Well, the first note is that the deed is done. Miss Scarlett is wearing diapers only during her sleeping hours. She hasn’t had an accident for four or five days, and therefore, I am the mother of two potty-trained children, and YES, I WANT A MEDAL.
Next, I’m going to assume that no readers are judging me for potty-training a kid who is so young. I’m assuming you are simply reading with open minds, curious about my experience.
As with all experiences, when you come out on the other side, it’s interesting to consider whether you’d do it again. The answer here is: I don’t know.
On the PROS list, we are not changing yucky diapers, treating diaper rash (an uncommon occurrence for this kid), or paying for diapers, or putting diapers into the landfill.
On the CONS list, our little monkey is nowhere near being able to go to the bathroom by herself, so the effort of changing a diaper is probably about the same as the effort required to take her into the bathroom, get her on the toilet, wipe, pull up pants, hold her up to the sink to wash her hands. Did I mention that she is tiny? When she climbs up to stool in front of the sink, she must still hoist herself up, placing her whole torso on the rim of the sink to reach the faucets. To keep her clean and dry in a public restroom, I will have to hold her up the whole time, which can be a strain.
Hmm. It looks like my cons paragraph is larger than my pros. Let me think of more pros. Did I mention the environment? Oh yes, check. Ok, what about the money? Oh, I already said that.
At the end of the day, this is an anticlimactic event. I am not really liberated from anything, and in fact, I have to be even more attentive to her potty needs than before.
So we did we do it? Why not wait? Because she was ready. Because at 18 months she would pee on the floor on purpose and laugh. At 20 months she started announcing she needed to “pee on the potty” and when we put her there, she would.
I’m sorry this post does not contain a tutorial. I am not qualified to write a “how to potty train” post. I can only echo what everyone else says: The kid has to be ready.
Julian, now four-and-a-half, was more than three years old the first time he peed in the potty. So you know I’m not in a hurry about this issue.
Did we bribe her? Yes, we did. We offered M&Ms as recommended by our pediatrician. (Hey M&M/Mars, how often do you get mentioned in the same sentence as “pediatrician”?) But she didn’t care that much about the M&Ms. I believe she really was intrinsically motivated and that we were just reminding her that she can pee in the potty and hold it when she’s not in the bathroom.
Girls versus boys? I am lucky to be conducting all sorts of social science experiments in my house by having one child of each gender. So based on sample sizes N=1 in each test group, girls are ready for toilet training earlier.
Julian, as some may recall, also didn’t poop in the potty for a few months after he started peeing in it. I called him half-way potty trained for a while. (Now I call him 100% potty trained, although Heather may not since he still sleeps in pull-ups.)
So there you have it. One small package of M&Ms later, I am a certified potty trainer.
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Forget it. I’m judging you anyway. You’re guilty, and sentenced to come potty train my next kid if we have one.
Seriously, that’s great! My 2.75 year old son is just potty trained, and he’s still too young to do it all himself too. But even though it’s a pain in the neck to get him on the toilet, etc., at least the hard part it pretty much over. And he WANTS to do it himself since his sister does. I’m just not ready for the mess that will happen if he’s by himself.
Oh, and no M&Ms for us…we’re a Skittles crew over here.
Here’s your medal. It’s a gold one. From Mother Earth.
Seriously, congratulations! My 21 month old daughter isn’t quite ready to train (and I don’t imagine she will be until 2 or 2 1/2, but she did insist on sitting on the toilet this morning. “Poop on potty! Poop on potty!” Nothing happened, but at least she’s interested.
You’re the second friend of mine to potty train a 21 month old girl. And interestingly enough, you both had boys first.
i don’t know who would be judging…we’re all very impressed. and the fact that she was ASKING to go on the potty is pretty fantastic in itself. i do not yet have a child (though i’m only a month away) but many times have i already wondered about potty training and how soon i could try! haha.
Congratulations to all of you! I hope my daughter is like this when it comes time.
My son Milo is completely disinterested. At 26 months. Oh welp.
Well we’ve got 6 months on you (age wise) and Little Dog is pretty much at the same place as Miss Scarlett.
Congrats!!
Ahh… I understand the fact that it is just as much (actually MORE) work with the little ones once they are potty trained. Diapers can wait until it is convenient for you, and you’re in a convenient place – as opposed to “I have to go NOW!”
But, what pushed me over (at 2.5 years, and to switching to underwear at just turned 3), was that the pediatrician mentioned that if she’s ready (which my daughter obviously was), she will regress if we don’t take the next step (ie. not peeing in pull-ups, so why did she still need them? We don’t really want her to realize that it actually is easier to just pee in them!)
So … As you’re dashing off to the 5th bathroom trip of the day, and desperately using and antibac. wipe to clean the disgusting seat (and then dry w/ t.p.) at the mall, at least remember that the training part was easy!!
I am in the process of potty trainning my daughter who is 13 months old. She started to show signs of being ready at 10 months old but being a first time parent did not even think of starting until at least 18 months. But then I started to realize she knows what she is doing so why not just go with it. My hopes are by the time she is 2 years old she will be potty trained. I just don’t want to be fustrated in the future so I started when she turned 1 year old. How can you get mad with a child that young when they are not even suppose to be learning how yet.
My girl RJ had really shocking diaper rash for A YEAR– each treatment made it worse, until we finally found a smart doctor who said, she’s allergic to diapers and wipes! Time to potty train! She was about 16 months old. Basically she ran naked for two months and peed and pooped on everything. It was AWESOME! But her rash healed and by 18 months she was potty trained day and night. We just didn’t have the option of diapers anymore, so voila! Wish I could take credit, but, can’t.
There’s an interesting book called “Diaper Free by Three” that talks about the history of the readiness theory with diaper training. That soothed my fears that it was too early. Worth a read for anybody interested in “early” potty training…
Forget about the cons! You dont get to deal stinky poopy! That trump all the cons! I have a 2 year old and a 10 months old. changing poo is not fun. I’ll hold them over the sink all day.