I decided to bite the bullet and begin potty training my almost 3 year old. Let me just say before I had kids, I never imagined that is how I would be planning to spend my weekend!

Preparation:

We were very prepared. We got Charlotte excited for her sparkly potty seat, the huge new sticker chart hanging on our wall, new underwear with her favorite characters all over them, and a fancy new water bottle to keep everything ~flowing~.

Bribery:

I’ve yet to find a potty training method that doesn’t use bribery at it’s very core, so we stocked up on shiny stickers and  M&Ms! If you have heard of a way to train without promising sugary treats or a fancy prize- let me know!

Accidents:

I expected accidents. I was armed with a spray disinfectant and paper towels. I wasn’t as well prepared for the fact that my child could not care less if she has an accident. At first I thought we’d able to keep our normal routine, just with many potty breaks. But soon I discovered that if I didn’t hover around her like some bathroom obsessed helicopter, she’d never tell me about the accidents. After one gross surprise in my hallway, I followed her like a potty monster’s shadow.

Successes: 

We did have a few! If you put a child on a potty seat every 15-20 minutes, you’re bound to eventually time it right and get to perform the “pee-pee in the potty” dance.

Funny moments:

Bathroom humor really never gets old. Especially when you combine it with a rambunctious and clever toddler like Charlotte. After each accident, she’d walk over to her potty sticker chart and wail for a new sticker because in her words- “I WENT PEE I GET STICKER!”

When asked by her grandmother how training was going she simply replied “I peed once. I done training.”

Verdict:

24 hours, 4 loads of laundry and a bajillion “Do you have to go potty!?” questions later and we’ve decided that both we and she just are not ready for this adventure yet. It has to be a cooperative effort from both the parents and the child. You’re never going to get a child who doesn’t want to or care about the potty to be trained. I’m sure we’ll try again in a few weeks.

Also I ate all our M&Ms, and couldn’t get to the store.