Potty Training

Potty training is not an easy task and can be such a stressful time. I give parents so much credit for going through this stage! Now that Ash man is three we knew it was time to push it a bit because we knew he is smart enough and know’s how to use the potty...it was just the fact of putting the diapers/pull ups away and helping him make it a habit. You always hear not to push potty training until they are ready. But with Asher we felt he was ready (also they will never be fully “ready” because pull ups are so easy to go in). He needed a little push and needed to know we were in charge and that it was time to say bye to the diapers and be a big boy.

He has done great this last month and is telling us when he has to go potty and just going on his own. He flushes and washes his hands all on his own too! We are so proud of him and so happy he’s getting it now!
It was definitely not easy but I wanted to share a few things that seemed to really help us and him through this process...

* Rewarding
* Lots of encouragement
* Don’t give up
* Accidents will happen
* Make sure they know who is in charge (not them)
* “Throw” away diapers for good...time to be a big boy. Decide to go for it one week and keep at it no matter how frustrated you get!

Rewarding and encouragement are both good things. Asher loves candy so that was his reward the first week or two. I had a jar of skittles or sour patch kids in the bathroom so each time he went number one he got to chose 1 skittle, or 2 for going number two! Honestly it was not that much candy at the end of the day...about 7/8 skittles, so I didn’t feel too bad about giving him candy.

I just decided one week I wanted to go for it and try and get him out of pull ups and really push it with him. We went through and “threw” away ( just hid them for when Hudson’s older) his pull ups and told him it’s time to be a big boy now and time to wear big boy underwear. We have tried potty training multiple times over the last few months and each time he’d have accidents in his boxers we’d get discouraged and just put the pull ups back on again because it was easier and not as messy. We were sick of doing the laundry and frustrated he kept having accidents when we knew he knew where to go. Let me first say, they are going to have accidents when you start potty training. They can’t just immediately go on the potty several times a day without having at least one accident. Part of what worked for us and helped Asher was not getting down on him and to keep encouraging him and saying that’s ok, let’s just try and make it in the potty next time so you can be a big boy and keep wearing underwear like a big boy (he loved wearing underwear).

Over the last month of Asher staying dry during the days he has also had many nights of dry pull ups, which we are super pumped about! Not sure how night potty training goes but I do know that this is a good sign already.

We also told Asher that if he kept his underwear dry for four consecutive days in a row we would take him to the store to pick out any big boy underwear he wants..which he was super pumped about and chose Toy Story ones. We also told him we’d take him to do something fun if he kept his underwear dry for a week like a big boy. He loves the rides at Nickelodeon Universe in the MOA, so thats where we took him! He loved it and over the last few weeks he just keeps saying, “I’m a big boy now, I’m not a baby like Hudson!” We are so proud we made it through this tough potty training phase but once they finally get it you feel so proud of them…and yourself for helping them get through this big milestone!!!

I hope these tips can encourage or help some of you who may feel like you’ll never get your kiddo’s out of diapers (like I felt a couple months ago)! Every kid is so different too so you just have to find what works best for your child and make sure to stick with it. I feel kids now days, especially when they are at the toddler age like to think they are in charge and we as parents need to remember we are in charge and that discipline and a bit of firmness with children can be a good thing! Don’t give up, reward them, lots of encouragement, and lots of patience will go a long ways in this process. Good luck, you got this!:)

xoxo,

MRS T