Ok, call us crazy, but when Isla was one week old we decided the time had come to potty train Lilly!
We had been putting it off because of the arrival of the new baby, and not wanting to do it at a time when she might be unsettled. But Lilly has coped so well with her new baby sister, and seems so ready to toilet train that we’ve decided not to put it off any longer. Besides, at two and a half she is really too big for even the biggest nappies!
I am hoping that, having left it so long, Lilly will take to potty training easily. We’ve encouraged her to use the potty before and she’s been quite good, we just haven’t persisted with it everyday – mainly just when she’s been in the garden where the accidents don’t matter so much.
Anyway, i’ve decided to keep a quick diary of how we get on. So here is the first installment…
Day 1
We decided to take the plunge and put Lilly in knickers. We do this as soon as she wakes up for the day. After 40 mins or so, she said she wanted a wee and I helped her sit on the potty. Almost instantly, she does indeed do a wee! Much praise is dished out and I give her a sticker and we make a potty chart together for the fridge, which Lilly decorates by colouring it in in red (very much her favourite colour). Half an hour later, another wee! I realise that Lilly has wet her knickers a little bit then stopped herself, that’s how she knows she needs to go. But great that she can hold onto it – that’s a good sign for when we take potty training outside the house!
That morning there are a couple more potty successes, and one accident upstairs.
Then we went out to the park for a few hours and put her in a pull-up (not brave enough yet!)
We get back from the park with a very full nappy and Lilly sits on the potty fully clothed. I offer to take off her nappy, which she is happy about, and she sits back down on the potty and does her wee! Clever girl!
Day 2
Lilly is in nursery – and before she goes she manages to use the potty a few times without incident and even does a poo – although she is unimpressed at having to have her bottom wiped afterwards!
It goes well at nursery too – only one accident and that was because she sat on the toilet without taking her knickers off and just weed through them. But pretty impressive! We pick her up in the car on the way home in just her knickers, and thankfully the car survives unscathed!
Day 3
We go to visit my mum, which is a 50 minute journey. We put Lilly in pull-ups for this, but when we arrive the pull-ups are completely dry. The potty is stationed in Grannie’s garden while Lilly plays in her huge inflatable swimming pool thingie. There is one accident when Lilly seems to forget herself a bit while playing, but luckily we are outside so no mess made.
Day 4
Back in nursery again. It does not go so well. We arrive to pick her up and she is wearing just a t-shirt and a pair of boy’s pants! She has wet all the changes of clothes we took for her and all the knickers. The staff say she has either not been getting to the toilet on time, or she has been sitting down without pulling down her knickers first and just weeing straight through them! We take her home and, with a bit of bribery (amazing what she’ll do for a strawberry or two!) we get her to practice pulling her knickers up and down. She can do it, but it is tricky, bless her heart. However, once we’re home she hasn’t got any issue with realising she needs to go and with getting to the potty on time. Maybe there was just too much distraction at nursery today.
Now there are a few things i’d like to know from other mummies out there who have survived this potty training business. What do you do when you’re taking them out somewhere and there isn’t neccessarily going to be a toilet handy? And when there is going to be one, did you take out one of those baby toilet seat things with you?! What was the hardest thing about potty training? And do you have any great tips??
