ready, steady, potty!

yellow is a perfect colour scheme ;-)
Hannah @ Bonne Nouvelle

Last summer, sick of the cost and waste of diapers, I did an experiment to see if Sera was ready for potty training. She was only 18 months at the time and wasn't quite there yet so I put the project on the back burner for a while.

The project for this first week of August is to get the dreaded potty training out of the way.

I've been planning for this for ages and hoping to get the job done quick and easily without tears or tantrums.  I read up on different philosophies of potty training and decided that a reward-chart and potty party will probably be the best combination of strategies.

I've made a princess potty chart to motivate Sera with stickers and that seems to make her happy. I even drew a little picture of her being successful on the potty in the corner.  She's already used it on several occasions and is always very proud of herself when she gets a sticker. She even asks me if I would like a sticker when I'm on the 'potty'.

We've got a Fisher Price 'Little Mommy' potty-training doll that pees only on her own potty (cool use of magnets huh?!) some really great books (see bottom of post), frilly girly undies and even ipad apps.

Mindy Starr at Creative Juice threw
 this amazing party for boys and girls

The plan is to throw a potty-party for Sera after nap-time today where we train the doll together and then throw away the diapers 'for good' (I'm afraid to jump right into the night time and nap time sans-diapers).

Potty parties have become very trendy lately and you can get loads of inspiration on line if you're hoping to do something a bit over-the-top for the occasion... I don't know if it helps the training go any faster, but it is a fun excuse for a party if you have nothing else going on.


My version of a potty-party is going to be pretty simple in comparison to the above examples seeing we won't be having any guests (aside from dolls, bears and other favourite toys) but I do plan to inflate some balloons, have kiddy music, snacks and, importantly, drinks.  I think as a reward I'll be creative and propose pedicures, candy necklaces and other fun treats as well as the stickers.

Wish us luck! I'll post again about how it goes.








In the meantime here are some potty training books and toys we love: