Potty Talk
Okay, everyone who doesn’t have kids, you can just skip reading today. I give you permission. And if you do have kids but you are sick potty training in general, I give you permission to leave too. I’ll call you when I post letters again.
I know it’s probably way too early to be getting excited about this but… Baby Bug has shown a significant interest in potty training!!! I know! She’s only twenty months! Not that this means anything, all the books I’ve read warn that early interest does not necessarily mean early mastery or that Baby Bug is going to read before she is three or anything. It could happen though.
I’m not in a rush about this at all. It just sort of happened. Maybe it was the youtube movies we watched, maybe it was because she idolizes her older cousin SuperChic, who is four and going through the whole ordeal. Who knows. But it’s sort of a big deal at our house. Like jumping up and down, singing happy songs and celebrating big deal. She is so proud of herself.
It started because she pooped in the tub. I hate poop in the tub. It’s disgusting. I have to fish the poop out of the water with my hands through a plastic grocery shopping bag, kind of like how dog owners scoop up dog poop at the park. Then I have to wash out the tub and it’s just this whole ordeal that I don’t really love very much. Not to mention, bath time is very close to bed time and thus not the best time to be busy cleaning things.
I think Baby Bug picked up on my distaste for poop scooping (even though I tried really hard to let her know that she’s not in trouble in any way) because soon she started getting this really distressed look on her face in the tub.
“Poopy!” She says, all worried, with eyes bugging out of her head. “Poopy! Poopy!”
I think she wants me to put her diaper back on her so she can poop normally but that’s not an option. She’s wet and slippery and who knows where I put that old diaper anyway. So I lift her out of the tub, dripping, and attempt to put her on the big person toilet.
That’s a mistake. Her little wet butt nearly slips off and now she’s terrified of the giant potty hole. Maybe there are snakes in there or something. So there I stand, distraught mother with no idea what to do. I put her back in the tub and …viola! poop in the tub.
After this happened a couple of times, I put my thinking cap on and decided that maybe if I had a baby potty in the bathroom, near the bathtub, I could just put her on that and all my problems would be solved. It would be just her size. And why not? She might as well get used to the idea anyway.
So off to the baby store we went. I didn’t plan this but buying a baby potty became quite the event. Baby Bug and I went together and talked about it the whole way to the store. At the store we looked at the potties and she picked out the GREEN one, of course. I didn’t even know they made green potties. This was a very lucky break.
Baby Bug loves green. Really really really loves it. I think she eats grapes and lettuce, celery and broccoli just because they are green, not necessarily because she likes the taste of them. I gather this, since I often find them chewed and spit out later. Sigh….motherhood is so glamourous.
At the baby store, we found a book about going potty. (There was a movie too but I didn’t think we really needed that.) It was all very exciting. New book! New potty! It was like Christmas. I bet we could throw a party and have potty cupcakes and everyone would be totally into it. Well, maybe not the potty cupcake part.
Anyway, everything is all about the potty all the time at our house now. Baby Bug loves her potty. She wants to sit on it all the time. When I go to the bathroom, she goes with me and sings, “Mommy potty. Baby Potty!” over and over and over again.
I find her all over the house with her diaper off, talking about going to the potty. It’s actually becoming a bit of a pain in the neck and I find myself dressing her in onesies with snaps just so she can’t take her clothes off and run around.
Getting her to the potty is not that easy. We keep the back of the house (where the bathroom is) blocked off because that is where Toby’s office is and he needs it quiet to work. It’s bad enough that I go to the bathroom a million times already. Every time I open the door, every time I flush… it’s all within hearing distance of Toby’s office and he can be a bit grumpy when interrupted over and over again.
So you can imagine my distress when going potty is Baby Bug’s new favorite thing. Maybe I’ll have to move her little toilet to the kitchen or something. I don’t know.
Anyway, I thought I better blog about this because it is all very exciting and newsworthy in the world of Baby Bug. Since I don’t keep a baby book, I better record it here that Baby Bug has officially used her potty four times in the last three days.
I’m proud of her.
28 Comments
shy Victoria
yay BB!
familymclean
What an adventure! We started with a bang too and unfortunatly it fizzled and here we are at 25 months still dealing with the same thing, kinda roller coaster ish over here. Hope BB catches on quick….she has to everything else!
Justyna
Yay! That’s awesome!!! Way to go BB.
And yes put the potty in an area she can go by herself. I keep mine in the hallway. Hey it’s always clean, what’s the big deal, I move it when guests come. It’s a small european style potty seat so it’s out of the way.
Alissa
That is so exciting! She’s very clever with everything else so I’m sure she’ll do just as good at this. It’ll be a lovely day when there are no more diapers :)
Sarah
We had the exact same situation over here. I had read Diaper Free Before 3 so we had had a potty sitting around for some time. We just asked him sometimes if he wanted to sit on it and sometimes he did, other times he didn’t. He watched us go all the time. Then one time he just sat down and went! He hasn’t actually done it again but he is only 21 months. He has time…we’ll keep doing what we are doing and hopefully we will be diaper-free one of these days!
Go BB!
OMSH
Hey! Wow! Mer-bear had an interest at 18 months, but then lost interest until almost a year later. Kenny, however, had an interest at about 20 months and maintained that interest. He’d pee in the potty, but for a while he reserved his poop for a diaper. BUT…it was early compared to the girls!
Best of luck.
Potty training is NOT something I enjoyed – who does? It is POTTY training for crying out loud. But wow, it is a whole new world of public restrooms once they’re there.
Sam
This is so great! I am proud of Baby Bug, what a big girl!
Really – now that I’m teaching older 2 year old kidlets at a preschool, the worst part of the job is changing dirty diapers. Literally, sometimes I feel sick to my stomach – because at that point, it doesn’t seem like baby poop but grown up poop. So! We are working on potty training, too, with marshmellows as an incentive to TRY.
Also, I am way overdue on an email to you – it’s hanging out in my drafts – I’ll send it soon! Hopefully I haven’t offended you by not replying yet!
Angella
Yay for BB! If she’s interested, just go along with it. Who knows? Maybe she’ll be trained soon!
And then you’ll have to make potty cupcakes FOR SURE ;)
miss virginia
Hurray!!! One great tip I got when potty training my kids was to keep a little bit of water in the bowl of the baby potty…that way, the poop “floats” and it’s so much easier to dump in the big potty. It was always so easy to clean and not gross doing it that way.
GOOD LUCK!
SmocknMama
:)
yay! baby bug!
Lexi
I am SO jealous. Jordan is almost 4 and willfully refuses to use the potty. The more I suggest it, the more hard-headed he gets. No preschool this year I guess. Good thing his bday’s in Nov. so he gets an extra year before kindergarten.
justJENN
Excellent! My Kid was trained at 2 years and the Baby is pretty much there at 22 months. It saves plenty on diapers and man, it’s easier in general. That is until you are at the front of the line at a store and they announce, I HAVE TO PEE! Then you have to leave all your groceries and trudge out of there dejected…but I digress…
Michelle
It’s always exciting when our little ones pee and poop in the potty! We practically alerted the media when they all did it for the first time! That is great news! Go, Baby Bug! On another topic, the Wonder Pets are too cute! They actually have a cute episode about a puppy who has to, as the Wonder Pets say, “Wee-wee, pee-pee, tinkle!”. Then at the end, Ming-Ming says something about, “Celery is great after a good pee!” I can think of other things I’d rather have after said pee, but hey, whatever works for her, right :o)
I love the graphic of Baby Bug with her diaper off – too cute!
Take care,
Michelle
Susan too
My daughter was using the potty at the same age as BB, and I say go for it. She was in a diaper at night and naps just a bit longer. Just keep taking her there and soon you will notice you have had no wet diapers. BTW, my other child, a boy, took twice as long ans I do believe part of that was when he was interested at 2, I didn’t pursue it much because EVERYONE said he was too young. I regret that to this day.
Bethany
According to my mom, I was completely potty-trained, night and day, by the time I was 2, and my younger brother was done even earlier, by 22 months. And she wasn’t pushing either of us, we were just interested and ready. So it is possible! I agree that you should keep the potty someplace accessible to BB so she can use it whenever she wants to without having a big fuss. And the water idea is good, or I have also heard that lining the bottom of the bowl with cling-wrap is handy.
This might not be the end of potty-training, but even if she goes back to diapers for a while, you’ll be able to talk it up to her each time you change a diaper: “Remember when you went pee in the potty? Wasn’t that fun?” etc.
Good luck! :-)
adriana
That is so cool. I hope that she learns how to use it quickly. In parts of the world where plumbing and diapers are scarce, they manage to teach their kids to use the toilet or outhouse much quicker than we do here in the US. Think about it… the big corporations love parents who buy loads of diapers.
http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/
She can do it! Wow, she’s getting so big. :)
Even though all of this bathroom commotion is distracting for your husband, I’m sure that when it is all said and done, he will be happy that you are spending less on diapers and pleased that he doesn’t have to deal with the mess any more. Seriously though… get that man an office!
SmocknMama
P is for Potty.
but you already did ‘P’.
andrea
We have the same pretty green potty at our house too. I read “Diper Free Before Three” and decided to go out and buy a potty for the bathroom so once it was time I was prepared and so he could get used to seeing it in there. Well not two weeks later I started to notice a pattern to his dirty diapers and I thought, what the heck why not try to put him on it. Low and behold for over two months now he’s been going off and on in the potty. I wouldn’t go anywhere near calling him potty trained, but I think it is a great start!
jailgy
You were barely past 24 months yourself when you were trained. I remember. It was my assigned job when I stayed with your family the summer your brother was born. Don’t know if you regressed after I went home, though.
pinky
Potty training is one of the things about parenting a baby that I have ALWAYS been nervous about – I inherited my squeamishness from my mother, fair and square :-)
What I will never forget from my own youth is that my parents had a seat for the regular toilet that made it smaller for a baby bottom. It looked like a giant swan, to my toddler self. To my relief, I never associated large birds with going to the bathroom. Phew.
jo's mom
you were trained completely 2 weeks before your brother was born. a whole two weeks without a diaper bag to carry and i used cloth diapers so that was a nice. and you never regressed. you were so proud that you could wear panties even if they were the thick heavy ones. for special, you got to wear fancy lacy ones. love, your mom
bluejaye
The best advise I have is to take her shopping for “big girl panties”. Let her pick out her favorite and put them under the diaper. It’s the best way to tell when she is really wet but minimizes the mess. It worked for both of her cousins.
jailgy
Yeah, I remember your first pair of fancy panties. You wore them at my wedding and kept complaining that “my panties are in me”. That made for some funny pictures. (You were a cute flower girl, though)
Jenna
Nick is now 22(andahalfish) months. He’s been 1 & 2-ing on the normal toilet (with a ring) for about three months now. We’re not pushing. Sometimes he goes. Sometimes he doesn’t. I figure we’ll get there eventually.
Or, I hope.
Kuky
That’s so cool! Isabelle has no interest. She says “poooo” and we lift up her potty lid and she slams it close and says “NO!” and runs away to poop in a corner giving us the “don’t look at me while I’m pooping” looks.
MomnPop
Wellll, I ignored your warning and read on (even though I don’t have kids) but it was worth it! I’m very glad there are green potties out there for BB, and the potty cupcakes part was very funny. Only you would think of that. : )
rachel
Potty training is exciting because if you’ve been around little ones, you know what a big deal it is to them. I actually blurted out to a couple coworkers when my niece finally decided to poop in the potty. That was probably TMI. ;)
BeachMama
I loved potty training. Probobly because once J went on the potty there was no looking back. He was great! He first showed interest at 18 months but we were moving, so I thought I would wait the few weeks and then do it. Once we moved he wasn’t interested anymore, so we waited. And a year later he was trained. If she shows interest just keep going, think of the coin you will save in not buying diapers :), that was my motivation.