As the mother of a strong-willed 2.5 year old, I was terrified of potty training. I knew that the potential for failure was high; I pictured getting into drawn out battles-of-will over using the toilet, resorting to bribery, and spending a fortune on Pull Ups and other training pants. I saved Pinterest links to sticker charts and reward sheets, and I checked out every book my local library had on getting ready to potty train.

At about 22 months old, Little Oats started having a real interest in using the potty. She wasn’t consistent at all, but any time she saw a ‘new’ toilet (ie. not one at home), she whipped off her diaper and climbed up. She peed maybe 1 out of every 5 times she tried, and her diapers remained a fixture. Note: to all of you dealing with wriggling, squirming toddlers who insist on having their diapers put on standing up…I salute you. That junk is HARD WORK.

This fixation with toilets was something that we encouraged but didn’t push. After all, I was 36 weeks pregnant with Baby Oats, and potty training and regressions were not something I was looking forward to dealing with. We put off ‘official’ potty training through the newborn phase as well, because adding something else to our plate just didn’t seem like a good idea.

When Little Oats was around 32 months old, she climbed up onto the toilet before bed, and pooped. We celebrated and congratulated her, because up until that point, she had hidden in her play kitchen to poop in her diaper. I had a brief glimpse of what it might be like to have a potty-trained kid, and it was glorious.

Then, before bed the next night, she did the same thing. Climbed up on the toilet and did her business. Soon, before every nap and every bedtime, she was using the toilet. I didn’t change a (toddler) poopy diaper for well over 3 weeks, and I didn’t want to go back! I started reading more and more about potty training and the 3-Day Method, as well as other methods to make the rest of this training as painless as possible. Diapers were still soaked overnight and when Little Oats got busy playing, and she didn’t seem to be able to tell when she had to go. We put her portable potty in the middle of the living room and let her run around diaperless for periods of time, and it worked occasionally, but not consistently at all. Mr. O and I decided that we would just pick a weekend to stay home and put her on the potty every 15 minutes for two full days. Just not THIS weekend, we said (as each consecutive weekend got more and more beautiful and warm!)

ADVERTISEMENT

When I started back to work, I was worried about how Little Oats would fare with the change. Would her progress pooping on the potty be undone? It seemed like she was going to be just fine, and continue using any new toilet she laid her eyes on.

About three weeks ago, as I was tidying up Little Oats’ room, I came across a package of Frozen underwear that she received for Christmas. She was instantly in love, and demanded to wear all three pairs at the same time. She danced around for a bit, shaking Anna, Elsa and Olaf at whoever looked at her, but then took them off again when it was time to use the bathroom. She asked for her diaper back at naptime, and I expected it to be back to business as usual.

I got home from work the following day, to find Little Oats in her underwear again (one pair). She had put them on in the morning, and kept them dry ALL DAY – even through naptime. Brave Mr. O had decided to forge ahead and see what happened. Tuesday was the same thing; dry underwear, even through trips to the park, grocery store, and a 2 hour nap. Wednesday she had a small accident, but only because she was fully dressed in a dinosaur costume and couldn’t get her tail off in time (true story).

It’s been three weeks now. Three FULL weeks, and the only time Little Oats has worn a diaper has been for bedtime. She has had one accident in all of that time, and proudly shows off her underwear to anyone she meets (we need to kick that habit soon). We ask her occasionally if she has to use the potty (before we leave the house, before nap), but otherwise, she goes on her own every.single.time. She is a month shy of turning 3, and I’m amazed at how quickly she just picked things up!

I’m blown away, completely. Our strong-willed daughter, who we expected to fight the potty every step of the way, just DECIDED she was done with diapers and never looked back. I had planned out this whole big ‘How-to’ blog post for you guys, detailing our method, reward system, and timeline….and then there was no method, reward system or timeline. We waited, and suddenly, at 35 months, Little Oats was ready.

I’m not saying your experience will be like this (and I’m seriously, deeply apologetic for all of you who HAVEN’T had a positive potty training experience). I am saying, however, that potty training isn’t always horrific and terrible, so don’t go into it TOO scared….

I’m also waiting for Baby Oats to grow up, and give me the potty-training nightmare that I was expecting. Karma and all that.