the great POTTY debate

Oh my goodness, I’ve done some major eye rolling these past few months about Tynsleigh taking her clothes off whenever she can but these past three days during nap time have been testing this mama’s patience. My little girlfriend jumps around playing in the crib, strips off her clothes and then removes the diaper. It’s the removal of the diaper that’s driving me wild because she then proceeds to GO all. over. her. bed.

This pic is from day 2 when she somehow slipped the diaper off but her clothes were on. Magician, I tell y’all.

I didn’t plan to even buy a potty until she was close to 2.5 and I knew she was interested in it and ready to be trained. But if she can’t keep her diaper on we may approach the subject earlier than planned. Sooo the great potty debate has begun in our house. Is she ready? Are WE ready? How do you know a child is developmentally ready? What’s the best approach? When did kids “in the olden days” get potty trained? <—- haha! Dirk’s question.

I’ve done limited research on the subject and ordered a book from Amazon last night in desperation called Oh Crap! Potty Training. Hopefully it’s as good as the reviews claim and I can get my husband to read at least parts of it! I won’t hold my breath on that one though.

Physical signs your child may be ready to potty train:

• able to walk/run steadily 
• able to pull pants up and down
• stays dry for a couple hours at a time
• refuses to be in a diaper 
• aware of being dirty

Okay....I can answer “yes” to the majority of these.....but didn’t I just bring her home from the hospital yesterday?? It sure feels like it!

She has been following me to the bathroom since forever and the last few weeks has been very interested in what I’m doing. I’m just not sure I’m ready for the mess that comes along with potty training and diapers sure are easy. What am I thinking though - this really shouldn’t be about me. Anyone else get sucked into doing what’s easy because the new thing seems so scary? And cleaning up the mess after nap time the past few days can’t be any worse than her having accidents!

To answer my husbands question, the majority of kids were supposedly potty trained by 18 months up until the 1950’s. Disposable diapers became commonplace around that time so that makes perfect sense that there was a cultural shift.

It seems like there are a few methods for doing this. I think I’m more a fan of the 3-day method. In my mind, the all or nothing concept seems like it would create less confusion for the child. I don’t like the idea of a bare bum on my floor though (because poop) so I’m wondering if panties and a snug t-shirt would work. This is something I’ll need to research more into.

I really thought writing my thoughts out would make me realize it was too soon but it has definitely done the opposite. I guess it’s time for more research, to purchase a potty and to figure out how we’re going to do this thing. Until we bite the bullet and get on with things, I guess I’ll be disinfecting the crib (and child) every day after nap time!