Off The Tongues of Toilet Training Toddlers: Funny Moments in Potty Training

This post is sponsored by Pull-Ups^® Training Pants. All opinions are my own.

With seven children between us – five who’ve successfully learned to use the potty and two who are in the process – we’ve heard just about everything under the sun during the various stages of potty training.  We’ve all heard the phrase “kids say the darnedest things.” Well, over the years I’ve coined the phrase “off the tongues of toilet training toddlers” for those funny experiences while potty training –  the things you never expect to hear but all the sudden your sweet potty training toddler is speaking.  It’s the funny stuff that happens while potty training that gets us through the sometimes challenging moments.

When potty training my first child, our only daughter, we were at one of the biggest festivals in our area. It was summer time and very hot. She was the most adorable little toddler and we’d been exploring this outdoor festival all day on the 4th of July. I had my son in tow too. We were standing in line to use the porta potty for at least 30 minutes, and the thought of my little girl using it bothering me the whole time. There were at least 50 people in line behind us when we finally made it to the front and got inside. Ella was so excited! She had never been inside a porta potty before and the blue plastic walls and the sunshine made the entire thing glow blue. She loudly exclaimed that it was the most wonderful bathroom she had ever seen. The laughing and giggling filled the line outside and I’m sure many of the people wondered just what kind of bathroom we must have had at home!

Fast forward to our now 4-year-old, who is currently fully potty trained. A little more than a year ago, though, he did not want to take the time from his busy days to sit on the potty long enough to go. He would sit for a minute, declare he was done without doing his business, get up and almost immediately have an accident. We tried nearly everything to get him to sit a little longer. We played games, we had him read books, and we even gave him our iPad. One afternoon I left him to sit for a few minutes and returned to find him using….not his hands to operate the iPad. There are words as a parent you never expect to hear or to have to utter and “you do not use your pee pee to work the iPad” is certainly in the books as one of my most unexpected.

Luckily though, whenever he did have the unexpected accidents, he was wearing Pull-Ups® Training Pants. Trust me when I tell you the easy open sides are key here. I could change him quickly and easily without the giant mess.

My son Orin one day declared he couldn’t go potty in the “sister bathroom” anymore. He says he’s a brother and the sister bathroom is for sisters only and he just can’t make “it” work in there.

Another sometimes funny aspect of potty training is introducing the bathroom for the first time. It can actually be pretty scary for kids first learning to potty train! Does your toddler ever get stage fright about going potty? Dr. Heather Wittenberg is a child development expert and partner to the Pull-Ups brand and she has some great tips to help your child want to go to the bathroom like a big kid.

And even though Orin is 4, he’s actually just now confident with standing while he pees. We didn’t really push him to stand up while peeing because it’s a complex skill and potty training is a lot to learn on its own. At home, his potty chair was the right height or we would use a stool that made the regular toilet the right height, but using toilets while out and about was impossible for him. Below, check out Dr. Heather’s thoughts on if your little guy should stand while peeing.

And as if standing to pee wasn’t complex enough, I remember one of our sons coming to us each day, for several days, after pooping to tell us that he pooped a letter in the potty chair. Each time it was a different letter and he wanted us to come look. Oh the disadvantage of your child learning his alphabet at the same time he’s potty training. He had a knack for it and very accurately created several letters. I briefly thought about documenting and writing a book. Very briefly. I’ll spare you all the photos.

There are so many funny potty training stories from over the years. These are the stories that make the difficult times, the potty training struggles more bearable.

Be sure to visit Pull-Ups.com for more great tips from Dr. Heather Wittenberg on potty training. Check out their Pull-Ups Potty Partnership to help you find the perfect resources for your child’s potty personality – all customized to their unique traits, behaviors and how they learn.

What are your favorite potty training stories?