What does Disney’s highly popular Frozen have to do with toilet training you might ask?
Well in our house it means EVERYTHING!
My little strong willed almost three year old had us thinking we would be changing nappies well into high school!
Our oldest Sammy was so easy to toilet train… too easy it seemed. One day she decided she wanted to use the potty we had been gifted and that was it, fully toilet trained day and night before she was even two. Charlie on the other hand showed some interest at about two but then went way off the rails, so we left it thinking she just wasn’t ready. Now at almost three and with a new baby in the house she was still not showing any signs of being interested and in fact any mention of it was met with a very strong “NO!”. We came to realise it wasn’t that she wasn’t ready, (she knew exactly what she was doing and when) but more that she just didn’t want to use the potty/toilet! So Steven and I decided cold turkey was the only way with her! We decided Monday of the following week would be the day and talked to her about no more nappies in the week leading up to it.
Monday came and ALL of the nappies were gone. The prospect of puddles, little piles and wet sheets with a baby in the house as well, talk about nerve racking!
I’d looked up potty training your strong willed child and it appeared cold turkey was the right approach, Charlie has an unbelievable ability to hold on all day so nappies at night were not an option, she would just wait it out for a night nappy and we didn’t want to cause her any health problems going that route.
We looked at an online toy catalogue and she pointed out an Elsa dress she really wanted… on to an incentive winner right here! I printed out a star chart and a picture of the dress and hung them at her height right by the potty. Fast forward two days and I was again beginning to wonder if she would ever “get it”! But day three saw a compete 180, one accident first thing and then bang! IT.JUST.CLICKED she rocketed through her star chart (one sticker for a wee and two for a poop) and is now the very proud owner of her Elsa dress, we are even dry most nights 🙂
So I would like to present to you my very own little Queen Elsa, Miss Charlie. Big sister Sammy also received a dress for being such a good big sister helping Charlie learn how to go like a big girl 😉
