Olivia's Potty Training

Olivia has decided that it's time to start potty training.  Most mothers would be thrilled with this.  I am not most mothers.  It's not that I don't LOVE potty training--who DOESN'T?!?! It's that I realize, even if she doesn't, that she's still too young.  I was listening to two moms talk at the Y yesterday, clearly on their first round of potty training.  I sympathized.  I read everything I could get my hands on about potty training when Caden was going through it, but it wasn't until Ellie that I really got it.  You don't potty train your kids.  They do it.  It's the first big leap of independence-the first big loss of control as a parent.  "The Experts" have all different kinds of signs you should look for when you're ready to potty train a child.  They stop what they're doing with they have to go.  They tell you when they need a diaper change.  They show an interest when YOU use the potty.  They go for longer periods of time with a dry diaper.  They fail to mention my two favorite cues that your child is ready to potty train.  1.  They can get their pants up and down by themselves.  This, to me, is key.  If your kids can't dress and undress him/herself, this isn't going to be a successful potty training attempt.  Second, they have to be able to reach the toilet.  This is my preference.  I don't use potty seats.  To me, it's another transition that I don't want to make.  After going through the whole potty training thing I don't want to transition them from one potty to the other.



Olivia can't get her pants up and down on her own nor get on or off the potty alone.  She only tells me when she's gone, not when she has to go, yet she wants to sit on the potty.  So she is.  I'm not going to tell her no, I want to encourage her to potty train, but I also know that she's a long way off from any kind of potty training success.  Soooo, that means we're in for a long time of potty training.  Yeah.

I will throw out one useful tip to anyone who's potty training or has little bottoms around their house a lot.  When we moved we got new toilet seats in the two bathrooms the kids use.  I wish I'd had them when Caden and Ellie needed them!  They're a standard toilet seat, but the lid has a little potty seat that attaches magnetically to it.  When you lift the lid, the magnet holds the little seat up, but you can pull it down to fit on top of the bigger seat for little bottoms.  It was only $30 at Lowe's and I guess Target has them too.

There's a child climbing all over me and "taking notes" with a pen, making it VERY difficult to type.  Therefore, blog over.