The time has almost come for that ever glamorous and slightly tricky job of potty training. With the first baby, I was weaning T whilst training L, and a toddler accident in the small infant car seat distinctly sticks in my mind. Talk about marking your territory. I remember relaying the whole process to a friend, describing potty training as one to add to the same list as learning to swim, passing your driving test and other vital life skills.
Like any other motherhood tasks I believe in a shared support network, aka copious amounts of wine with other Mums in times of stress, or sneaking G&T’s into our bag on a recent spa break. One of my closest Mama friends came up with a brilliant solution for any training trouble, inspired by the well known and all important toddler bribery method. Julia came up with a ‘loo loot’ box; a container for the bathroom which is filled with a stash of tiny toys, little sweets and any other small incentives. The idea of this is that it works as a reward scheme, and a reason to avoid accidents. Either way, I know I’ll be raiding the pocket money aisle at the supermarket soon. I’m not sure if there’s also meant to be a few Mummy treats in there too, but I’m thinking it’d probably be better for their teeth if I tucked into the mini Haribo.
An avid fan of Huggies Pull-Ups during 2012’s toddler mission, I’m using them again now. Possibly due to a sleep deprived haze first time round, I didn’t realise the extent of their range, so I recently stocked up on Pull-Ups, DryNites and Little Swimmers. All cleverly emblazoned with Disney Cars for the film’s biggest fan, the best product I’ve found in the collection is their Little Swimmers Hygiene Mat. L’s taking lessons at the leisure centre on a Saturday morning and post swim is always a wriggly and grumpy time for both little ones. The mat is designed for tots to stand still without getting toes wetter on the dirty floor, or falling over. They’d also be a clever packing idea for sober non-slip safety during our next alcohol smuggling Mama hotel break…