Sunday, June 24, 2012

Potty Training

Theme: Potty Training
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!