I’m talking about Elsie, of course, and as far fetched as it may sound we did potty train in one day. Or rather, she trained herself. I can’t really take any credit for it.
Last week I was doing what most parents at their wits end do (no, I didn’t get drunk – not this time anyway), I turned to Google. I tapped in ‘how to potty train a 3 year old’. We’ve had almost two years of two kids in nappies and that’s about a year too long for my liking so I felt I needed to take action. After potty training two others you’d think I’d have some idea but I was at a bit of a loss and needed some guidance.
All the forums and all the websites I read suggested that pull-ups were the devils work and no good for teaching a toddler when they’re wet so, the next day after the school run, we ditched the pull-ups in favour of knickers. Almost within the hour Elsie had wet herself and I explained she needed to let me know before she does it so we can get to the potty on time. I wondered if I’d made a massive mistake but persevered nonetheless – she needed to know what being wet felt like.
Geez, I thought I pee’ed a lot but it’s nothing compared to a potty training three year old! Elsie must have gone to the toilet 10 times that day and each time she actually made it to the potty – had she cracked it? I presumed it was a one off and that the next day she’d have forgotten all about it.
We popped her into a pull-up for bed that evening and then popped her back into knickers in the morning. However, before putting her knickers on Elsie sat on the toilet and did a wee. This continued on and Elsie didn’t do any accidents until around 5pm that day – I think she was just tired and distracted playing with big sister.
A week later and we’ve had a handful of accidents. We’ve also noticed that her pull-ups are now dry in the morning too and she seems to be holding her bladder until she gets on the potty or toilet. Elsie doesn’t seem fussed whether she uses the potty or toilet which is great – especially when we’re out and about and I don’t have enough hands to carry the potty as well.
We’re not going to brave knickers at night just yet but I think it’s safe to say, after a couple of days with no accidents, that she’s cracked it!
