Once Upon a Potty
Post written by: Paul
My daughter is just over two years old and my wife and I have begun the potty training phase. For the most part things are going well. We switched from the annoying diapers with the tabs to “pull-ups” and our daughter doesn’t mind using the potty once she’s there. The only problem is she tends to “forget” to tell us when she needs the potty and if we ask if she needs to use the potty, it’s almost always an emphatic “no”.
We’re not panicking yet. We have yet to really press the issue on potty training. Still, it would be nice..
How does this relate to books? Well, my wife checked out a pretty good book last week, Once Upon a Potty — Girl, by Alona Frankel. So far, my daughter is loving it.
The book starts by describing all the parts of the little girl, letting the young reader know she is just like them. Next it describes how the little girl used to go to the bathroom in her diaper when she was younger. Finally, the little girl receives a potty as a present.
Next comes some silly parts where she asks if it’s a birdbath, or a hat, or a bowl for the cat. My daughter really likes to repeat that part.
Eventually, the little girl does “wee wee” and “poo poo” in the potty and everyone is happy. Surprise twist, huh? Anyhow, I think this is a good book to encourage a little one to use the potty. We aren’t totally there yet, but maybe we’ll keep this book for a few weeks to see what’s happened. It is my daughter’s current “favorite” book.
One more thing. When my wife asked my daughter what her favorite part of the book was she answered, “Wee-Wee and Poo-Poo”. I guess the topic of #1 and #2 is always a crowd favorite!
July 1st, 2008 at 6:57 am
That was such a huge favorite of Pookie’s when we were potty training. He still breaks it out and flips through it every now and then.
He especially loves the “She sat and sat and sat and sat and….”
July 1st, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Potty books are great for potty training. We had several of them that were handed down to us (thankfully). One of them even made flushing noises. See if you can find some potty videos too. We have a Blue’s Clues assortment dvd and there is one about using the potty. Goodness, I can hear the song in my head now. lol
July 1st, 2008 at 8:58 pm
This Bear in the Big Blue House - Potty Time with Bear
DVD was hugely popular in our house back around the time they were 2-4. One of the characters even has to run off to poop even though he would rather stay and finish his game and another doesn’t quite make it to the potty before getting the floor wet and learns that accidents are okay. Get stuff.
July 1st, 2008 at 10:04 pm
We have the Bear in the Big Blue House book. It is an interactive book. You can push on something to make the toilet paper look like it’s moving. The ultimate is that you can make the toilet flush. It turns from yellow to white. Sometimes this stuff is a bit gross! The Blue’s Clues dvd talks about pooing and peeing. lol It’s amazing the stuff parents talk about. “What color was it?” hahaha
July 2nd, 2008 at 6:05 am
Mike - that’s awesome!
Thrifty Karen - the one with flushing noises sounds great. Also, my daughter is a big fan of Blue’s Clues. I’ll have to check that out.
Mike - we watched the Bear in the Big Blue House one with our niece before our daughter was born. I thought that was cute.
Paul
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:55 pm
[...] the way, I wrote a post at beagooddad.com about a potty training book, so you may want to check that [...]
July 11th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
I just posted this video on babylune this week. I am on the hunt for the baby boy book on this. As you may know Little A is already trying to learn. I think the book would be a great addition.
July 12th, 2008 at 8:35 am
Eliza - I’ll check out your site
Paul