Bubble Wrap As A Potty Training Tool

Severely underreported in the toddler how-to literature, in my opinion.

And no, we don't use it as a diaper.

The good news: for the last 5 days or so, Anna has fairly consistently done a poo and some pee-pee in the potty. And on two or three occasions she has even pre-emptively told me of her urges and voluntarily walked to the bathroom. Just like a real person. Wow.

I think we have to credit Daddy for this one. He happened to sit Anna down last weekend and once again deliver the "you're a big girl, big girl's don't use diapers" talk. But this time, it seemed to work.

Not without some effort, of course... the list of equipment (other than the potty chair) that Anna requires to go to the potty is a long one: her tin of Nemo magnets, the 4-book Nemo learning box set, Winnie's potty chair, Anna's potty book (a small blue spiral binder) and blue crayon, and one large roll of bubble wrap.

(That's right, bubble wrap. I wish I wish I wish I could remember how this started, but I can't. All I know is some came in a box and she grabbed it and took it in the bathroom.)

She spreads part of the bubble wrap out very carefully directly in front of her potty and calls it her "mat". At first, I don't even think she realized that she could pop the bubbles; she just liked the way they feel. But eventually she figured it out.

I suppose this is good; instead of "plop" or "tinkle", when Anna is in the bathroom we hear a pleasant pop-pop-popping sound, as if we were in line buying concessions at the movies, or walking through a carnival.

Nice.