Anastasya had been letting me know when she’s pooped or peed in her diaper for a while now. When I go to the bathroom she wants to talk about what I’m doing and she wants to sit on her potty too. Sometimes when she has to poo she’ll actually go to her potty and sit alone to do her business (in her diaper). So I took these all as signs that maybe she’s ready to be Potty Trained.
I asked my husband if we could do potty training Memorial Day weekend, but then he had to work, so we postponed it. He ended up getting a Friday off so we can focus on her getting potty trained. It was also Father’s Day Weekend.
That whole weekend was a hot mess! She can hold her bladder for a long period of time, but once she’s ready to go, instead of going in the toilet, she was going on the floor… No matter how often I took her to the potty, as soon as we walked away, she’d go on the floor.
I had some preconceptions of potty training. This is my first time doing it so I had NO idea how it was going to go, but I had some expectations. Based on what my friends that have kids told me, I thought maybe by Sunday she would have a pretty good grasp on going to the Potty… Well, that’s what I hoped! Didn’t necessarily go that way.
I want to share our journey with you for that whole week. There’s a happy ending to this story, but let me start off by saying that for sure every child is different and it’s ok if they don’t get it on the first day, or even if they don’t get it on the 3rd day! But, they WILL eventually get it.
FRIDAY
Friday morning we started the day with breakfast and we talked about what we were going to do. We finished breakfast, took the diaper off of her, took her to the potty, sat her down and just talked to her. We explained what was happening. We wanted to try to pee and poop only in the potty. I also told her that if by the end of the day she could pee at least once in the potty I would give her a gift!
The morning started off realllyyyyy rough 😅 Many accidents happened. She didn’t make it to the toilet once, and that was ok. I knew it wouldn’t happen right away. We cleaned up multiple times. We explained to her each time (without getting upset) that it was ok but that we wanted to try to make it to the potty.
While she napped, I did some more research on potty training. Read more blogs and watched some videos. I found a couple of charts and ended up printing one out for her. I remembered she had some stickers so I figured for the rest of the day I can start using that as a rewards as well.
After her nap (she slept in a diaper) we got her up, took her DRY diaper off (🙌🏼), took her to the potty and she didn’t pee. But at some point before bedtime she peed Twice in her potty!! We cheered her on and praised her for doing her business. She got to put stickers on her chart. Then at the end of the day, I did as I promised. I gave her a gift.
At bedtime we put a diaper on her again and we started all over the next morning.
SATURDAY
Saturday morning we started immediately with taking her diaper off and going to the bathroom. She didn’t want to go in the potty. She kind of groaned and moaned so I let her get off. She walked away and peed right next to the couch. 😑
Again, it was all expected. I knew this would be rough. I was excited from the night before so I had hoped it would flow into that morning…
Saturday morning went pretty much the same way as Friday. We went on a walk after lunch. I put her panties and shorts on. We walked for a bit, came home and there was no accident… until we got home. She didn’t want to pee in her potty, but she did on the floor.
We cleaned her up, I put her diaper on and put her down for her nap. She woke up with a wet diaper. It wasn’t super wet, but she for sure peed. After her nap it went way better than the morning! She peed about 3 or 4 times that afternoon! We were really excited. We thought she was grasping it a bit.
Night time came. We put a diaper on for bedtime and started again Sunday… which went quite differently.
SUNDAY
Sunday she started a little cranky. She had a small tantrum when I put her on the potty. I took her off quickly because I don’t want to make this a frustrating/horrible experience for her.
That morning we wanted to go out to a park and have a like breakfast picnic for Father’s Day, so we got ready and went out. We took her potty with us just in case. We picked up breakfast, went to the park, hung out, went home and put her on her potty to see if she’d try.
She didn’t pee when she woke up that morning, which was 7:30A, and she hadn’t peed to about the time we got home from the park, which was around 9:30A. She refused to pee in the potty. Around 10A she had an accident. We cleaned up. Then she pooped on the floor around 11A.
We had many more accidents throughout the day. Including one of them being at grandma’s house that evening. Right before putting her diaper on before bed we took her to the potty to see if she’d pee, and she did! It was the first and only time that day.
Sunday was a very frustrating day for me to say the least. I was really beaten down from that whole day. I was tired of cleaning pee and poop off the floor. Cleaning her off in the shower. Rinsing her clothes out of pee. All I kept thinking about was that Monday if I continued the training I was going to be doing it alone cuz my husband would have to be at work!
I had seriously considered not doing the training Monday. I wanted to stop, let her and myself get ourselves together. I needed to relax a little more. It was getting really tense for me and I didn’t want to get frustrated with her. I figured I would take the time to explain to her better and make sure I had everything I needed to properly train her. But I told myself I would make that decision Monday morning.
MONDAY
Monday morning came. I went into her room, I took off her diaper, and I walked her to the potty. I was going to give this thing a try… alone.
She had 1 pee pee accident some time near 10A. Then she pooed not that long after (in her panties). Then for the rest of the day she peed in her potty like a big girl! There was finally a breakthrough! She was peeing in her potty. No poop, but she was at least peeing! I was over the moon.
We even had some doctors appointments that day we needed to get to. I put a diaper on her just to be safe. When we got home her diaper was totally dry! We had been out for like 3 hrs and she didn’t pee or ask to pee. Since she was in her diaper I didn’t really ask either, but she didn’t pee. I was shocked considering how badly Sunday went.
By the end of the day she was running to me saying she had to pee. She was really excited about going to the bathroom! I could see it in her eyes that she was definitely getting it!
This day I tried a new method from all the other days. Every 45 minutes, I would take Anastasya to the potty without telling her I was taking her there. I would sit her down and she would do her business. If she didn’t do anything, I would set 10 minutes and then check again until she would finally pee. Once she’d go, I’d reset to 45 minutes again. It totally worked!
TUESDAY
Tuesday went a little differently… again. She again had many accidents in the morning. She had her nap and had more accidents in the afternoon.
Tuesday was a hard day. As I’m trying to deal with her messes and training her, Josh is following us to the bathroom. He opens all the drawers and closet doors. He pulls stuff out. He likes to get behind the toilet so he can get the toilet brush. Whether she’s on the toilet or I’m cleaning her off in the tub or washing our hands, Josh somehow gets himself involved 🤦🏻♀️
It’s really hard when you have a really great day like Monday, and then you go backwards a little, like we did this day. It’s part of the process… There are kids that get it immediately, and there are others that don’t. It’s ok. Once you’ve made it through a crazy day, do something you enjoy and breath… cuz you gotta start again tomorrow! 😅
WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY
Wednesday through Friday were pretty much the same. As soon as I would get her out of bed, I would take her out of her diaper and see if she’d like to go potty. She always refused. She would have maybe 1 or 2 accidents throughout the day. She’s still pooping in her panties… Still trying to get her to understand we go poop in the potty.
One time she walked into the bathroom to poop but she didn’t want to sit down. She actually was bare bottomed so it dropped right onto the floor… right in front of the potty! It is what it is.
Anyway, she’s doing great! She’s loving the stickers. I sang with her when we were washing our hands. She had the routine down. She loves flushing the toilet. What kid doesn’t?! She’s doing good.
SATURDAY
Saturday we had a one time awesome surprise… SHE POOPED IN HER POTTY!!!!!!!!! Yes you read that right! It happened just once! She has since then not done it again lol. But she did it. I kind of nudged her onto the potty when I saw her doing it but her little potty caught it! It wasn’t in her panties. It wasn’t on the FLOOR. It was in her potty and I was so proud.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I think this past week went pretty well overall. Because I had seen/heard some kids were getting it relatively quickly, I was hoping it would be the case for Anastasya and I was disappointed when she didn’t get it. I told my sister-in-law that I was really wanting to give up and try later. I felt maybe I was starting too soon, and she told me that she read if you can stay consistent for 1 week, they’ll get at least a grasp of it. And that’s what happened!
For those who are getting ready to potty train: Your experience is not only going to be different from mine, but it could it be much better or much worse! I don’t want to scare you from getting started, but it is not going to be easy. You will have extremely infuriating moments. Things will get dirty! You’ll want to buy lots of cleaning products 😅 But you will also have moments of overwhelming joy and excitement. You will bond on a new level with your child! You just need to make the most out of the situation.
This is a learning process for both you as parents and for your kids. Don’t put pressure on yourself or your child that in a certain amount of days they need to be potty trained! FORGET NUMBERS! My child is still working on getting to the potty. It’ll most likely take many more days for her to get it 100%. Some kids can get it in a day; others can take weeks before figuring it out. IT’S OK!
Take a big breath and just do it. You CAN do it 😉
Keep an eye out for our tips/tricks and all the products we used during our potty training!
