Honey Pot is 2 Years and 1 Month Old
Honey Pot has been using the potty an average of 4-5 times
for the past couple of weeks, so we decided to use this weekend to potty train
her before she did it herself! And, of course, I had to make a tot school theme
out of it…because that’s what I do!
Potty Book
About a month ago, we bought Honey Pot this book, by Leslie
Patricelli. She has enjoyed it so much. The text is so simple and the pictures
so cute. You watch the baby decide to use the potty instead of diapers, and
then he/she sits for pages and pages trying to go. Finally the baby goes
“tinkle tinkle toot” (which became a phrase we now often use). The last page
just says “UNDIES!” and shows a whole bunch of colorful ones. So that inspired
my first activity while gearing up for the big day.
Potty Coloring Pages
I created three coloring pages in Photoshop Elements for
Honey Pot. I found the outline of undies through a Google search, then added
different coloring pages within them: Mickey and Friends, Little Einsteins and
Pooh and Friends.
Then, on the day before we began, she colored them in with
markers.
She enjoyed playing with the caps too!
Good-Bye, Diapers
On Saturday morning we made a big deal out of putting the
diapers away to Honey Pot’s pajama shelf. We had her carry them over herself, and
explained that she would only wear them at bedtime (and naptime).
The Potty Train
Although we had been giving Honey Pot M&Ms as rewards
for her success on the potty so far, I wanted to take it to another level to
emphasize how important this was. So I decided to give her stickers as well.
Where would she put all these stickers? Why, on the Potty Train of course! I
found a locomotive coloring page, and then created the box cars in Photoshop
Elements of about the same size, where she could put the stickers. And she
colored those in with crayons.
For each pee on the potty she got two stickers, and for each
poopy she got three.
We hung the undies above the train for inspiration.
And of course, choosing which colored smiley face sticker
you want is a big and exciting ordeal!
Other Strategies
There
are just about as many methods to potty training as there are children to potty
train. So we had to pick and choose which we would do. In addition to what is
mentioned above, we did the following:
- Honey Pot walked around in a shirt and undies all weekend.
- We provided her with a nearly endless supply of juice and liquids on the first day.
- We gave her water-based fruits like watermelon and cantaloupe, and salty snacks like pretzels to keep her drinking.
- We never asked her, "Do you have to use the potty?" but instead reminded her occasionally where it was and that we would help her when she had to go.
- We hung out at home all weekend, always with a potty in the room (or out on the deck!) with us.
Final Reward
On the second day of the weekend, Honey Pot was accident
free! The Potty Train looked like this:
As you can see, she put those stickers all over...onto the undies, the locomotive, the box cars, the wheels...and, though you can't tell from this picture, in some places there are 3-4 stickers layered on top of one another. I guess she enjoyed the challenge of lining them up. (I see another tot school activity in her future!)
We celebrated her victory with ICE CREAM! Toppings
included mini M&Ms, rainbow sprinkles, hot fudge and cherries. YUMMY!
