20 month old has completely out of the blue had two wees on the loo today. Should I sieze the moment?

[BroccoliSpears]

She was really interested in wees and poos and potties and loos about 4 months ago, and we spent about a fortnight racing her to the loo every time she asked. Then she lost interest. I wasn't particularly bothered as I felt she was pretty young anyway - all in her own good time.

Just sitting here reflecting on today and it occurs to me that she asked to sit on the loo this morning after watching me have a wee, and immediately did a wee ("Wee wee all done - get down please").

Then tonight she asked to get out of the bath for a poo, sat on the loo and had a wee ("Wee wee. Get down please"), no poo.

I wasn't really planning on potty training at the mo. Was going to leave it until after the new baby arrives (April).

What do you think?

(And if the concensus is that I should, I'll go and read the millions of How To Do It threads)

Well she's leading the way, isn't she? I'd go for it. Some little girls can be 'easy'. My daughter was dry at two with very few problems, and with her 'leading' on potty training: I didn't push her.

Hello - proud mum of "potty training day 4 complete" mum here, reporting for duty. DD is 2.6 - we have had two failed attempts at about 20 months, 25 months (with brand new DS, WFT was I thinking?). This time, she led the way - said she didn't want to wear nappies anymore, wanted her big girl pants. We now have two days dry, and today, she did her first (two foot practically!) poo on the toilet, rather than on the potty.

I reckon, no harm giving it a go. Will be so much easier if she's trained by the time new DC comes along. Put it this way, you will know by day 3-4 whether you are fighting a losing battle. In which case, just gently put the pants away and tell her she did really well trying out her big girl pants, and you'll all have another try some time soon. If she isn't ready, this won't bother her at all.

Good luck. BTW, found great motivation was to stick a sticker on the potty for every "goal". As on previous attempts got sick of promising chocolate buttons - too much sugar. We bought a bumper box of Dora ones, she loves it, and likes to give names to all her poos...depending on what shape . So far we have had ice-cream poo, chewy bar poo, and ball poo

Well done Sycamore! That's encouraging.

The sticker idea is a great one - she thinks stickers are the most exciting thing ever.

She does seem to be leading the way. I'll go and read some potty training threads now and give it a go.

yes me too, ready child and clueless parent. it was all done pretty much straight away. save the bribes for out of house.

a year later and he is weeing on his socks, carried away watching pirates on telly. but that is another matter.

Broccoli - the only advice I can give is that if you feel like banging your head against a wall at any point, feel that you may possible lose your temper, (thinking, but WHY can't you just do it in the potty, what's so F-ing hard about that????) or begin to feel she is doing it on your carpet just to spite you, that's when you'll know she's not ready .

DD is asking for the potty, but all the time, but I know she's ready cos she can hold it for ages, then when prompted, now happily goes and performs. Last time round, we had full on protest by day 3 - she went on potty strike and refused to sit altogether. DH and I kind of took the hint

That's, she asking for the potty, but NOT all the time...

Bs imo i dont think at 20mths you have a child who is ready to wear nics and tell you i need i to go. its curiousity and copying initially, ot actually know a wee is coming and convey that message is alot harder.
by all means use the stickers, but i think one can make more work for one than necesary at this age when really 2 3/4 is when i think most kids can do it and converse it.

Well I'll give it a go. Have got no big plans for the weekend or Monday. Tuesday morning I'll have to decide if we can go to toddler group sans nappy.

Is it a big no-no to go back into a nappy for toddler group and then come home and resume potty use? I suspect it would be.

So. Tomorrow morning. No nappy. Will send dp out for knickers, downstairs potty and stickers. Anything else?

And if we're drowning in wee and poo by Sunday we'll have a rethink.

Oh hooray. Another whole aspect of parenting I know nothing about!

(And is it just me who hates the term "potty training"?)

Duly noted Hermy. No harm in giving it a go though? I certainly won't be on a mission if it doesn't work out. She does show signs of being ready (asking to go, ability to undress etc) but I appreciate she's a bit young. Which is why I wasn't really planning on it yet.

Oooh - bonus, a weekend off fights about putting a nappy on.

absolutelly BS. its just if you decide to head off out and theres no chance of a nappy and youre in the car or in the park etc etc.
but good luck

You need the potette! Get from mothercare or boots or wherever- it's tommee tippee, and is fabulous little portable potty with liners that soak up everything then tie up like a nappy sack.

Yes, you kind of have to stick to your pants once you get going - just get her to try before you leave, then when you get there is she hasn't. Don't think that just asking at this stage will be enough - they'll say no, then pee their pants 30 secs later.

Also, my DD is probably "trained" (yes, yuck to that word" touch wood, but she is very wobbly still on her legs, and can't get her own trousers and pants down and up without falling over - so don't worry too much about all those so called signs. I probably would be surprised/impressed if she did train this early, but I reckon you will learn a lot from trying anyway, like we did, so you really have nothing to lose. Oh, also buy spray on foam carpets cleaner with a scrubby brush attachment. Have kitchen roll, and have a bucket put aside with water and detergent in to chuck in all wet stuf.

And finally - put nappies on for naps, and watch out if she seems to be holding in poo's rather than going on potty. Mostly they will do in their nappy at nap time, but some can get awful bunged up!