The Potty Saga

Why I chose to let my baby sitter potty train my son.

I must of read multiple posts about "potty training in 3 days" "potty training before 1" potty training this and potty training that. I was so overwhelmed! I felt I had to conquer this before Asher was 1. Well Asher turned 1 and was not even walking. So I decided he wasn't ready. Next step was once Asher was walking, I HAD to have him potty trained in 3 days.

Asher began walking around 13-14 months. So I decided it was time to potty train. I was determined that in 3 days Asher would be potty trained. I took 3 days off of work and there we sat in the bathroom.
It was the most stressful thing ever! Asher was so upset and I was so frustrated. He was not ready at all!

Fast forward from 14 months to 22 months old.

I have the most AMAZING sitter! I really do! She has 3 boys. Her youngest is 6 years old. She only watches Asher. She dedicates the days she has Asher, just to Asher. They play, she teaches him things, & she interacts with him. Asher is 22 months old,he can count to 10, if you show him a number he can tell you what number it is, and he even knows 3 colors! (red, blue, Green)

My sitter and I talked and she thought around spring time we could give it a try. Asher started telling me when he would go in his diaper. I figured he was understanding what was going on.

After the last fiasco, I wanted to take a back seat. This honestly takes a lot of patience and consistency. I am a full time working mom. On my day off I typically have to get my "adulating duties" completed. I was going to have to be dedicated this time and learn patience myself. My sitter has already potty trained all 3 of her boys and a few other children that she used to watch. She knew exactly what she was in for and what she was doing.

Around middle of March we started. I brought over his little potty and all the supplies she had requested. Here is our method of potty training!

1st Week:
The first week was more of just transitioning and getting Asher comfortable with the change. She would baby gate her and Asher into the kitchen area and they would stay there pretty much all day. Asher was put in his big boy underwear and a shirt. That is all. She started by asking him every 20ish minutes if he needed to use the potty and would take him to the potty to sit. He was not fond of it was first. She would give him her Ipad to play a game or play music. He also always brought his cars with him! By the end of the week he was getting the hang on it

2nd week:
She noticed that when Asher would go it was going everywhere and that the little potty was not working very well. She bought a potty seat for the actual toilet. Still in the kitchen and Asher still in his underwear they stayed for this week. She did not take him every 20 minutes now. She would allow him to go longer stretches. Asher was getting the hang of it though and only had 2-3 accidents this week.

3rd week:
Asher was pretty much potty trained during the day for my sitter. He understood the process and did not need the Ipad to sit on the potty. This week Asher was allowed in other parts of her home because his accidents were very little to none. He knew where the potty was and when she would ask if he needed to go potty he would run to the bathroom and wait for her to put him on the potty. Asher will not tell her if he has to potty but he shows signs of needing to go. My sitter is very good at picking up the signs and immediately asks as soon as she sees he needs to go.

At Home:
So by now as stated above Asher is completely potty trained for my sitter except for nap time. It was NOT going this was at home. At home was AWFUL! There were tears of not wanting to use the potty, kicking, screaming, and running  away from the potty. I again found myself very frustrated, but I kept with it. Why won't he potty for me? What am I doing wrong?

4th Week:
Asher now is allowed everywhere at the sitter's and wears underwear and his pants at the sitter's. No accidents and uses the potty. I couldn't be any happier! At the same time I was beyond frustrated with how it was going at home. My sitter is so sweet and offered to spend my day off with me at our house potty training Asher! I woke up that Tuesday morning and was determined. I made it so I had no "adult duties". As soon as Asher woke up the big boy underwear went on and we started. We played all morning in the kitchen and dining room and finally while in the middle of playing Asher stood up and looked at me. That had to be a sign! I said "do you have to go potty?" Up the stairs he went to the bathroom and waited for me to sit him on the potty! Success!!

My sitter arrived 10 minutes after he used the potty for me. I was so excited to tell her the news. She stayed until nap time observing and telling me his morning routine at her house. He pottied the whole time she was there. No tears, no fuss, and no screaming.

I laid Asher down for his nap and my sitter left. I kind of thought Asher would not continue now that she had left. Once up from his nap I put the big boy underwear on and we were back at it!

From that day forward Asher now uses the potty all day long! He still needs either a pull up or diaper at naps and bedtime. He doesn't always tell us when he needs to go. Sometimes he says "potty", grabs himself, does a potty dance, or even just runs up to the bathroom. 

My goal was to have him potty trained before his sister arrived. Although he is not fully potty trained, i'll take that he is potty trained during the day!

To all the Mama's out there frustrated, just know that there is not a time frame that potty training needs to be accomplished. As you can see it literally took a month of being consistent and having patience to get Asher potty trained. Some would tell me that he was not ready. Asher was ready. He is very smart and knows what he is doing. He was able to tell me when he pooped in his diaper and understood that he sits on the potty to go to the bathroom.

I'm really hoping this helped some of you who are starting the potty training process or thinking about it!

Here are the links to the 2 potty's I purchased. Asher only used and currently uses ​the seat that goes on the toilet. 

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