Why We Spent Saturday Scrubbing Urine Out of the Carpet:
Our First Potty Training Attempt

So this weekend was our first ever attempt at potty training. I know, it is a little early, most toddlers potty train around two years old, but we thought we’d give it a shot because she was showing most of the readiness signs: can follow directions, can pull up and down pants, shows interest when others use the toilet, is generally cooperative, knows the words for pee and poop, etc. We figured if she got it, great. If not, no big deal, we’d just try again later.

We got ready. We bought a potty, a book, and of course the Elmo DVD. For two weeks we got Eleanor used to the potty. We showed her how to sit on it, told her that soon she was going to pee pee and poo poo in it. She dragged it around the house and showed her George doll how to sit on it. She watched the Elmo DVD over and over again. She now talks about how “Elmo potty”, and “Curly Bur poo poo potty.”

We had the game plan down. Saturday we would start right after breakfast. We would start pantless and diaperless, until we had a few successful potty sits and then move up to pull-ups. We would sit her on the potty for the first time about twenty minutes after breakfast and then have her sit every hour after that.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get very far. We realized pretty quickly that although she was psychologically ready, she was definitely not physiologically ready. Nothing happened on her first or second sit, but then about twenty minutes after her second sit we got some pee. Within a single thirty minute period she peed on the carpet twice, the chair once, and in the potty once. We were so excited about the pee in the potty and she seemed pretty proud of herself. She walked her pee to the toilet, helped Daddy pour it into the toilet and got to flush. Then she finished up by washing her hands.

Although Eleanor seemed like she was starting to get the idea, we realized that if she was peeing in such small amounts over such a short period of time, she just wasn’t ready for the potty. The book we read had said that around 18 to 20 months is when the bladder control to pee large amounts all at one time develops. It looks like our little girl is just not there yet.

I think we are all a little sad that it didn’t work out this time, but we figure we’ll give it another try in a couple months and see if she’s developed the bladder control she needs.  Unfortunately, it looks like I’ll be watching Elmo’s Potty Time for months to come as she now demands it on a daily basis.