How I: Potty Trained Petit Joel.

Hello and Happy Wednesday! 

Thank you for all the nice comments and emails I received from you about my last post. Let’s stay within the baby department a bit longer, shall we? The thought of potty training Petit Joel made me think about splitting an atom instead. My mom told me that my siblings and I were all clean by the time we were two years old. Even at night. The reason was most likely cloth diapering. I never used cloth diapers for Joel, simply because I wanted to change the diaper, throw it away and be done with it. We also travel a lot so regular diapers were more convenient for us. I received an email from one of Petit Joel’s future daycare centers saying that he needs to be diaper-free to join this particular place. Well, we would like to put him in this daycare but it starts in September. How can we get him off those diapers?

Petit Joel showed little signs of being ready to let go of the diapers. He told me whenever he dirtier his diaper for example. And usually in the morning he said, “Me, no diaper”. So I let him run around without. This transition started a couple of weeks ago and he was fine running around in underwear in the backyard due to this warm weather. He hated the potty and did not want to sit on it. No chance. Also, he was/is afraid of a regular toilet. Some friends told me that he won’t be clean for a long time because I missed the chance. I should have started earlier to train him. So what do I do?

I changed him in the morning and put underwear on. Then I told him to tell me whenever he needs to go to the bathroom and that I will help him. He peed his pants again. He did number 2 in his underwear once! And then I came up with an idea. Without threatening him or screaming, I told him that whenever he needs to do number 2 he can tell me and I give him a diaper. As far as peeing, I told him he does not have to sit on the regular toilet but stand in front of it to pee and I threw the potty away. Done! 

He was clean within 3 days! He is diaper free the entire day, tells me when he needs to pee and I help him pull down his pants. He asks for a diaper for number 2 every single time. I never thought it would be that easy. Yesterday morning the diaper was completely dry. He woke up and asked to go to pee on the regular toilet. Say whaaaaat? I thought I could never make him go to the toilet. I seriously could not believe it – he picked up on it so quickly.

There was one accident the other day because he did not know how to tell my friend that he needs to pee. I think accidents will still happen here and there, but deep inside he has the whole pee/number 2 thing down. 

Le husband and I bought a potty a long time ago to get Petit Joel familiar with it. I kept it in the bathroom  and sometimes I took him with me to show him what this business is all about. No interest all this time however. He was seriously scared of the potty but fine peeing outside on the grass. I just made it a game. I told him I am proud of him. I gave him little stickers or sometimes a piece of homemade chocolate. I think staying positive is key. And trying over and over again without getting angry about an accident is important. I also made sure to ask him regularly if he needs to go to the bathroom. It is pretty obvious when a child needs to go; however not always. I asked him every 30 minutes or so but made him relax and feel comfortable about the whole thing. This works for us for now. Maybe it helps you.