Potty Training Munchkin

Potty training was not something I was looking forward to at all especially with an infant.  My friends have been embarking on the potty training adventures and I knew it was time for us to start.  I’ve heard horror stories from friends about potty training.  Growing up I heard from my mom how easy it had been to potty train me.  Basically I wanted to wear big girl underwear so bad that I stopped going in my diaper.  I also had an iron bladder as a kid which helped. I was hoping it wouldn’t be as hard as I had heard and wasn’t too hopeful Munchkin would be as easy on me as I was on my mom.





It was a normal day at the end of January and The Man and I were talking, again, about potty training Munchkin.  We’ve had a Minnie Mouse potty for her in the bathroom since she was 18 months.  She’s sat on it plenty of times and enjoyed pushing down the hand for the “Hooray!” sounds it makes.  But to actually sit on it to go? Nope, she wasn’t interested.  She wasn’t interested in wearing big girl underwear, even the ones with her favorite characters on them (we have Minnie, Cinderella, Ariel, Snow White and Belle.)   We would have her sit on the potty before tubby time but more often than not she didn’t do anything.  When she did, we made a big deal out of it but she still didn’t seem to care.  Munchkin wasn’t really showing any signs that she was interested in potty training. The Man and I were done having to change her diaper…she seemed so big compared to the baby!  Diapers just seemed like a waste!  So I mentioned that maybe we should just let her run around nakey and make her sit on the potty every 20-30 minutes.  Later that night,  before tubby, Munchkin pooped on the potty. It was AMAZING to not have to clean a poopy bum!

So the next day The Man decided to do just that!  When Munchkin woke up, he took of her diaper and had her sit on the potty.  When she was done he put a skirt on her.  He told her that if she need to go pee pee she needed to go on the potty.  Every thirty minutes or so one of us took her to the potty. When she did go, we made a HUGE deal out of it, dancing, singing, high fives and fist bumps.  She loved the positive reinforcement.  We did get some stickers and a chart.  We used that for three or four days and then we all forgot about it.  Munchkin enjoyed the stickers while they lasted.
For the next several days Munchkin ran around the house commando with a skirt or a dress.  The first few days we we took her to the potty every thirty minutes.  Then we started spacing it out.  Nana bought her some pull ups and we used those for night times and for going out.  It got to the point pretty quickly where she started telling us she needed to go.  Then we started putting undies and pants on her.  The first two times she forgot and started to go. She stopped and ran to the potty.  We changed her clothes and told her it was no big deal.  After that she never went in her pants again.

After about a week we were heading to Target and I went to put a pull up on Munchkin but she didn’t want it.  I didn’t force it and we headed to Target in regular big girl undies.  She did great, no accidents at all.  Then a few days later we went to Oregon for the weekend.  We had her in a pull up on the way down and back and even though she didn’t want to go potty while we were traveling, she stayed dry the whole time!  She was dry again during a Costco/Winco trip.  Then one night she fell asleep before we got a chance to put a pull up on.  She stayed dry all night long, with one wake up in the night to go potty.  Munchkin has had one small night time accident and was pretty upset by it.  We just keep telling her it’s ok, accidents happen and that’s she’s doing great.

The Man and I weren’t sure when we could consider Munchkin potty trained.  We decided that since she stays dry during the night and tells us when she needs to go  that she’s potty trained!  We’re loving it.  It’s great to not be dealing with diapers for her anymore!  I’m so, so thankful that it was so much easier and quicker than I expected. Now to pray that Punkin is as easy on us as her sister!