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Thinking back at all the fruit snacks and the two trucks we got him, it was all worth it to see our toddler go to the potty on his own.
Our toddler has been officially potty trained for more than a month. I say officially since he no longer has accidents while he’s playing with his toys. The best part is, he will go to the potty before he leaves the house and after he arrives.
Related content: Potty Training Part Deux
Although I can’t take all the credit, he has been a trooper in all this. And it did help that his preschool worked with him on a daily basis to get him to let go of his Pull-Ups. One thing they didn’t work on was actually pooping in the toilet.
Seeing Jeff and me, as well as his former classmates, go to the potty really triggered our toddler to want to use the toilet. He’s always been curious as to what Jeff and I were doing on it, but he finally understood when it was his turn.
I will admit that I did push him at first. I tried potty training our toddler before he turned one. He did pee within 10 minutes of his first time on the potty but never peed again until he was about two.
Stepping Up
Our toddler has been using his potty for a long time, but not for peeing or pooing. His potty has three functions: it’s a step; a potty; and an adapter for regular toilets.
We received it a month before our toddler was born and he’s been attached to it ever since he could walk. It’s helped him reach many objects, including the ones I’ve tried to hide from him.
With the use of thousands of tiny fruit snacks and even chocolate, we’ve successfully potty trained our toddler. And bribing him with prizes like a fire truck and a dump truck.
We used the fruit snacks to help with getting him to sit on the toilet. Oh, and there were moments we’d throw in the iPad as well. The first truck was his reward for going to the potty for an entire week. The second was for not having any accidents. I was against our toddler getting the second truck, but Jeff doesn’t mind buying more toys since he’s not the one cleaning up.
Within 20 minutes of using both, he would pee or poop. And for a period of time, you’d know when he had to poop because he’d ask us to put on Peppa Pig. I don’t know how or why, but he loves that show.
Now our toddler makes his way to the bathroom and sits on the toilet without assistance. It’s pretty funny because he’ll be playing with his LEGO blocks and suddenly he’s off to the bathroom for a couple of minutes. When he returns, he lets you know what he did: “I did poopoo, and chichi!”
In about a year, we’ll be helping our infant learn to use the bathroom, and it may go a lot smoother. At least that’s what we hope.
We may do things differently this time around. Below I’ve listed three things:
We may go for a healthier option, like fruit snacks.
I see where my toddler gets his sweet tooth because I’m addicted to fruit snacks. I would probably go for healthier options that contain more fruit juices and no artificial flavoring.
We may skip Pull-Ups.
Although using Pull-Ups may have been a blessing, it was more of a burden. They’re more expensive than diapers and you need the Night-Time version if you want to avoid pee puddles in the morning.
We won’t put pressure on our youngest.
I feel as though we rushed our toddler to get potty trained and I never really gave him the time to fully understand why using the potty was important. Thankfully, he was such a trooper about everything. I don’t know how our infant may react once he develops more of a personality.