A Return Trip to Potty Training (with 5 top tips!)

It's been a good eighteen months since we last properly visited the world of potty training with Terror 1. She was almost three years old and we'd waited until we felt she was definitely ready for it; a tactic which proved helpful when she went from nappies to knickers within one to two weeks. Thinking back now, it seems like it was such a quick and easy ride compared to our current one.

It's the turn of Terror 2 and, unfortunately, things aren't going along quite as smoothly. He's coming up to three and a half (just gone three if you start counting from his due date) and despite numerous attempts it isn't quite clicking into place for him just yet. He's been showing some signs that he's almost ready for a few months; using the potty for poos ninety percent of the time, occasionally doing a wee on his potty, knowing when he's wet and wanting his nappy to be changed as well sometimes showing an awareness of when he needs to use the toilet.

We've waited for a while to see if Terror 2 will initiate potty training in his own time, as Terror 1 seemed to do, but I think he needs that little nudge, just to get him started. Which is how we've come to here, nervously approaching the land of potty training for the second time.

• Hunt down all of the loose fitting trousers, preferably with elastic waistbands, that your little one owns. Pyjama bottoms are brilliant while you're at home as they're easy for little hands to pull up and down and mean they're not fussing over buttons and poppers when they need to go to the toilet. If it's quite warm at home you could skip the trousers altogether and just put your little one in pants/knickers. Skirts, loose fitting shorts and jogging bottoms are a good option if you need to go out of the house during the first few days of initiating potty training as they're quick and easy to remove when the time comes.
• Put together an 'accident kit' for when your little one has an accident and keep it somewhere that is easy for you to get hold of. In my 'kit' I have a roll of kitchen paper for mopping up accidents, a small bucket of warm soapy water and a cloth for washing down Terror 2's legs and the floor and a towel for drying everything off.
• If, like us, you don't have a downstairs toilet or bathroom your little one can get to quickly, invest in a potty to keep in the living room that they can use when there isn't time to get upstairs.
• Take your little one to try for the toilet regularly, every quarter or half an hour should be enough. Try to make a note of when they last had something to drink; generally they will need the toilet around one hour afterwards.
• Take a potty or children's toilet seat with you where-ever you go so it's easy for your little one to use the toilet if they need to. Don't forget to pack a couple of changes of clothes, including socks and another pair of shoes, and some bags to keep wet clothes in just in case they don't quite make it to the toilet in time.