Toilet training done right!

This little dude has finally mastered the toilet! Woohoo! No more nappies! I can't even tell you how happy I am. Thankfully my covid experience experience was very mild and I was not bed ridden, or even really sick at all, so on day 2, when I accepted I was home for at least a week, I decided I wasn't wasting the time and took the nappies away. Undies only. Honestly, the best possible time to toilet train is when you literally cannot leave the house.

Next step was making this chart (cause if Bluey isn't encouragement enough, what is? haha) with stickers, giving Alex a Kinder Surprise egg for poops 1, 5, 10 and 15 - then the Bluey garbage truck for poop 20. He was much more interested after that.

It was not easy - and it was not quick. We had poop after poop after poop in his little undies. Nearly every time, it would be about 5 minutes after I asked him if he needed to poop. It was so, so frustrating. But, eventually, after days of that, all of a sudden one morning, he called out to tell me he'd pooped! In the toilet, thank heavens.

We still had a few accidents after that, but thank goodness we got there eventually. We've been here and there since with no nappy on (although when he went over to Aunty's house midweek and had to go into the city with her and for church today, we used a pullup. I'm all about the just in case!) and it's all going well. He takes himself to the toilet regularly for poos and wees and I am so happy! Toilet training in this house is done, for good yo!

Look at that face! He is so proud of himself! That garbage truck was worth every cent! Yay for Alex!

toilet training

well. i think she's done! actually no. she's almost done...

***disclaimer, some oversharing will follow - if you're a parent or a really good friend of ours, feel free to keep reading, if not, you might want to stop. now. ***

don't say you weren't warned...

miss madeline is finally weeing and pooing on the toilet. i've used the way that most people i know have, stay home for a week or so, give them undies and keep putting them on the toilet. accidents will happen, but they start to learn and start to tell you (or answer when you ask) that they need to go and making their way to the toilet or asking for your help to do so. or, in early days here, sobbing that they need a nappy, which was of course a dead giveaway...

we have of course had some accidents, and even a few in the last few days, but she is using the toilet. i tried and tried and tried just before joseph was born, and then again just after, but she just wasn't ready. but a few weeks ago, i decided that she needed to be using the toilet by the time she turned three so i tried yet again - and this time it worked! she weed on the toilet without too much persuasion and drama, but poos just weren't happening, like last time, she would wait until she had her night nappy on. there was something about pooing on the toilet that just really didn't sit well with her, no matter how hard we tried.

however as the few weeks went by, one day she came to me and told me that she had pooed in her undies, so i took her into the toilet, and let it drop into the toilet while she sat there... then cleaned her up and gave her some new undies... she raced back outside to finish her game, then i heard her come back inside, climb up on her step and then yell, "mum i did a poo in the toilet!" finally! she was pleased to do it again a few times and show off, so maybe we have finally gotten it. especially when i heard her teeny feet run into the bathroom the other morning and then a little tinkle, and then caught her on the toilet pooing the next afternoon, both without encouragement.

a few things i have learnt...

the best way for kids to learn is by having an accident, or two or twelve.

bribery works. everytime. don't be afraid to offer rewards.

let your kid pick their own undies at the store, so they are excited to wear them.

let them call someone special in their life as a reward (and to show off) when they do either poo or wee on the toilet for the first time (this really worked for us, madeline loves the phone and loved to show off, plus, with both sets of grandparents being far away, they loved being involved!)

not every child will use the potty or a training seat - ours only wanted to sit on the big seat and hold the sides and would not have it another other way.

night training comes later... let them wear a nappy to bed and just bask in daytime training being done

if you're not at home, ask and remind your child constantly if they need to use the toilet, outside of their own space, somewhere they don't see the toilet every few minutes, they can easily forget.

have a step in front of the toilet and another in front of the basin. makes hand washing easier and more likely to happen without a constant reminder.

and most importantly...

if they are not ready - do not push it. maddie is so smart and knew exactly what was going on, but just was not ready to be toilet trained, and i honestly think by trying to force her, i delayed it by another few months. lesson learnt.

so... we are almost there. mostly dry days accomplished. now onto nights. please if you have any trade secrets, let me know!

i don't want to be a mum

i remember just before madeline was born, a lady in our ward told me that if i didn't ever have a day when i wanted to throw my baby out the window, that i wasn't doing it right. being a mother of four children herself, i was more than happy to take her advice, especially seeing as she has her head on right and her kids are lovely and well mannered. i know what she meant by it anyway... that every mum has bad days... and this week i've had a lot of them.

i can honestly say that this week i have thought more than once that i don't want to be a mother... i am trying to toilet train madeline and it's not going well. i know that the best possible way to do it is to let them run in undies and when they have accidents that they'll learn to run for the toilet. so we bought some peppa undies for the little miss and gave it a go. she does not want to use the toilet and i am getting so frustrated. she knows when she needs to pee, i know that for sure, cause it's when she comes to me and asks for her nappy. she has peed once on the toilet, when she had asked me for her nappy so many times that i sat her on there and just wouldn't leave. she cried and cried and begged for one the other day to the point where i cried too, then the poor love peed on the floor right in front of me and then cried some more. then she held it for the rest of the day. sigh. she also keeps telling me that she has a sore tummy (obviously because she needs to poo) but waits until we put a nappy on her for bed and then goes. she has asked me a few times to go to bed at 6:30 and once as early as 5, so it wasn't hard to work out why. i guess it's all about perseverance and i'll just have to keep trying. 

then we have joseph who kept not burping and eventually vomiting up all his milk after i'd fed him. this went on and on and on, until i finally went to the chemist, where they told me he must be colicy, gave me two different medicines for him and thankfully it's helped... cause i was over the vom like i can't even tell you. hopefully they'll continue to settle his tummy.

i know i am lucky. i know it. i have two beautiful children, some people don't even have one and yearn for them. my children are healthy - and most days things are great. not perfect, but great. but just so people don't think that i have it all sorted... i felt like i needed to write this. i don't have it all together. i may never have it all together. but i am trying. heaven knows i am trying. and i'll keep trying until i do. 

but this week i don't want to be a mum. i honestly would love to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over my head and sleep for more than three hours at a time. thinking of my teenage years when i could sleep until lunchtime make my mouth water... but seeing as i love my babies and was willing to give all that up for them, i guess it's back to work. ♥