Toilet Training - Surviving Public Toilets

I popped a bottle of champagne when Pei Pei / Hao Hao declared that she / he was diaper-free.

However, I realised that I popped the champagne too early.

That was just the beginning of another challenge when we bring them out - visiting public toilet!

The difficulty level increases when I bring two of them out by myself.

Challenge 1

Before they were diaper-free, unless "explosion" took place, I could continue whatever I was doing for a while longer.

But now...

Challenge 2

Pei Pei and Hao Hao are used to hygienic toilets at home (Salute to DaDi for polishing the toilets!). When we visit public toilets, once in a while, we see horrors which I don't wish to elaborate here.

So I have to clean up the toilet seat with tons of toilet paper before they use it.

Oh, sometimes I have to do this too.

Challenge 3

When I bring two children out alone, if one of them needs to go to toilet, it means that all three of us must go! I am worried to let them go to toilet by themselves as they are still too young. Of course, when I am the one who needs to answer Nature's call, two of them would have to join me in the call!


Challenge 4

As a kan-cheong (panicky) mother, not only we go to toilet together, we go into the same cubicle together. Since the ratio of number of people to the toilet bowl is 3:1 inside the cubicle,  the obvious question is, who first? I am definitely the last person. Sometimes, war takes place inside the cubicle if both of them are very urgent at the same time.


Challenge 5

Toilet bowls in some public toilets are designed solely for adults. Or they are designed based on the assumption that children nowadays are very tall.

So...

This is definitely not lion dance performance.

So you can imagine how strong my biceps become after a "big business" session.

Whenever I have to support them during the "big business" session, my eyes can only look at one direction - into the toilet bowl. Anyway, I am well-trained already. I can continue to eat after the session.


So, how to overcome these challenges?

Step 1: Teach them clean the toilet bowl using toilet paper.
Step 2: Wait outside the cubicle instead of going in with them (Need DaDi's help to train Hao Hao).
Step 3: Wait outside the washroom.
Step 4: Let them visit the washroom by themselves without me moving away from my original location.

Oh, these are still running in my mind, I haven't executed these steps yet!

Shall pop another bottle of champagne again when they have mastered the art of using public toilets by themselves!

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Excellent Service Award to Potties

We are pleased to present the Excellent Service Award to Miss Red Potty and Mr Green Potty!

Miss Red Potty has served Pei Pei for 3+ years. She has value-added to the family by performing duty that is beyond her job scope - being the "wok" for Pei Pei to play with!

Mr Green Potty has served Hao Hao for a shorter span of 1+ year, as Hao Hao accelerated his toilet-training within a short period of time. Nevertheless, Mr Green Potty has played a significant role in this journey.

When both Pei Pei and Hao Hao were using potties, they would fight for whose potty to be cleared by MaMi first! So you can see how much they loved their potties! 

Now Pei Pei and Hao Hao have grown up, and it is time for Miss Red Potty and Mr Green Potty to retire. MaMi would like to thank Miss Red Potty and Mr Green Potty for providing a platform for family bonding - allowing MaMi, Pei Pei and Hao Hao to have "common activity" at the same time! 

Now that Miss Red Potty and Mr Green Potty have retired, if both kids need to use washroom at the same time, each of them would occupy one washroom (there are two washrooms in the house). If DaDi / MaMi also needs to answer the nature's call at the same time, then poor DaDi / MaMi has to take a deep breath and wait for his / her turn!

Pei Pei and Hao Hao say good-bye to Miss Red Potty and Mr Green Potty!

Diaper-less Trainings

We did not start toilet training early for Pei Pei and Hao Hao. One reason for starting late is our selfishness - we are too lazy to clear the mess! On the other hand, we also felt that there is no point to force them if they are not ready or they are not willing.

When we observed the children fuss about their wet / soiled diaper, we brought them to the potty. Both of them resisted against the potty, and used the toilet with child toilet seat directly. Then the next step was to bring them to buy underwear. They were happy to choose the ones with their favourite cartoon characters. They were quite conscious of not wetting the lovely underwear that they had chosen and were more willing to go to the toilet!