Potty Training 101 and 202

Both Benjamin and Luna are potty trained, and have been for a while. (Yay!) The overlap time of both Benjamin and Luna being in diapers was six months; Luna and Lily: 2 months. (We are making progress!) Benjamin was 3 years old when he was ready to potty train, Luna was 2.5. I'm not comparing in a negative way. Each child is different, and needs different things. I knew that Luna would potty train differently than Benjamin, but I was not prepared for - and very pleasantly surprised by - how vastly different the experience would be.

Benjamin was not interested in pull ups. I tried putting him in pull ups and taking him to the bathroom on a timer. He screamed and fought me, and refused to sit on the little toilet. A friend suggested that I skip pull ups during the day and go straight to underwear. It was dramatic at first. Benjamin cried every time he went in his underwear. That motivated him to hold it until he could get to a toilet, and he was willing to do the whole timer thing (20 mins., 30 mins., 1 hr., then no timer). We had a bag of dum-dum suckers under the sink, and Benjamin got one every time he went potty or poop in the toilet.

Benjamin caught on to going potty in the toilet within a few weeks, but it took much longer for him to go poop in the toilet. Once he consistently went potty without very many accidents, he stopped getting suckers for going potty, but continued getting suckers if he pooped in the toilet. His ability to tell me when he needed to go to the bathroom at home did not transfer to out in public, because he was so distracted. So he wore pull ups out in public vs. underwear at home for several months. He also slept in pull ups for a year before he was able to sleep in underwear.

The whole process was longer than I imagined, but that's not a bad thing. He eventually got there!

Luna was the complete opposite. She trained herself in 3 days! Like Benjamin, Luna was not interested in going potty in the toilet when she was wearing pull ups. Her first day in underwear, she went by herself  - without telling me until after - in the toilet by dinner time! The second day was like a restart; accidents in the morning, and perfection by dinner. By day 3, she had it down. She didn't need or want the timer. She did, however want the sucker every time she went potty. 😉

Benjamin got a sucker too every time Luna went potty, so he was always encouraging her to go potty. She got it down so quickly, though, that after a week I told them no more suckers, except for poop. It took her about a month to get comfortable going poop in the toilet. She also was sleeping in her underwear within the first month of potty training. She still had accidents every once in a while, but her accidents were so scarce, that I would say her actual potty training time was about a week. She went out  in public in underwear by the end of the first month as well. This girl was simply amazing!

I have zero expectations for Lily. We'll just see what her needs are when the time comes. I did not train Benjamin "wrong," nor did I train Luna "right." Every kid is different. It's trial and error. Figure out what their needs are, what matches their personality, and when you do, forget everything else.