Day 1 of potty training is going far better than I expected. This morning he was so excited to take off that last diaper and I was hyping it up and then when he went to get himself a new diaper and I said no, he threw a bit of a fit. So at that point I was pretty nervous the day wasn’t going to go too well so I switched gears, told him I would snag some M&M’s for him for the day and he got excited real fast!

We had ZERO accidents today (as of right now… it’s not dinner time yet so keep your fingers crossed for me) - I think he emptied his bladder so many times to get as many M&M’s as possible that there was nothing left for an accident. He did a single poop in the potty (yayy!) but he was telling me basically as it was about to come out so I rushed him over and he plopped it in the potty (TMI? haha). Still counts.

—> END OF DAY POST UPDATE: 2 accidents, 3 total toilet poops (but not happy about doing it) + fell asleep in my arms at 5:20pm… so I put a pull-up on him ;)

Tips for Potty Training Boys - The Overwhelmed Mommy

Here’s how the morning went before I stopped logging it all and you’ll see why I stopped the log:

9:44am - tiny drip of pee in the toilet (I had just told him about the M&M deal)
9:46am - tiny drip of pee in the toilet (immediately asked for M&M’s after, of course)
10:12am - set the timer with Alexa and he went another tiny little drip in the toilet
10:18am - full on pee, like a full bladder and he asked to go!
10:20am - went again on his own, tiny drip
10:22am - another tiny drip in the toilet

…basically he was just stocking up on candy by now but hey, it was working so I went with it! But at this point, I stopped logging it all because it was about every 2 minutes. He’s like a dog on a walk, peeing every step he takes! But yes, ' I’d say that was all still a win for us!

10:48am - another full pee in the potty after a timer went off, asked him to go and he went with a full bladder!
11:00am - and the drip peeing every two minutes began again

Overall, I think day 1 of potty training was super successful, even if he was just doing it for the candy (not sure how we’re going to bread this trend now) but I’m sure day 2 is going to throw me some curve balls and we HAVE to figure out this poop thing (he still doesn’t like the idea of pooping in the potty) so stay tuned on that!

Here are my best potty training tips that worked well for us today:

1. Undies he LOVES

With Ava, we had her in no clothes the full first 3 days of potty training and after that, she was pretty much set. But Franky was really excited about his underwear so we went with it and let him wear them all day! It was all part of the excitement that (I think) kept him going!

I’ll link the different packs of toddler boxer briefs that we got:

Toddler Undies Pack 1 (we got a 2T and they’re too big on him so I’d say they’re true to size)
Toddler Undies Pack 2 (also got a 2T and they fit perfectly so I’d say they run small)

But you guys, how adorable are those toddler truck boxers and the toddler dinosaur boxers?! So dang cute!

2. Set a timer for every 20 minutes.

The Alexa really comes in handy here because you can just tell her to set the timer wherever you are instead of manually setting it on the microwave or your phone. That convenience factor did it for me! Every time he pees on his own, I re-start the timer for another 20 minutes and if he makes it the full 20 minutes, I have him sit on the potty to pee. I didn’t ask him if he had to pee each time - just told him to head to the potty and he peed every time!

3. Toddler-Adult Combo Toilet Seat Attachment

This toddler-adult toilet seat combo is a game changer - just brilliant! I really wish we had this with Ava! We did a mini potty with Ava because she was scared of the big potty (I never wanted to do it this way but that’s just how it went) and then we had a toddler potty thing we would put on the toilet each time but honestly all of the ones we tried were pretty terrible - they don’t fit perfectly so they slide around and they’re not very convenient. I will link our toddler-adult combo toilet seat here - installation was so dang easy, took like 2 minutes and I promise, this seat is a game changer.

4. Face Them Backwards

This is a trick a lot of people told me and is great for 2 reasons -

First of all, it makes it easier for them to get up on their own. We have a little stool for Franky to climb onto and climbing straight onto the toilet and not having to turn around and then sit is so much easier for him.

And second, the pee actually goes into the toilet. He puts his hands in front of his legs on the toilet seat which tilts his pee stream downward and we’ve yet to have any pee end up on the seat… so far ;)

5. M&M Reward

We rewarded Franky with an M&M each time he went potty in the toilet (and I bribed him with a whole bowl of M&Ms to go poop in the potty which clearly failed) but the reward thing is going great! You could even do a sticker chart with a toy at the end once they will the chart but candy is more Franky’s jam ;)

6. Excitement

We have done all that we can to stay super excited and keep that energy up all day long. We applaud him and cheer him on and express over-the-top excitement with the whole concept of being a big boy and wearing his fun undies and I think that has definitely helped. But yes, it’s exhausting!