Poop and Pee, the way I potty train

I have officially potty trained 4 kids now. Like my cute babysitter Christie told me, this will be the most useful thing I'll ever teach them. Sad and true.

And did I take a lick of notes? No. did I read book? Not me. Did I do some fancy method? nope. Each has been slightly different, but for record purposes, here is a quick overview how it all went down ...the toilet this time. hahaha...soo funny.

This is all going to be way too much info for many, but I need it for 'the book'...since I am training four future mothers and one dad one day and that might actually ask me what I did.

But I need to still put on makeup (its 2:15 p.m., have two kids napping, one playing the wii, so I'll be as details as I can in ten minutes ok?)

Timing. For Paisley, she has been in pull ups for a while now, purely cause they are easier for me to pull up with do with one hand and I have a little baby in another.

Just randomly I noticed one morning that her pull up was dry and I was like, holy cow! lets see if you can pee and she did. Backup...prior to this she has shown zero interest and has probably sat on the potty copying everyone else at least 30 times (before every bath I swear) and nothing came out.

Also, Paisley has a crazy big bladder. The girl can hold it forever (wait, aren't I her mother? ) So with Luke where I took him all the time, Paisley can go 2-4 hours. Like I needed to give her more liquids just to show her she could go.

Bribes. I'm a big fan of them. candy for pee. And then we got pee down, poo was harder (or actually not at all sick sick sick sick sick) so after a week I only gave candy for when she went poo.

Cold Turkey. We never did a baby potty. Never did pull ups during naps or at nite. She was just in undies, that was it. UNTIL she got the runs 2 days later. and they didn't go away. Which became the biggest nasty mess week every which I'm still shivering about....blerlalalala, gross. So then she got back in pull ups for a little bit just cause I hadn't bought enough undies and she ran out. The others I didn't do completely cold turkey either but I think there is something for if you put them in something they can pee in, they will.

Undies. they are big selling point. We got cute ones, Dora, Minnie Mouse, Tangled (don't get plain at first) and then I bought a ton of them. Cause some nasty incidents went straight in the trash cause I've done this too many times to scrub that much out... In fact, I bet I threw away five undies, it was a rough week ...some were old ones from her sisters...no shortage of girl undies around here, but the girl prefers her own new ones, duh.

Oh yes, and yesterday, a week and a half later was the first day there was absolutely no accidents. So we got a toy from Target. A Dora purse with earrings, a phone and bracelet.

Some things have changed cause I'm getting more lenient (like on spending). Some things have changed cause I'm getting more strict. But this was how #4 went down. A very nasty week do to pure liquid bowels like the worst luck ever when I decided to potty train. I pushed through it just cause we had been so wishy washy with the pacifier and don't want to confuse the girl again.

Each kid has had minor differences. But I'm a big fan of not having a baby seat (so they can use toilets at friends houses and stores) and they just sit waaay back on the seat if that makes sense. With Baylie I did have a Dora potty (that age loves Dora) that we used at first and rinsed out and then sometimes took in the car but then we only had 1 bathroom too.

I'm a big fan of not potty training with a newborn (mistake I made with Darby, but Darby showed interest waaay early like 18 months). But yes on doing it way before a new baby comes because there is some regression. If you aren't ready, which I wasn't with Ivy, just wait. Luke sat down in the beginning til after he had it down then Jason taught him how to stand (which is so awesome you lucky people with all boys!)

Cheerleader, also if you know me, it goes without saying that every time they pee or poo on the potty it was a big deal and I did the happy dance and we called dad and told him and they looooove my happy reaction. If they didn't then it was not mad, but just we'll try again later.

I swear you have to be like the poop whisper though to know when they need to poo to catch them before they do it in the their undies...its like the art of poo face watching. They and just watching the clock. I'm now good at it. Dad was a bit rusty on the weekends but he learned quick after a few nasty cleanups himself.

Do I think she will never have an accident? no. shoot even the big kids will surprise me somedays...Luke once peed in front of me in the hall when he was 4 after we had just moved (moves = regression). Heck, maybe I should be the next one? My bladder is must be like swiss cheese.

Nothing better than getting a kid out of diapers, mental note, deep clean all carpets...yuck. I hate carpet.

Potty training Paisley just reminds me how dang smart she is even though her verbal skills haven't caught up. And she loves her new purse and phone.

Now if only I could teach the other three to flush the toilet, when you go to the bathroom at our house, there might already be a stinky surprise there to greet you. Yay!