos. He gets 5 Cheetos every time he goes potty!
* Don't get upset or make them feel bad if they have accidents - they will have accidents! Instead tell them, "bummer - I wish you would have made it to the potty, you have
been trying so hard. Can we make it to the potty next time?" Again,
don't make it a negative experience!
* Put your kiddo in a pull-up for nighttime and start with underwear when they wake up the next morning and do the timer routine again!
4) For us, since our kids go to daycare, we sent Brady to school Monday with underwear on and a bag full of 4 changes of underwear and shorts :) Make sure you communicate with
the teachers to let them know about the timer and make sure they are
asking your child if they need to go potty throughout the day. Brady had 2 accidents on that Monday. He had 1 accident on Tuesday but then on Wed, Thur and Fri - no accidents!!!!
5) NEVER GO BACK TO DIAPERS! This was a tip given to us when we were potty training Chase and I couldn't agree more! Once you go to underwear, you cannot randomly put them in a pull-up during the day. It makes it so confusing for kids because sometimes they pee and they get all wet but sometimes they pee and it's ok because they have a diaper on? Don't do it. Obviously you do diapers at nighttime (and maybe nap time) because they can't control it while they are sleeping. But when they are awake stick to underwear, do not go back and forth.
Brady went this whole last weekend without a single accident and is even going #2 on the potty with no issue! We were out and about all day Saturday and it was no problem! The timer is gone and now he knows when he needs to go potty and he tells us and runs to the bathroom. We still ask him if we notice it has been awhile or sometimes we will say he has to try before he gets a snack he wants, etc but he is officially a potty trained kid!!! He made it easy :)
Congrats Brady!!!
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