Toilet Times

Week two of potty training is almost over so I figure it’s time for a progress report. This time last week, when I picked Little Man up from crèche, his carer told me that he was now day-trained as far as she was concerned. That tied in with our experiences at home in the evenings, so we were delighted.

But of course, there are no absolutes when it comes to toddlers, and just as we were patting ourselves on the back for a job well done, that nasty little gastric bug hit and set us back. Thankfully Little Man wasn’t throwing up – but he wasn’t well, and he knew it.

Last Friday, he got upset when we produced his big boy pants and insisted “I want nappy!” I think he knew he wouldn’t be able to make it to the potty on time and he was worried about an accident.

And Saturday was much the same. Not only that but he stopped using the potty and started using the nappy again instead. We were beginning to wonder if we were back where we started.

Sunday morning we decided to just start afresh. We read Pirate Pete’s Potty again and explained that he shouldn’t worry if he had an accident. Accidents are okay and no one will mind if he has an accident. Back on with the big boy pants, and by Sunday evening we were back on track.

It hasn’t been plain sailing since then – there was a small change in the room in crèche on Tuesday, and I don’t think it’s any coincidence that there were a couple of accidents that day. But by today, there were no accidents. And Little Man seems delighted with himself. He’s just so proud when he asks to go to the toilet and makes it there on time.

I’m sure we’re not fully there yet. But we’re getting there! And we’ve come quite a long way since we first started dabbling in toddler-led toilet training.