The Chair

This training potty has been in our home for about two months. JillyBean has been introduced to the concept of going "wet" in a big-girl potty for a little while and we made the decision to start potty training her at 18 months. Well, we missed that mark by a month and are doing it for real this month. Actually, we're going to start in two weeks - the week of Thanksgiving because we have no outside activities planned (no Mother Goose Time, no Kindermusik, and no Little Gym). We're going to stay home and do a potty training boot camp and see how it goes.

We have made the decision not to use Pull Ups because I really want JillyBean to know that she's wet. I understand that the Pull Ups get cold when they're wet, but it can't be the same thing. So, after doing a lot of research I ordered Potty Patty training pants. They arrived on Friday making this whole exercise very real. Up until now Bean goes potty at bath time and each morning after she gets out of bed. We have made this a routine and I have noticed that every now and again she'll ask to go on her own. She has been letting us know that she's wet for some time so now we need to get her figure out how to let us know ahead of time.

I never really realized what a commitment potty training is but, like everything else with kids, consistency is the key. I have learned from other moms that the best way to do it is to stay home and really reinforce using the "big" potty. My Grandmother potty trained me when I was 12 months old and I'm sure it's because she was so focused on it. I believe that the parent has to be in the right frame of mind just like the child. If I'm not ready then she'll never be ready. But she's been giving us signals that she is ready to make this next step so I have got to prepare myself.

There are books on how to train in a day or three days but I don't want to be that hard core. We're going to work on it for the week and if it works then great and if not, we'll try it again another time.