Amélie Potty Training

^^the little miss decided to choose her outfit - she loves those owl boots so much 

I was DREADING potty training Amélie, like anxiety over it all the time - not sure whether to do it before or after the baby and just generally freaking out about it. I don't why it affected me so much, maybe because I know she doesn't do well with change or because she had such a hard time starting solid foods. After worrying and thinking it over for a while, I made the decision to just do it before the baby was born and have just one little in diapers. 

I knew Amélie was actually ready for it maybe a couple of months before she turned two. She would tell me when she was pooing, etc. and was showing all the signs I read about. The problem was my mental preparation so I bought a book called "Oh Crap! Potty Training..." This book saved my life and not only prepared me, but worked because Amélie has been potty training for close to a month now! 

What I Bought 

IKEA LOCKIG potty 

IKEA TOSSIG toilet seat 

IKEA step stool (so she could reach the sink) 

Potette Plus (portable potty) 

Piddle Pad (for the car seat) 

Books: Lulu's Loo & Princess Polly's Potty

Carpet cleaner 

How It Went Down

• We choose the last weekend in May as it was a holiday weekend and had three full days of dedicating ourselves to nothing but potty training (yes, I dragged Andrea into this and made him do it with me because I just needed the support) 
• Prior to that weekend, I read the book in it's entirety plus started reading the potty training books to Amélie just to get her into the idea of it all 
• I followed the method in the book to a tee and it went as planned 
• I covered the living room with some wipe able puzzle mats and waterproof picnic blanket

And So It Begins: 

The first two days were miserable - the poor girl didn't know what hit her and every time on the potty was a screamfest. We watched her like a hawk like the book says, but she still had accidents all the time and requested her diaper to be put on. She learned how to hold it and sometimes just wouldn't go. We struggled through and the third day was much much better. By day three she started to get a hang of the idea and by the end of the week, she was pretty much fully potty trained. We didn't really go to any playgroups or venture out very far the first week or so just to get used to everything. 

Progress!

We slowly gained confidence in doing longer trips out and using public restrooms (mainly at playgroups & occasionally the supermarket). The Potette Plus is a life saver because I get pretty grossed out by public restrooms and this solution provides your own little clean potty. 

By the third week, we had a flight/trip to Sardinia and I was worried how Amélie would react since we weren't bringing her normal potty (she preferred the little potty rather than sitting on the big toilet). In the end, the vacation we took actually got her used to using the big toilet (the Potette Plus folds flat to fit on top of the toilet seat too) and now at home she pretty much only uses the toilet seat with IKEA insert. Now Amélie will say in a quiet little voice, "pee or peeing..." when she needs to go and is getting pretty good at holding it if we are out and need to find a bathroom. She does occasionally have an accident here and there particularly when she's busy playing, but that's expected. 

Naps/Nighttime: She's being keeping dry during her nap during the day plus the whole night. I'm still being cautious and putting her in a pull-up only at night, but I think she's kind of trained herself to keep dry throughout. Maybe in the next couple of weeks I'll be brave enough to get rid of pull-ups completely. 

I know every child is different, but I highly recommend using the method outlined in the book I linked above, it really worked and gave me the confidence to potty train Amélie. I just hope #2 will be this easy as well!