Observations of an Amateur Housewife

How to Potty-train a Princess

October 2008

I read this book on how to potty train your child in a day. The book is centered around the idea of a “Potty Party” in which an entire day is devoted to nothing but the potty. The morning is spent training a favorite doll or stuffed animal to use the potty, and the afternoon is spent training the child. At the end of the day, if your child has successfully used the potty consistently, there is a reward, such as cake and ice cream, or a trip to Chuck E. Cheese, or whatever your child would be excited about.

You pick a theme for the party, such as “Teddy Bear Picnic” or “Princess” or “Super Heroes”, (there are several more theme ideas), and then use that theme to make a huge deal out of the whole process. The book has great ideas on decorations, snacks, drinks, rewards, and games.

Two Weeks Before the BIG DAY — Getting Ready

I fully do not expect to potty train Lily in a day, but I’m going to try it. I think it will speed things up a bit, but I’m not expecting miracles! I also don’t think it’s necessary to go to such an extent in potty training. However, we have tried potty training Lily in the past, but with the new baby, a hectic summer schedule, and the big move to Ohio, potty training pretty much “went to pot”. Haha, sorry I couldn’t resist.

Since Lily had already been introduced to the idea of “The Potty”, (unsuccessfully), I thought we needed to kick off the new round of training with a big splash–really make it a big deal to get her interested again! Besides that, it just sounded fun.

She has really gotten into the princess thing lately, so I chose that theme. For the past several weeks I have really hyped her up on how big girls like Princess Cinderella use the potty, and how “Someday, maybe you’ll get to be a big girl like Princess Cinderella and use the potty, too!” We’ve watched potty training videos, read potty training books, and watched Cinderella movies. (I even hinted that Cinderella’s throne was her “Big Girl Chair”. I didn’t EXACTLY SAY that’s where she went potty! I just kind of threw it out there and let her draw her own conclusions. Terrible, I know.)

I did several things to prepare for the party. While she was sleeping, I decorated her potty chair with glitter and princess stickers to make it really special.

The night before the big day, I took lavender and blue tulle and hung it over the potty chair in the bathroom, to make it look like a Princess throne! I also put a tiara and princess sceptre next to the potty, along with bubbles, books, stickers, and a big sticker chart.

Then I turned the bathroom into a castle, by coloring a huge picture of a castle and sticking it to the bathroom door. As you can see by the picture, you do not have to be an artist to do this. The last thing I did was make “big girl undies” for “Bear”, Lily’s teddy bear. I didn’t feel like sewing them, ugh.  And I didn’t want to tape them shut, like the book suggested, because I thought that would be too much like a diaper. So I cut some scrap fabric into a diaper shape and just tied the sides together. Super-easy! I made about 8 pairs, andput them all in a gift bag. Took about 10 minutes.

The DAY BEFORE

When Lily woke up the next morning, I gave her a surprise–big girl undies for Bear! “Bear gets to learn to be a big girl princess today! Yaaay!”  (All the energy can get pretty exhausting.  ).

We devoted the entire day to training Bear to use the potty. Of course, every time Bear got a treat, Lily ate it, so you can imagine Lily, every 5 minutes…”Oh! Mommy! Bear has to go poo-poo again!”

I used a syringe bulb, hidden up my sleeve, to make the bear go pee-pee, and smushed tootsie rolls to make her go poo-poo. Lily was so excited to put her on the “throne” and teach her how to go potty.

Every time Bear tried, Bear got a sticker on the chart. Every time Bear actually went, Bear got a sticker and a treat. One m&m for pee-pee, and 2 m&m’s for poo-poo.

Bear Went in the Potty! (a tootsie roll)

By the end of the day, Bear was a full-fledged, potty trained Princess! Mommy and Daddy and Jackson were all very, very proud of Bear! Before Lily went to bed, I told her that maybe the next day, she could learn to be a big girl princess too.

The BIG DAY

The next morning, it started all over again, except this time the gift bag was full of undies for Lily! She was extremely excited about the whole idea.

Princess Lily

I loaded her up all morning with lots of apple juice and water, and took her to the potty every 20 minutes. Every time she tried to go potty, she got a little sticker on her chart. Every time she actually went, she got a big Princess sticker on the chart. Once she gets her whole chart filled up with stickers, we get to go pick out a new toy at the store.

We are half way through the day, and the results are: 2 wet accidents and 6 times going in the potty! The last 5 times that she went in the potty, I didn’t even have to take her to the potty. She ran in there herself screaming, “Mommy, I have to go pee-pee! Quick, quick!” If things go as well this afternoon, then we will have a cake and ice cream party tonight!

So I think it’s working. Like I said, I’m not expecting miracles, but I really think this potty party has given us a BIG headstart.

More than that, it’s been a really fun way for Lily and Mommy to make some memories together.

Princess Treats

(Update: Today is the second day, and today Lily has gone in the potty 7 times! She has had one accident, but she was pretty upset about it, and she is consistently telling me when she needs to go! I’m THRILLED, and Lily is pretty proud of herself, too.)