Baby Squared

Run a bit extra water into the potty (poop comes out easier that way).  Dump nasties.  Spray with windex/simple green/cleaner of choice and wipe with toilet paper.  Final rinse of water and you're done.  Fresh water comes from the sink, nasty water goes to Bobby Sr.

Congrats to the girls for trying it out!

At the day care we'd rinse them in the bathroom sink, then spray them with a bleach/water spray we had on hand (I wanna say 1:20 ratio, you know, 1 oz bleach to 20 oz water) and wipe it out with a paper towel.  I suspect since it's your own house, you could rinse every time and just spray once a day if you felt like it, or use a vinegar/water solution if bleach sketches you out (I use a 1:10 at home for virtually everything).

Just my completely worthless 2 cents, since my kid is still just a wee one.  

Heh, I said "wee."

My son is 18 months and has successfully peed on the potty 3 times I think. Not in a regular kind of way (two times were while he was sitting on it naked just prior to bath time). I am still totally psyched. I'm not buying training pants or anything, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Woot!

No specific advice...just good luck!

After the same dilemma, I opted for the kind of seat that was placed directly on the Robert :). I always had a step stool nearby so my little one could climb up. I figured it eliminated the little to big potty transition too. Good luck!

Yuck - I hated cleaning the potty.  I used to rinse it with water from the sink and then dump the water into the toilet.  Then I would use a flushable baby wipe to wipe out any poop "remainders," put the wipe in the toilet, rinse the potty again in the sink, dump the water in the toilet, and flush.  For pee, I just rinsed the potty (no wiping).  At the end of each day, I also wiped the potty with a Lysol wipe.  I know, I know, the wipes aren't environmentally friendly, but somehow I couldn't handle having a "poop sponge" anywhere in the bathroom.  In the rare case that I splashed poop or pee in the sink, I used Lysol wipes to wipe the whole sink, too.  I am so squeamish about this stuff that I usually completely the whole process while holding my breath!

After about a year of that, we switched to the potty seat that goes on top of the toilet - affectionately called the "cushy tushy" - which was so much easier!

i have a new appreciation and love for diapers. after our first go at the poop in the bobby, much like you described. it's gross. yes, mildly exciting. but then you have to clean. the bootie. the potty. whathaveyou. and then you have to get a diaper back on free-roamer, which hasn't proven to be easy. and what to do with the one not currently pooping on the potty? where does he go? what does he do? looks on with curiosity as i beg him not to touch anything in the vicinity. i think mine are keeping diapers until their first middle school dance.

p.s. i would love the "cushy tushy" but i just know the day will come when they both have to go at precisely the same time and then there is not only a pee/poop mess but tears and fights. curses.

Eeeew, I hated dealing with the pooped in little potty!  I also finally got rid of the thing and used the little seat that fits onto a real toilet.  But that can be scary to toddlers as young as yours, so in the meantime here's a great tip - keep a coffee filter in the little potty bowl.  If poop goes in, rather than smearing on the potty bowl, the filter with poop inside slides right out into the big potty for flushing!

I'm so happy to read this post, which totally hits home. My son is 18 months and we've also brought a new "friend" in the house in the last few weeks. Whenever he sees it, he excitedly shouts "Pee-pee!" (or rather "pipi," in French), and wants to sit on it, but that's pretty much it. He doesn't have a name for it, but he'll sometimes drag it in the living room and use it as a step (the taking it apart thing is also a big hit). I didn't expect to actually start potty training for a while, especially since he's a boy and he's far from giving us signals that he's ready -I honestly think he wouldn't mind staying in a soiled diaper for hours (or realize it, for that matter). But I know that at the daycare where he goes they like to start everyone in the group early, and they'll probably ask us to go on a joint effort later in the fall. I guess it's one of those things where you hate to do the work, but love the end result, so you put up with it. Congrats to Clio for that important first step!

And was I the only one to find the potty selection weird at the store? I bought the plain, cheap one but I couldn't really believe it... A full-on throne? Music and congratulatory words when you actually go potty?  

"Diaper Free Before 3" by Dr Lekovic! It's a great read, really! There's this whole "elimination communication" culture, too. I have 17 month old b/g twins and got my son to poop on the potty probably five times when he was about 9 months old. So tough to keep up with it with twins, though! I'm buying training supplies now and am ready to try again. Check out this product: ecawarebaby.com....my daughter is right there with yours: her first two words together were "bye bye poo-poo!"

I love your blog and have shared the url with my MOTC!

No no no.. we never used the little potty.  I got a potty ring and my now three year old always used that.  My 20 month old has been using it for the past few months but nothing consistent. I vowed to never clean out one of those nasty little potties and so far it has worked!  

Kate and Emily will be potty trained by they time they go to Kindergarten.  That's all I will commit to!  I'm totally not looking forward to it.

I guess it's true that girls are faster with potty training.

I have a seat for the toilet and a potty.  Now that everyone has mentioned it, it seems like a good idea to just start him on the regular toilet when it's time.  Potty cleaning is icky.  

At this point, however, Michael has absolutely no awareness of his bodily functions.  He will pee right down his leg and keep on going like nothing happened.  He will play with the potty, including stepping into it (which is awkward and hazardous), but when it comes to actually peeing on it, he's not ready.  

When he moves to the 2 year old room in his new daycare, they will start working with him.  If he shows signs of readiness before then, I'll start.

Good luck with E and C!

As far as dealing with poopy clothing goes: washing up detergent (like Joy or Sunlight) is handier for me than specialized laundry pre-treaters (the little brush on the cap of the pre-treater bottle just seems like a hazard).  I dump any lumps in the toilet, rinse the rest under running water, then squeeze out most of the water, and squirt a generous dose of detergent anywhere I see brown.  It gets laundered in warm or cold water (not hot, as heat sets iron stains, and iron is what makes poop brown) with everything else, and even if it sits wet for a week, the detergent keeps the stain from setting.

The sink gets spritzed with Lysol and rinsed.

My little boy (same age as yours; we've met at church) hasn't graced the potty with an offering, despite lots of potty sitting, but we've had plenty of diaper blowouts, and the above procedure will keep it from staining even pale colored knits.

Same thing works great on fresh blood stains.

I vowed not to even attempt potty training to my boy twin are at least 2. Maybe even 2 and a half.  Just wait until they will be definitely ready so it *hopefully* won't take long.  I plan on using the little cushy seat that goes on the big potty. We have two toilets in our house so I will buy two of them and they will primarily use the hall bathroom but just in case they need to go at the same time, I will have a backup. I will also have two stepstools for themto get up there on their own.  The pottys you have to clean gross me out too much as well. Eww.

I am also very squeamish about dealing with poo or pee, so I opted for the potty seat to sit on the toilet with a step stool. I figured I could just do it all in one step, because you have to transition from the potty chair to the toilet at some point. It seemed to work very well, and I will do it with DS#2 when he is ready.

My twin daughters started using their potties when they were about the same age as your girls.  They would always let me know when they needed their diaper changed so I thought I'd give it a shot.  The first week they peed in their potties several times and even pooped once or twice but once the novelty wore off they didn't use their potties again for the next 6 months.  But recently they've starting to show interest again - so I'm keeping my fingers crossed they get there by age 3!

chattaboxmom-- coffee filters!  Brilliant!  thank you!

M, 13 mos, sits on the potty each night before the bath to avoid the dreaded "poo in tub" (which is far worse poop in Bobby.)  Sometimes we get pee, sometimes the big score, sometimes nothing.  We always cheer and clap and M seems to find the whole experience hilarious.