My Thoughts on Potty Training

Haylee is officially potty trained....and actually has been for a few weeks now!!  I have now proven my theory on potty training and I'm standing by it.  I talked to lots and lots and even more people when Garrett was a baby about how to potty train and when it was time to potty train him it worked....but was it because Garrett was easy or what it my method?  I am now convinced it was my method.  Garrett was pretty much potty trained (a few accidents here and there) at 26 months.  Haylee was potty trained at 21 months, both had NO problems.
I hear from a lot of people to wait until they are ready.  Wait until they are showing signs and want to do it.....WRONG!!  Do you wait until they are ready to go to bed or until they are ready to eat their vegetables?  What about waiting until they are ready have their vaccines.  YOU ARE THE PARENT......you decide when they are READY!!!  Neither one of my kids showed ANY interest in being potty trained!!  Neither one of them knew what under wear was, what a "big" kid meant, or asked to have their diaper off.  Now of course you have to be reasonable.  They have to be able to talk a LITTLE (meaning able to say ONE word....pee or potty or whatever their may be) to verbalize when they need to go....Haylee learned to say, "need pee"....that's it.  She's not talking in full sentences, but she can get her point across.
The first step is figuring out a time when you can stay home for a week or two.  No going out with the potty training child....no Target, no Wal-Mart, no grocery store, no babysitters.  (We went to church that week and that's IT....and she went to church in under wear....with only one outfit change)  If you need to go somewhere wait until your spouse gets home because the number one rule is NO MORE DIAPERS.......EVER!!!!!!  (except at bedtime).  NO PULL UPS EITHER!!  A pull up was invented by the makers of diapers to get your money a little longer.  They are pull up DIAPERS!!!  Kids need a change....the sensory aspects that trigger their little brain to make them realize...OH BOY, here it comes, I don't have a diaper anymore, I've got to GO!!!  They don't have time to ponder do I have a diaper on or do I not have one one.  They also need to feel yucky.  Feel very wet!!  Once those diaper are off and those big boy or big girl pants are on that's it!!  Don't put one on when you go out and take it off when you get home, back and forth.  How would you like all that confusion?  It's impossible to learn that way.   Buy a bunch of underwear (believe me you'll need a lot!!) and that's what they wear from the moment they wake up to the time they go to bed.  I prefer to put them in thick ply underwear and some jammy pants or shorts (easy to get up and down) to prevent the accident from reaching the floor, but keeping them naked is ok too.

Day 1:  Sit on the potty every 30 minutes all day long!!  Push the fluids so they have to pee more and sit there......read books, play with toys, whatever it takes to keep them there until they pee....and when they pee do the most embarrassing excited dance ever!!  Give them an M&M, sticker, or whatever they view as "I DID AN AWESOME JOB!!"  If they start to get upset sitting on the potty let them get up for 5 minutes and then sit on the potty again!!  If they have an accident, DO NOT GET MAD!!  They have pee'd on themselves for over a year or two, they are LEARNING!!  But do be firm.....take them to the potty and say "YUCKY!!!  We go potty in the potty!!  Make them sit there for a minute or so....then 20-30 minutes start all over again!!

Day 2:  Start off like day 1, but as you see they might be getting the idea  (a tiny bit... for example they realize when they go instead of just sitting there and not even knowing they did something) continue taking them every 30 minutes but if they haven't gone in 5 minutes let them get up and play for 10 minutes or so....then take them again.  If they still haven't gone after about 5 minutes, take them about every 5 minutes until they go.

Day 3 (or 4, 5, 6, or 7 depending on fast they pick it up): When they start going as soon as you sit them there....where they realize, I have to do something (go pee) to get up or I get an M&M if I go, take them every 45 mins-1 hour.

Be consistent and like I said before NO MORE DIAPERS!!  They might where a diaper at night for a few weeks or maybe another year.  Garrett continually pee'd the bed until he was three and then I stopped letting him wear a diaper to bed.  I just took it away like the beginning....I was changing the bed EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!  But after a few weeks I started changing the bed 2-3 times a week, and then once a week, and then hardly ever!!  It also took Garrett several months not to pee during nap time where as Haylee is already wearing underwear at nap time.
When you finally do adventure out bring changeS of clothes.  Going in public is a little harder for the little ones.  They get distracted and forget they need to go, they are in strange places, etc, but don't give in and put a diaper on them because you are only doing it for YOURSELF, not them!!!
You will do a lot of laundry and they might have any where from 2 accidents to 20 accidents those first few days....you might tell yourself the first week they are NOT getting it (I did) but stick with it....THEY WILL!!

I promise if you stick with this plan for 2 weeks you will have a potty trained child!!