Can't belabor the potty training anymore . . .

My potty and I don’t get along too well.

It’s cold and scary, and it also smells.

My mom wants us to get along,

So I will use the potty before too long.

My mom puts bear on to let me know it’s okay.

“He’ll be fine,” my mom would say.

She also gives me treats so I would try —

Bananas, toys, and stickers so I won’t cry.

The treats don’t work; I’m not so lucky.

My pull-ups get wet and yucky.
I try the potty chair so it’s more my size,

And my mom cheers me on because I try.

She reads and sings to me as I sit,

So I don’t get bored and want to quit.

I walk around with my bottom bare.

I aim into Cheerios, but I miss before I get there.

Still, my mom potty trains me with a smile,

While my wet and poopy pants add to the pile.

One day I look in the potty and what do I see?

After lots of tries, I did it — I peed!

My mom was so proud, and so was I!

I did it. I tried!

I can find a potty when I have to go.

Sometimes I make it, sometimes I don’t.

Now I’m not scared to try to poop.

I’ll keep trying and soon I’ll get that, too.

It was scary to learn something new.

Using the potty is easy to do.

I’m ready for underwear! Ooo. Ooo. Eee. Eee.

I know how to potty! Yippee!
– Mimi Hoang Kuehn

Labor Day weekend this year was anything but restful. I was busy getting my two sons ready for their first days of school (second grade and kindergarten) and beginning my daughter on her potty training.

"Are you off the handle? (Toilet handle, in my case)" some of you may be thinking as to why I would be crazy enough to put myself through the potty ordeal at the start of the school year.

My daughter showed signs of being ready, and I had an extra long Labor Day weekend (with both Friday and Monday off from work) to really focus on her using the potty. I learned several things from training my other two, one of which is that consistency is needed and that work is a distraction. I even cancelled any Labor Day plans so that I would free up my time for my daughter's "potty poop camp" and finish any last-minute preparation for the boys' first full week of school.

Now just because I was going to torture my little soldier and myself the last weekend of summer break by keeping ourselves indoors, it didn't make sense to draft my two sons to potty poop camp. They had been recruited, served their time, and have been honorably discharged from potty poop camp.

So I let grandma take my soon-to-be kindergartener to the pool two times, and my second-grader one time to the pool that weekend.

Why the uneven number of times to the pool, you may wonder? I was also busy disciplining my oldest son because apparently he was already disciplined by his teacher for goofing around on the playground his second day of 2nd grade (even though his friend accidentally kicked him but teacher disciplined both of them). Although I thought it was harsh for his teacher to quickly take away his recess for his first offense, I thought I needed to discipline him further at home since his teacher had called me about it. So hence, he wasn't allowed to go to the pool one of the days during the weekend.

So Friday morning, my supposed first day off from my Labor Day weekend, I wake up at my usual 6:15 a.m. to prepare for my daughter's busy day, including having her potty seat set up in the kitchen, prepare multiple changes of clothes for her, and have my towel ready that I'll be carrying around today.

Then I go greet my normal, happy but unsuspecting 2-year-old waiting for me by her gated room. Instead of her usual diaper change, I tell her she's not wearing a diaper today. In fact, she's not going to wear a pull-up or training pants either. My little soldier is going commando, and luckily she only says "no" once and doesn't argue further.

While carrying the towel with me, I take her downstairs and introduce her to the potty, which has been moved from the bathroom to the kitchen. (Before her potty training, she would watch me use the bathroom while she sits on her potty...with all her clothes still on. She liked tearing off the toilet paper, flush, and wash her hands. And she would often let me know when her tummy "hurts" right before she wet or soil her diaper. So I knew she was ready for potty training.)

I tried to make her day as routine as I could to ease her into the potty training. I let her have breakfast, and then let her sit on the couch as she watched her Bubble Guppies episodes that we had DVR'd. But we put a towel underneath her.

I then bring her and her Teddy to the potty seat in the kitchen and place her bear on the seat and reassure her that there's nothing to be scared of. She smiles. Then I put her on the potty. She goes along but she only sits for a mintue. So I let her off this time, not wanting to push her too much.

I let her do her normal playing, including marching around the family room while the marching band episode of Bubble Guppies is on. This time, she has mommy — the extra band member — marching right behind her to catch her before she has an "accident."

Next, we do our normal reading, but instead of asking her questions about the book we're reading, I continually ask her if she needs to use the potty in between pages.

We even do our regular snacktimes, too, but this time, I offer her more juice than usual, and offering her pudding, and suggest that she eat her snacks sitting on her potty seat in the kitchen while watching another episode of Bubble Guppies. And this time, I wouldn't let her out of the potty seat because she hasn't peed since getting up in the morning. She starts crying frantically, but I wouldn't let her off this time. She continues getting herself so worked up that she pukes. Of course I let her off the potty and undress her and shower her. She continues to puke once more in the shower because she is still mad at me.

Surprisingly, I haven't started on the sweet treats as bribes, stickers or the training pants, etc yet but am ready to use those at anytime :) She didn't wear a diaper or anything under her clothes today. For today, Star Wars figures, juice boxes, and large legos kept her on the potty for the times she did sit. She did pee today, but I think it was accidental b/c she was trying to poop.

After about four change of clothes, she has asked to use the potty without me asking her, and she even tinkles. The idea hasn't sunk in yet because I put a diaper on her after her bedtime shower and it is loaded with pee after a half hour. We have a long way to go still. At this point, I admit that she's making progress more quickly than I thought. But I am not naive to think she'll conquer the potty today or anytime soon.

The second day of training, she is making progress. She even says "I win the potty" after she goes on it without getting some of her shorts wet first. Shortly after, she asks me to give her a "Big Five." She is a character. Up until this point, she hasn't done #2 yet so obviously I didn't want to ruin her moment, so I gave her a Big Five.

On the fifth day of training, my daughter goes to pee on her own now. She hasn't conquered #2 yet, but I knew she was close because I could smell it. She had been going to the potty several times since yesterday evening and keeps farting on the potty, but doesn't go. So I knew it was just a matter of time. This morning, she poops on the potty with help. And she just pooped on the potty completely on her own while I was cooking dinner. I am very, very proud of her!

After that day, I knew that if my daughter has a repeat of that day, I can officially say she has got the potty down. Staying dry during naps and bedtime will be our next goal. (I hope I didn't jinx myself.) I am as surprised as anyone at how quickly she caught on to this. I'm so glad I decided to train her when we had the long weekend, and cleared my calendar for it. I kept her diaperless since Saturday morning. The only real day where she had a lot of accidents was the first day, but it's so worth it. If you want to talk more, ping me tomorrow.

Exactly a week after our potty training started, I was ready to get Big Girl underwear. Not for me, but for my daughter! We had a celebratory Burger King meal for my Potty Princess. My daughter ended up not really needing the sugared treats that I had planned as bribes for her potty training, so naturally, I ate them all —  they were a reward for me for conquering the potty training.