(Fair warning: I’ve been potty training my kid for almost 6 months now. Pee and poop don’t faze me.)
Why don’t we start with the end of the story and go back? Yesterday, we got the happiest of Happy Grams. 
But, about a week and a half ago, it was a way different story. We started to have a pee problem. For the past 5ish months, I’d say, conservatively, that 90% of our accidents were poop. Pee has never been her issue. It was Saturday morning and I was folding laundry on our bed and she ran in and stood on the edge of our carpet (like, you couldn’t have stood 6 inches over on the hardwood?) and peed a puddle. I was stunned. WHAT? She was upset, as she is every time she has an accident. We took care of it, and over the course of the next week she did that at least a half a dozen more times. We tried to be more involved in asking her if she needed to go more, etc and it just didn’t seem to be making a difference. The climax of the story comes when I had to drive to daycare at 10 am last Wednesday because she’d already peed through her shoes AND her spare shoes. And her other shoes were at home drying after having been peed in the day before.
I was a confused lady. Nothing like thinking something’s done and then all of the sudden it’s time to pee all over everything. We simply don’t have the shoe wardrobe to support this behavior.
I decided to revert back to the tried and true bribery method of potty training, one that she was a little too young for when we PT’ed her. She loved her rainboots and is outgrowing them. Although it’s cute to watch her dedicate herself to fitting her size 7 foot into the size 6 boot, I saw an opportunity to swoop in with new, exciting, bigger boots! (Ironic, since shoes are at the center of our pee issue, no?)
So, I got these boots (“boops” in Margo-speak) off our company bulletin board. They’re an upgrade bc they’re loud and they fit, and they’re Mini Boden (Margo is a brand whore). I set it up like so: if you are a big girl and have no accidents at school, you can wear the “No Accidents Boots!” At first she was like, “Ok, whatever.” but I think she’s on board now. Yesterday she asked about them as soon as I put her in her carseat and we put them on as soon as we got home. School shoes off, No Accidents Boops on, Mr. Rogers style.
As the Happy Gram indicates, they had her take her nap in underwear yesterday (something we haven’t been brave enough to attempt) and she woke up dry. And it was so nice that they made a huge deal of it, made both me and Margo feel like champions. While I can’t claim “THE MAGICAL BOOPS ARE WORKING!” and that they deserve all the credit, we have been accident free since that horrible Wednesday. (knocking on wood because I know the jinxing power I have when I make a declaration like this.) Maybe they’re making us be more mindful and talk about it more. Whatever the case, it’s an instance where I sort of feel like a smart and conniving mother. Mwhahahah. And the boops are cute.
McBlog 2.0 
Timely post! It made me LOL for real too especially this comment “We simply don’t have the shoe wardrobe to support this behavior.”
I literally just this morning wondered if PT’ing Margo at 22 months had been successful because L is almost 20 months and people are starting to ask when she will be PT’ed.
Truth be told, I’m not even close to ready. Do you think if you would have waited it would have been better or no? I’m genuinely curious so any feedback is much appreciated!
It’s an interesting question, I’ve pondered it a lot! I think she was ready to PT at 22 mo, and, frankly, I’ve seen her become WAY more stubborn and opinionated as she gets further into 2… I was worried it’d be harder when she was older and I think that’d be the case for her. I think if your kid is genuinely interested in the potty and aware of when she goes, those are two primary prerequisites. Is daycare giving you feedback that she might be ready?
It’s a HUGE mental leap for parents, but worth it. There have been so many times (overshare alert) where she’ll have this enormous, adult-sized poop in the potty and I think “THANK GOD that wasn’t in a diaper!” lol.
Excellent feedback! It is a conversation I need to have with daycare but haven’t. Truthfully, I don’t think she is ready but it seems like every time I think she isn’t ready for something she shows me she is.
Dumb parent signing in here.
Thanks so much for this post. Off to ponder and possibly chat with daycare to see how we should approach it. My first concern is if they even take the kids to the bathroom during the day if they PT early. If not, there isn’t a point right now right?
In re: to your daycare taking them to the potty – yeah, I’d probably wait until they’re putting them on the potty at DC. Ours started in the 2 yo room, and they’ll typically move kids into that room a month before they’re 2. M was a special case bc of when we started daycare so she was slightly younger, but the peer pressure of sitting on the poty was a key factor 🙂
She might not be ready now, but the more you do to set it up now, the better. Talk about it, show LOTS of disgust with poop (and she can mimic you, which is always really funny) and talk about how big girls go on the potty, etc.
I laughed out loud at Margo being a brand whore.
Having trained two at (relatively) the same time, I can tell you there is no magical solution for every kid and the regressions are totally normal. It doesn’t make it any less frustrating.
Thanks!
Frustrating was right. And, i know you’ll apprciate this, Laura, that Wednesday? That was the “day after the election day of suckiness” so it was like icing on the cake. But anyway, holding out hope the boops signal a turning point and her regression is past. 🙂
The boops are super cute and those pink shorts are just adorable! I’m trying to absorb any pt tips I can get; it’s right around the corner for us! Theo is interested in the potty and has friends who are pt but still seems young to me, esp for a boy.
I have a friend who PT’ed her son at just over 2, it’s def possible and I think is filed under the “different for everyone” category. I’d say keep him interested (if you’re still CD’ing, plopping poops & flushing is a good lesson in “where poop belongs”) It’s a huge adjustment for everyone, but a good one in the end. Good luck, whenever you decide to go for it.