We have been struggling with potty training for some time. The little one is now three, and we still have some work to do. It is frustrating, because we are kind of in-between time windows at this point. She is a little too old for daycare, and she can’t start preschool until she is potty trained. And I’m unable to make any changes in my life (start work, etc), until I get her into preschool. So I am stuck at home—and we are stuck in a rut—until we get all of this sorted out.
Last week, we had what I thought was a breakthrough. The little one was playing with her baby doll. She had me take off it’s pajamas, so she could “change his diaper.” For some reason, she then put the diaper in her play oven to clean it. Anyway, she then placed the baby, which she now calls Wilder (named after her little cousin) on her red plastic potty. This is the third potty we have gotten in our efforts to get her interested in potty-ness. The first potty, which was actually a present for us, didn’t quite take. Then we got her a princess potty, which doubles as a step-stool. Big mistake. Now she just sees it as a stool. Recently, we bought a little red potty from IKEA, thinking that something bright but simple would do the trick.
After initial disinterest, at least now she notices it. When she was playing with her baby, she put it on the potty. I then tried to reason with her, explaining that if her baby needs to use the potty, then she being a big girl—much bigger than a baby—would surely need to use the potty herself. She was having none of it. Lesson learned, never try to reason with a three year-old.
Then she turned it over, put the potty on her head, and exclaimed, “It’s a hat!”
Potty training fail. So we begin our efforts anew. However, last night the wife had a breakthrough, by getting the little one to sit on a training seat on the actual toilet. A small step, but we’ll take it. Baby steps are progress all the same. Maybe she will get excited to be able to sit on “mama’s potty.” Whatever works.
What are your potty training successes or breakthroughs? What has worked for you?
jeffsilvey.com 
I certainly learned about a majority of this, but having said that, I still thought it turned out helpful. Good job!
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What worked for me with my twin girls was abandoning the small potty and allowing them to use the toilet with a smaller seat. Plus, I don’t know if Amy has tried this (or would like to) but I found that a live demo really helped too. 🙂
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We are dealing with this too. I am conflicted, my son is not yet three, but I am really hoping we can master the potty before August and the start of preschool. He will poo on it occasionally, has seen us go many, many times, but refuses to get on the potty even to try. I am thinking we may have to do some more diaper free time.
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