Hi! It’s been a while!

I took a bit of a break to deal with the stress of miscarriage, and the excitement (and strain) of being in the first trimester with baby number two!

For the last few weeks we’ve been potty training our daughter. It was a bit of a shock to us that she seemed to be ready a few days after her second birthday, but we followed her lead. She’d been following us to the loo for a while, and was very adamant that she wanted to use the ‘big potty’. So, we threw ourselves in off the deep end, purchased a seat that fits our toilet, and away we went. Here’s what I quickly learned.

1. Just because they say they don’t need to go, doesn’t mean its true.

After a few days of absolutely no accidents, I found myself relaxing a little around our trips to the toilet. My daughter had been in such a good routine of saying ‘mummy, wee wee’ that I was beginning to trust that she knew when she wanted to go.

Wrong.

Just because she knew she needed to go, didn’t mean she would. I found that my little one was often so enraptured with whatever she was playing with at that time, that she’d try and convince me that she didn’t need to go so that she could carry on playing.

Lesson learned. Do not believe a two year old. It will result in wet underwear and a big old mess.

2. If you don’t take spare clothes out with you, its your funeral.

I’ve recently found that 3 is the magic number. One change of clothes in, and its an accident. 2 changes in and you’re obviously not paying attention to the fact that your little needs to go, they’ve been having a nap, or in my case, you have a stubborn daughter. 3 changes means it’s time to go home. We carry a wet bag with us for wet clothes, and any reusable nappy inserts we’ve had to use to soak up wee outside. The one day I forgot this was obviously the day that my daughter went through all 3 clothes changes.

3. Wiping a toddlers bum is nowhere near as easy as I thought it would be.

Why did I think it would be easy to wipe the bottom of a toddler that’s pretending to be a dinosaur?! To be honest I don’t have any more to say about this one. If you have any good suggestions, help me out and leave a comment and potentially save my sanity

4. A little praise goes a long way!

I’m not talking full on sticker chart, prize at the end of the day kind of praise. If you find that works for you, that’s great! We’ve found that a simple high five for number two’s in the toilet has worked best for us so far!

5. Remember that they’re only little

At the end of the day, we take for granted the fact that we interpret our bodily functions so easily. It must be so difficult to learn to use the toilet properly at the same time as learning to talk, and learning all about the world around them that must seem so big and wonderful. We’ve found so far that a little understanding goes a long way. We only use praise, if our daughter has an accident we tend to say ‘oh no! Let’s clean it up’ and leave that to be the end of the discussion. Positive reinforcement has definitely been the way forward for our family!

So far, we’ve been potty training for a week, and honestly I’m so amazed by how far my daughter has come in this time. I know that its not a long time to be nappy free, but I never expected to be buying tiny knickers for my just turned two year old!

How did potty training work for you?

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