Erin Akin Carroll

Note: I decided to do the potty training post. There are “potty” words in the post. If you don’t care about reading any of this, then just skip on over. Apologies in advance. 

Now that this is out of the way…

Any of my friends can tell you that I was so stressed about the idea of potty training. When Hudson was just over two years old we gave the “3 day potty training method” a good two-day try. And then I lost my mind. And my patience. And Hudson just wasn’t getting it. And the last thing in the world he ever wanted to do was sit on the potty. Especially sit on the potty every 15 minutes.

There was never a moment when he came to get me to tell me he needed to use the potty. So we stopped potty training, put on some diapers, and promised to revisit it.

At Hudson’s two year old well visit, his pediatrician told me that we needed to serious about potty training or completely potty trained by his three year old well visit. We didn’t exactly meet that deadline. Hudson turned 3 on June 5, we had his well visit on June 15th, and then on June 28th we went to my parents’ house.

I decided to just tackle it while we were with my parents. Because Hayes is just all over the place right now, I wanted an extra set of hands for a couple of days so Hayes didn’t have to spend the whole day standing in his crib while I sat with Hudson in the bathroom.

When I got to my parents’ house, my dad and I went out and bought a little seat that sits on the toilet. I didn’t want to use a little potty seat. So we got the little seat for the toilet, a step stool, and lots of character underwear.

On Monday, July 2, Hudson got up for the day and I told him to say goodbye to his diapers. So we put the diapers away. (We didn’t throw them away because Hayes will totally be using them in a few months.) Then I let him choose which underwear he was going to wear.

He walked around in his brand new underwear. I told him to let me know if he needed to go tee tee.  About twenty minutes later, he came and got me and told said, “Mommy, can you get a paper towel please?”

He had an accident.

So we sat on the potty for a few minutes and he never went. He went back to playing and about thirty minutes later had another accident. We cleaned it up and sat on the potty again, but he never went.

Then he didn’t go again for four hours! He just held it and held it.

And then he pooped in his underwear. I took him to the bathroom and we cleaned it up and flushed the poop. Hudson sat on the potty and then he peed! And he got so excited!

And then he got 5 jelly beans for his success.

So we put the underwear back on and went back to playing. About an hour later, he said, “Mommy! Hurry! I have to tee tee in the potty!”

So we ran to the bathroom, and he sat down and that was it. He got it! He had two accidents at the very beginning of the first day and then he got it. And, other than an accident at our friend’s house that weekend, he hasn’t had another “wet” accident in three weeks!

Now… the poop took a few more days. (Sorry I keep having to say poop.)

Hudson went in his underwear on Monday. Then again on Tuesday. And then he didn’t go at all on Wednesday. On Thursday, we played in the baby pool outside and he was kind of running around the house naked after that. I could tell he was uncomfortable and needed to go because he was kind of whining. I just knew.

So I took him to the potty and just told him to try. About three seconds later it was over. He’d done it! We called everyone to the bathroom and had a celebration.

And he got 10 jelly beans for that success!

And he hasn’t had another “dirty” accident since that day. Now he comes and gets us every time he needs to go. And now he wants us to close the door and give him some privacy. I don’t blame him. Maybe he’ll give me some privacy when I’m in the restroom now.

He wears a pull up for naps and bed time. Sometimes he wakes up dry, but not often. He insisted on wearing his underwear for a nap one day and it went well. And then the next day it didn’t go well at all. So I think we’ll give him a couple of months before trying to jump that hurdle.

So this is what we didn’t do:

• No charts
• No stickers
• No 15 minute timers
• No sitting on the potty for hours

One of the reasons I delayed so long was because Hudson never ever wanted to talk about going to the potty. When we’d ask him about it he would say, “NO POTTY!” He was not interested.

For some reason, I am more proud of this accomplishment for Hudson than I am about birthing a 10 pound baby!

And one of my fears was that we’d start the training process too early for him and it would go on for a year. I didn’t want to have a year of accidents every time we left the house. I wanted him to start and I wanted it to click. I didn’t want these giant battles.

The truth is, potty training was completely out of my control. All I could do was create a positive environment and try not to stress him out.

I do have a hilarious story. When we drove back from Indiana, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for lunch and Hudson had his first public restroom experience. I was changing Hayes’s diaper at the changing station and my mom took Hudson to the potty. I could hear him protesting and saying he didn’t want to sit on that potty. And then I heard him say, “It’s working!!!” He was so excited!

So I really don’t have any advice because I think this is just what worked for Hudson. It was an incredibly positive, stress-free experience. I was praying the night before we started that I would have patience and be understanding. And I just prayed that we wouldn’t butt heads.

I’m really proud of Hudson for reaching this milestone and crossing this big hurdle. And now that I’ve potty trained one child, I know that I don’t need to be so scared about potty training another one when the time is right.