Well, One Mommy is potty training, again. (Sometimes I feel like I just finished with our preschooler…) Anyway, our toddler started getting interested in the potty around 22 months. I think it is because he has to do EVERYTHING big sis does, which has it’s ups and downs… Wanting to potty train is a definite up, so I had to go with it!
I decided to go slow with it until after vacation, taking him to the potty at first just once a day, and eventually several times a day. He has been successful EVERY single time (believe it or not). It took several attempts with our daughter when she first started, but he just seemed to “click” with what he was supposed to do. (I’d love it to be just that easy this whole process…)
Of course I didn’t want to just drop potty training on vacation, so we took the potty seat (well,two b/c Peanut won’t sit on her brother’s car one) and continued our visits to the potty in Florida. Grandma even got him a travel potty seat that fits in my little diaper bag for rest area stops and Disney World.
Disney World is actually where I came up with my newest idea in potty training boys. You see, it had been a couple hours since his diaper change, and he was still dry. Since we hadn’t started working on “staying dry”, I was pretty impressed.
I put him on the potty seat and helped him angle himself… Let’s just say it didn’t matter how he was angled, he had to go so badly that it bounced off the big potty and a few things wound up wet, including Mommy. Big time. When we left the little stall to get his diaper back on we were quite a sight: bare bottomed little boy with one shoe off, wet Mommy carrying the potty seat, little boy’s shorts and diaper and missing shoe…
But, that’s when my idea hit: since this travel potty seat didn’t have a guard, I had to improvise before I got soaked again! Now this is what I have in my diaper bag for my newly training little boy:
1. Travel potty seat
2. A plastic lid from a small snack container (I hold it in front of him, close to the potty, with the inside of the lid facing him. We haven’t had any more wet Mommy incidents (yeah!), and it is cheap and is flat so it doesn’t take up much space in the Ziploc bag I put his potty seat in.)
3. A small book (It’s hard to go in strange places when you are little. Reading just makes it easier to relax. We have a few “under 3” books from Chick-Fil-A that work great for this b/c they are so little.)
4. Extra clothes (I always have extra clothes for my kids with me, but with a new potty trainer, this is especially important! Also, I learned with my daughter to just take off the pull-up and pants when sitting the little one on the potty, at least until they get really good… Otherwise you are using those spare clothes!)
5. Pull-ups (Of course I started off just taking him and he was wearing diapers, but now that we are trying to stay dry and therefore going more often… Pull-ups are just easier to have him step into instead of finding a place to lie him down and put a diaper on him.)
6. Hand sanitizer (Two young kids and public bathrooms. Need I say more?)
7. Stickers (A little reward never hurts!)
There you have it, my list of essential items to have for “on the go” potty training success. Do you have any other suggestions for training on the go?
Jewel says
I know what you mean about potty training boys being messy. I managed to buy a portable potty (with liners) that made into a toilet seat, when the stand was folded up underneath. This could be quite useful if your child is small enough to use a potty (although it didn’t have a guard on, which I can see from above may be a problem).
admin says
I’ve seen those advertised, never thought that they’d fit on a potty… Definitely would be useful if he is like his sister in the future – she wouldn’t go on “strange” potties for a while.
Thanks for the tip!
Lara says
I remember my bathroom disaster at Disney! I had my 2 yr old twin girls with me at the Winnie The Pooh play area while my husband took off for his turn at a thrill ride. Then I noticed Zanna leaving a dark trail as she went down the slide – Disney had to shut down the entire play area to sanitize it!
Then I dragged two reluctant toddlers with me to the restroom, while frantically trying to phone my husband on his cell to forget the ride if he was still in line and come help me (too late by then – he was airborne!)
So I was holding onto the leash of one twin who then rolled around on the restroom FLOOR! while I tried to wrestle off the clothing of the soiled twin and disinfect her bottom which was pretty fouled up.
Then the floor twin’s leash got away from me and I was chasing her around the bathroom – the both of us shrieking like loons, while still carrying the half-clothed other girl, who found all of this VERY funny! Then my runaway saw an open toilet stall and ran for it, probably to go fishing!
Finally another mommy took pity on us and held onto my runaway while I finished up with her sister. After thanking the other woman profusely I got my girls out of their and practically gave them both a sponge bath with hand sanitizer (herbal kind – no alcohol), and then who should calmly stroll up with a happy-go-lucky smile on his face?
My husband.
Sensing I was a bit out-of-sorts (perhaps from the way I was snarling under my breath) and shaken, he offered to take over with the kids while I ‘took a moment’.
I took alot of ‘moments’.
Now the girls are potty trained and it’ll be so much easier next time. I hope.
admin says
Oh, I hope you did take a lot of moments! I’m sure it was not funny then, but hopefully you can laugh a little about it now. What a memory to take home from Disney!