It's Potty Time!

Potty training has been the story of my life for the last several weeks. Anyone who has called has heard way more about each potty episode than needed. Most of my family has received several calls from Elijah in which he says "Poo-Poo! Treat! Potty!" If you've been at our house, you've noticed much of our conversation (with each other AND with Elijah) has centered around the potty, pee-pee, or poo-poo. At the beginning of this experience, I was in the bathroom with Elijah ALL DAY. Just a few days ago he went downstairs by himself, pulled off his pants by himself, went pee-pee by himself, and then came upstairs by himself to tell me about it. It is so rewarding to see progress! We have had a few frustrating days, many stops while driving in the car, and late arrivals due to emergency potty needs but, for the most part, this has simply been an exercise in diligence and perseverance.
We decided to start potty training because Elijah will soon outgrow his current cloth diapers. They go up to 35 lbs...but, I've got a solid kid. Wanting to avoid the expense of buying the larger size and desiring to potty train before the new baby arrived, we moved forward. Here are a few pictures of our first day on the potty.
We started out with a Baby Bjorn toilet seat; I soon realized this involved way too many new skills all at once. The primary problem was that Elijah couldn't hold on to anything to turn around once he got up the steps.

The first morning we taught the baby (boy!) doll to drink, pull down his pants, and go pee-pee on the potty. Elijah liked giving the baby a bottle. He was also super motivated by "seeing" the baby use the potty.
We read a lot of books about the potty while sitting on the potty.
Elijah liked to show me where the pee-pee went. He also had a great time unraveling the toilet paper (which was later removed to an unreachable-for-teenies spot).
Elijah got to wear "big boy pants" for the first time. He also was allowed to walk around in only his big boy pants. Now I have succeeded in teaching him to use the potty and to love being naked.

I have purchased a lot of potty equipment, I feel. We have the Baby Bjorn potty which I am saving for later, a $4 potty from Ikea which we use in the car and when we are out, and - my favorite - a $13 frog potty from Target. It is super sturdy and has a high guard, useful in preventing messes. My recommendations (in hindsight) would be to get a sturdy, floor-level potty with a high guard to start off potty training. Of course, if your child is older or has more advanced motor skills, I would think you could start off with the Bjorn potty seat.