You may have remembered that once upon a time we cloth diapered, pretty much to one and a half years old with Huntley. She would get rashes and didn’t do to well with disposables. I also really enjoyed CD’ing with one child as it was a lot easier then to line-dry/sun-bleach/etc. and was quite satisfying to know that she had such a a well-taken care of bum – all things considered! With that I will tell you that with CD’ing she was great at letting us know when she had a dirty diaper and wanted it cleaned. This led us to using the potty before one and half and actually having some success!

However, with such fun/busy lifestyle… I’ll admit – I was lazy…

It was hard to keep up with and I rarely wanted to take her to the potty after having put her in the car and being ready to leave. It was even harder during pregnancy with Penelope, and especially after having baby girl x2. I mean, can you imagine my scenario? I would literally have gotten both kids ready, buckled in their carseat, bags in the car, and everything. Suddenly you hear “poo-poo” (which Huntley calls 1&2, so in actuality she might be just talking pee). What am I going to do?  Take her in and leave a baby in the car? Unbuckle both girls (from their carseats) and take both in? I chose to NOT do either… I chose to just drive to my point B (wherever the heck I was going whether it be Disneyland/mall/Target/Starbucks/etc.). So yes, there you go, it was my being lazy and I missed that window of opportunity when she would just yell “poo-poo” in the car. Oh well! At least we got to where we needed to be.

Once we hit two it became apparent (think about the amount of food and liquids this girl eats and drinks, as I said, she’s a great eater). It was definitely time to make this shitty situation a thing of the past!

We had heard great things about the Three-day (pant-less) potty training technique and had to try it out. And you know what? It worked great…while at home…wish I could say while we were out too! But it didn’t. While it may have worked well for others, it just didn’t work with us.

My sister, at Joie De Viv had the whole potty training down nearly before my niece turned two. Earliest person I know! I had to get tips and advice from her! One of the main things I found crucial that I had learned from her was to take Huntley to the restroom every time I had to use the restroom and guess what? Put her on the potty, even if she doesn’t necessarily need to go. To this day, this stills stands (not just for mommy, but for daddy, grandma, grandpa, auntie, and other close family members). I really do think it worked for her since she not only sees the person going, but also knows that she can ask to go potty when she needs or that it’s readily available (potty-ing is nothing to be ashamed of and everyone does it).

Another habit we have acquired is using our portable potty in the trunk of our car before getting into the stroller. It’s really been working for us and she will usually hold it knowing that as soon as we get out she can use the potty. (Side note: We had an incident after being lazy with potty-training on our last vacation and came back with her actually wanting to use the pull-up vs the potty. Then trying to get her to go on the potty at Disneyland and having an auto-flush toilet actually flush while mid-pee. We were quite dependent on the porta-potty for a couple weeks after that incident. I carried this darn potty everywhere for those weeks and would always wipe down the potty with Lysol wipes after each use.)

When we started our whole potty training venture we loved the potty chair we had chosen, but since then have graduated to the NextStep toilet seat cover which has been awesome for our small-bathroom needs. So yes, we use(d) three different kind of potties…

Sweet Treats and other prizes for the win! At first we were using M&Ms (sometimes we still do) as an incentive to use the potty. It really was a big push for Huntley since she loves chocolate and doesn’t get it often unless it was in her milk. I’d carry M&M minis everywhere and would give her a couple if she did no1 or four if she did no2, I’d give her even more whenever she did both. It later moved onto stamps/stickers/temporary tattoos as some of you may have noticed in our snaps and IG pics, she’s covered in them. We have yet to stop treats, but I’m not too worried. She already seems to be weaning herself from them. At Legoland today she forgot on multiple occasions and never even asked for a treat.

One of the biggest problem we had (up until recently) was that we were still dependent on pull-ups at night, or at kids club (our gym’s daycare), and pretty much anywhere that we would leave her with someone other than family. The fear of an accident happening or having to change the sheets constantly was really getting to us and our potty-training success. Every time we were near our last pull-up I would tell myself, NO Tiffany, don’t buy anymore! And sure enough I would be strolling through Target picking up diapers for Penelope and see a sale on pull-ups and finding myself bringing home another two boxes or so…we would see a pull-up and get lazy again…

Until finally (recently) I would only buy undies for our big girl. I made it a big thing! I let her choose the two packs of seven Disney undies which she loved and give her a choice of which one she would be wearing every time we changed out. She especially likes matching things and loves having her undies match her princess nightgowns.

Although I can’t say we are “fully potty-trained” we are way more successful now (at 2.5 months) than we’ve ever been! We’ve gone three whole nights in a row without an accident in her undies/bed! During the days we avoid accidents by taking her constantly and giving her the option to go. Most times when asked “do you need to potty?” She’ll reply with a “no” but we’ll put her on the potty anyhow and she’ll still manage to go, not even knowing that she had needed to go. However, we are still human and sometimes forget to ask her or sometimes don’t even realize until after the fact that she was trying to tell us that she needed to go potty – accidents still happen. That’s when we bag it up and wash at home. But for the time being, we are super proud of our little undie-wearing big girl!

As I always like to say: every kid is different, there are so many different parenting styles & techniques, and no two family dynamic/situation is the same. So what may work for one person may not work for another. But if you would like to know, here are some of our favorite potty-training necessities (oops, spelled wrong below*). What I would like to know is what you did or plan to do or use when potty-training?

[At-home-potties BABYBJORN Potty Chair & Mayfair NextStep Child/Adult Toilet Seat + Portable Potty OXO Tot 2-in-1 Go Potty for Travel + Diaper Bag Dispenser Munchkin Arm and Hammer Diaper Bag Dispenser + Undies Disney Toddler Girls 7 Pk + Lysol Disinfecting wipes + Treats M&M Mini Milk Chocolates + SafeRest Waterproof Mattress Protector]

UPDATE: We are officially six days OVERNIGHT/Accident-free! I forgot to mention how our overnight underwear-adventures went for those first few nights. Let me tell you first off – you bound to have an accident or two, or three or more (luckily for us this part only lasted two nights (2-3 sheet changes each). But don’t worry it doesn’t last forever! In the meantime, be sure to have 2-3 mattress protecters ready! I chose the above, but there are plenty choices available. Good luck!