Potty training/Toilet training...

You asked, “When is the best time to move from potty trained to toilet trained?” Your three year old is 100% potty trained but reluctant to try the toilet. Well, congratulations on the major milestone! Now, you want to hear about my own experience in this messy department? First of all, all children are different and potty and toilet train at different paces. My boys all trained right on the toilet, so there was no transitioning from potty to toilet. We found this easier with the boys, since they were using the 'watch what Daddy does' technique of toilet training! On the other hand, my daughter Kiah had a princess potty and she also was reluctant to give her potty up. We had to get her a “princess seat”, known to everyone else as a toddler sized toilet seat that fits right onto the toilet! Kiah had a lot of fears of the big people potty; she would fall in, her tushy would get wet, she would get flushed, etc. Her new princess seat worked wonders though, making the hole smaller on the toilet so that she couldn’t fall in, get her tushy wet or get flushed! You can get them anywhere you find potty chairs, from simple ones at www.babiesrus.com to fancy ones at www.rightstart.com, take your pick! As I said before, children like to do things at their own pace. Forcing a child to toilet train sometimes leads to regression. If your daughter doesn’t feel safe giving up her potty yet, do you really want to undo all her hard work at potty training just to put her on the toilet? No accidents? She’s already amazing! When she is on the potty, ask her about the toilet. Kiah was able to tell me when she was very young that she was afraid of how big the toilet was (of course, when I told her I was not afraid to use the toilet, she was also able to tell me that my butt was too big to fall in!). Anyhow, she went with me to buy her princess seat and watched me put it on the toilet. It made a nice smooth transition for her. Your daughter will not ask to bring her potty chair to kindergarten with her, really.

Remember, expect a whole new experience with baby #2. With each of my children, their personality contributed to the process. They were trained anywhere from 23 to 30 months, some wore training pants, one wore princess panties, and one wore pull-ups! Some had accidents, some didn't. One wet the bed until he was five, he was trained the earliest and thus I learned: Never rush it! Well, I hope I helped. Let me know. Got more questions, Just ask Mo!