My Big Girl, Part 1- Potty Training

It's official; Boo is potty trained! She is the proud owner of 3 potties and 1 toilet seat, a sticker chart and lots and lots of stickers! And I am the proud owner of hundreds of redundant nappies! (she is still wearing nappies for naps and at bedtime so will get through most of them eventually!) She did her first wee on the potty 2 weeks ago and that was that really! 

Boo had previously showed no interest in potty training at all really. I had bought her potties and potty books last summer to see if she might fancy giving it a go. But after 2 accident filled days we decided to leave it as she clearly wasn't interested- having to think about when you need a wee interrupted play time much too much!

We kept the potties out and asked her at nappy changes if she wanted to go on the potty but 99% of the time she flatly refused. On the rare occassion where she agreed to sit on the potty she did just that, sit on the potty, but would never wee or poop on it. 

We didn't push it, (even though my Mum has told me countless times that both Me and my Sister were potty trained before our second birthdays) having seen others push it and fail, and the ones that just left it until the child took the lead, succeed, we decided to just wait until she wanted to do it.

3 weeks ago we were at a playdate with our NCT friends and the oldest girl of the group (and only one potty trained at the time) was there with her big girl knick-knacks on, and her potty. You should have seen all the little ones when she used her potty; they all gawped at her as though she were an alien. You could have heard a pin drop they were that fixated. 
The next day we heard news that 2 of the other children had clearly been inspired by the potty skills on display and had gone on to do their own wee wees on their own potties! Boo was not one of them and I was dismayed! 

However, 5 days later, when getting ready for bed, I asked Boo if she wanted to go on her potty like her friends, and she said 'yes!' and, get this, actually DID. A. WEE!!!
 I was thrilled! We made a huge fuss of her! Did a potty dance and sung a potty song, ("Boo-Boo did a wee-wee, a wee-wee on the potty! What a clever Boo-Boo!") stuck up a chart that had come with one of her books, stuck a sticker on the chart and she had one for herself too, and then I suggested we go on the train shopping the next day to buy her her very own big girl knickers! 
Well! She was nearly as thrilled as I was by that point! 

The next day I popped a pull-up on her and off we went! She adores going on trains too so this was a massively exciting trip for her! She chose Peppa, Minnie and Princess pants (and some toys too!) and put a pair on as soon as we got home! We only had one accident that evening and she was very pleased with herself!

For the next few days I kept her in knickers and leg warmers, so that we could whip the pants down easily when needed. She did super well and only had one accident a day for a week, and since then has had no accidents at all! She wears trousers now as well and if we go out takes her @MyCarryPottyUK with her (which she loves to carry!) If we go on a long car journey I put a pull-up on over her knickers- that way she can still feel if she is wet but it won't make any mess. But 'touch-wood' she seems to have excellent bladder control (she went one morning for 6 HOURS without weeing- I was losing the will to live!) and even if we've already put her night nappy on her, if she needs a wee before bed she'll ask to go on the potty and will in wee in there in favour of weeing in her nappy!



I am SO proud of my clever Boo! And I genuinely am gob-smacked at how easy and quick it all was! I had really been dreading it!


Obviously all children are different and will learn differently, but my 
Top Tips for Successful Potty Training 
are:



1. Have potties around the house, even before they start training, just to get them used to them and to give them an opportunity to go on it if they want to. And so that you don't have to drag a weeing child around the house if the potty is in another room!

2. Take them to see other potty-trained kids in action.

3. Once they've shown an interest and had a wee on their potty, go and have a big exciting trip to buy knickers/pants that they choose themselves and put them on and don't put nappies on in the day anymore.

4. Let them flush the wee/poop away themselves.

5. Reward them with stickers and a sticker chart, a funny dance and a song!

6. But most of all, don't force it; they'll know when they're ready!

Good Luck! 

Thanks for reading!

MummyBear X