Going Potty!

 It's a subject that raises lots of eye brows; anxiety; frustration; under the breath whispered disapproval and smug smiles.The build-up often requires months of preparation; book purchases; the stock piling of undergarments; watching the long term weather forecast looking for a spell of good weather; ensuring the washing machine is in tip top condition; sticker charts and sweeties (or beads if you have a sugar aversion) and the purchase of a suitable recepticle whilst your little lad or lady is wearing their L plates.

What is this big event of which I speak?

Potty Training of course!

Potty Training is the toddler right of passage as they leave behind the nappies that rather nicely protect their little tushies from tumbles and stumble (or dribble) towards the coveted title of "Big Boy or Girl".

Pirate Pete (Amazon)
After months of debating; wondering when I'd have some spare time to dedicate towards managing the big event; ignoring endless comments from my sister about why Pip was still wearing nappies; reading Pirate Pete; trying out wee's on the big boy toilet; talking about the big event and quite frankly waiting for some better weather Pip woke up on Good Friday with the news that from today he was going to be a Big Boy and ditch the daytime nappies.

I'll be honest and say that I've been very laid back about the whole potty training business.  I feel no sense of expectation about when the deed needed to be done.  I felt no need to compete for the title of Youngest Potty Trained Child in the World, nor had any sense of competition with anyone else's children.  Pip hadn't wanted to ditch the nappies at Christmas and quite clearly stated he still wanted to be a little boy!  So I approached the big day with a very realistic sense of what will be will be.  If he worked with the plan then that was brilliant.  If he wasn't feeling ready then we would just delay until the summer holidays.

So armed with lots of new elasticated waisted joggers and trousers and shorts; a ton of new boxer shorts; Katie's old potty; a new wall mounted urinal; a new portable potty; some Smarties and the first week of the Easter Holidays totally clear we turned our attention to mastering the potty.

I have to say my 3 and a half year old son was a total star!  He cottoned on very quickly to what was expected of him.  By Day 2 he accepted that the era of the daytime nappy was gone forever and turned his attention to getting as many wee's in his variety of potties as possible.  The urinal was a massive hit (literally as Pip loves aiming for the spinner at the back of the potty).  
New Frog Children Potty Toilet Training Kids Urinal for Boys
Of course we had accidents in those first few days.  The washing machine was on permanently and we used up a lot of kitchen roll and I remembered how much I hate emptying potties with poo in them (why does that seem even worse than grotty nappies?) but slowly and surely the accidents became fewer and fewer and the sense of pride and achievement in Pip's eyes and smile was clear for everyone to see.

On Day 3, which was Easter Sunday I told Pip I wasn't giving him Smarties for using the toilet because he had so much Easter chocolate to eat.  He was totally cool about it so we stopped Smartie rewards on that day and never looked back.  Motivated by High Fives and lots of praise Pip has been happy and going about his business.

On Day 4 I accidentally put him to bed without a nappy on. It was a total oversight and not planned and I didn't even realise until he asked to go to the toilet the next morning.  I was amazed - he had been totally dry all night! I was enormously relieved at this because he'd crept into our new bed during the night.  I would have been very unhappy to have the mattress christened so quickly! I then had the dilemma of having to consciously put him to bed minus the nappy the following night to see if it was a fluke.  I didn't feel confident to be honest and made preparations with a waterproof sheet on the bed.  I was right.  He wasn't ready and it had been a fluke but his overnight nappies are almost close to being ready and he is taking his nappy off to have his morning wee so I'm seriously impressed with him.

In the middle of the first week of the holidays Katie hurt her foot doing one handed cartwheels in the lounge so a trip to the Minor Injuries Clinic was required.  You can imagine how excited I was about taking a newly potty training boy for several hours wait there.  Armed with our new "My Carry Potty" we set off and my little man managed to get all his wee's in the right place, even asking to use the toilet in the waiting area.  Thankfully nothing was broken in Katie's foot so we were on our way home and dry again within 2 hours.

My Carry Potty (ebay)
Feeling more confident after that event we started going out and about. Pip was utterly amazing.  He had far fewer accidents than I carried spare clothing for.  We managed long days out with confidence, going out to country parks and play areas.  Pip started taking himself off to use the potty and the big boy toilet on his own.  He confidently mastered doing poo's with great maturity and is slowly starting to be able to hold his wee whilst we find a toilet or are driving in the car.

Pip has now gone back to Pre-School excited that he can use the urinal with all the other boys.  We've only had a few accidents at school which highlighted we perhaps needed a few additional pairs of trainers just to be on the safe side.  This was followed by a few days of him not quite getting to the toilet or potty on time.
 "I missed it" said Pip glumly.  We reassured him and told him how proud of him we were for how well he was doing and he was quickly back on track, taking control of his own bodily functions with great independence.  We do have a little issue of him wanting to flush the toilet before wiping himself and also putting far too much paper down the toilet just for fun but it's what I'd expect from a little lad.

Three weeks on he coped on a day out to watch the Brighton Marathon last weekend.  I put him in a pull up for the drive and the day (don't judge me) just for my own convenience really but told him that it was just there to protect him.  Bless him, he stayed dry for the whole day.  Not one single accident or wee in the pull up. Considering we had stayed overnight in a hotel and had a busy day I think that is a major achievement.  In fact I think I can now be so bold as to say I think he's cracked it!

My little boy is now a BIG BOY!!

Well done Pip!


  1. Had to smile at this post as we started training our (nearly) 3 year old during the Easter holidays and I've literally just got back to my cup of tea having dealt with an accident of the solid sort (sorry!) and read your post.

    Ps, been following your blog since we made our initial enquiries into adopting... Now seeing quite a few parallels with your experiences and ours a year after our son arrived :)

    1. Aaaaah gotta love the solid sorts although not as much as the mushy ones down the legs.....

      It's interesting how much changes once you're placed and everyone starts to settle isn't it? We didn't seem to have many issues in the early days but they were there, just not as prominent as they are now. What sort of parallels are you seeing? Xx

    2. Mainly things like rejecting daddy (almost punishing him for daring to go out to work) I think you had that in your early days. Also, I'm keeping an eye on his ability to regulate emotions and trying to pick out what is just standard (very energetic, and strong willed) toddler behaviour and what maybe isn't. We're also getting some speech therapy help which (I think) you had with Pip... This part appears to be getting better with little invention though which is promising.

      There are others which have occurred to me as I've read but I can't think of them right now - It's been a looooong day :)

    3. Aaaah yes the rejection one. We still get that even now. Thankfully Pip is more well balanced with his love except when he wants something then apparently only Mummy is capable of doing anything!

      It is so hard when you start to suspect that things might not be quite right but waiting to see how things develop. For a long time I started to wonder about Katie but it wasn't u til her behaviour stopped being age appropriate that we tally jumped into action. It was a long time though.

      We considered speech therapy for Pip but he suddenly galvanised himself into action hen he was about 2 and a half and now he speaks fantastically. There are some sounds he still struggles with though and I have to ask him to repeat himself. Thankfully he's very good natured about the repeating when I tell him I'm struggling to understand him. How old is your little pickle now? Xx

    4. He's 3 next month. Like Pip he suddenly came out with a full blown vocabulary over Christmas after months of not even putting 2 words together. Again, like Pip he struggle with certain sounds (such as "S" when it's at the start of a word, and some vowels) but he's a little chatterbox and generally quite happy to repeat himself...

      Hopefully with Katie's diagnosis now and your fantastic support, things will begin to turn a corner. It's a long journey parenthood, isn't it? Tough sometimes, but then they do or say something so sweet, you melt a little inside :D

    5. Pip has a smile that could get him out of any mischief he's got himself into. I do melt daily with him. Little monkey. He gives me a run for my money.

      One thing I've always noticed about Pip is that he's a bit more baby-like compared to his friends. The gap is closing now but it felt quite marked for a long time. I realised that he was about 7 months behind, the age he was when he came to us. I think he regressed with the move to us and has been playing catch up ever since. Once I realised that and could see his development was in line with a child 7 months younger I stopped worrying so much and have just allowed him to find his own pace. Having said that he's well ahead with his gross motor skills but behind with his fine motor skills. Also he's a real boy if you know what I mean? He's an outdoor spirit. He wants to run and jump and be busy and find bugs, not make marks on paper. I wonder if you can see similar parallels with your son re his development? Is he behind in correlation with the age he was when you adopted him? Xx


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