Ok She's Potty Trained. Now What?

LOL, when I first read this, I immediately remembered the Seinfeld bathroom episode where Elaine is begging for tp in the ladies room: Can you spare a square? Not even one square?? ;)

One square and my hand would get wet!

Anyway, at that age, I think that you will need to accompany her into the bathroom if that is what she feels most comfortable with right now. She's reached a huge milestone, mama, one step at a time!! Good job!

My advice is to not impose any additional rules on her regarding bathroom time, right now. It is normal for kids to have hang-ups about bathrooms. My daughter loved to use public bathrooms (anywhere that was different from home) but was petrified of the toilets because so many were going to 'auto flush' when she was at that age. She didn't understand how/why it just randomly went WHOOOOOSH!!!! really loudly.

Some kids are actually afraid of toilets. They get all sorts of weird things in their heads while they are sitting there: I can remember as an older child, having just seen Jaws on the big screen (does that tell you my age?) and getting home and using the bathroom. I tried to be super super fast, because I was paranoid a shark might come up through the toilet.

But here's the thing. You should be willing to be there to help supervise the sanitary aspects. No matter how willing and able she is with her clothes and going to the potty, she is not going to always clean herself properly, nor wash her hands thoroughly, or wipe up the seat or floor if anything splashes out. That is for you, Mom, to be on stand-by, to help guide her through.

And honestly, one square of tissue to wipe with? That is way over the top controlling. I get that kids tend to over-use tissue. But one square??!! Let's be reasonable adults here. I can't even use just one square.

Plan to go in with her off and in until about 4. My kids were about 3 when they would go alone, but not consistently. Around age 4 is when they were much more confident about doin' 'it' by themselves.

So, the advice before was to follow her lead. You did it and it worked. So why push her to be alone? If she wants you there, be there. She's doing it all in her own time. She's not going to be 10 wanting you there. She'll ditch you soon enough.

Help her go to the bathroom.
She's young. Not ready yet.
Still give her the goldfish.
1 sheet per bathroom trip? No, that's not enough & it's gross. I don't
know anyone on this planet that only uses 1 sheet. Cut up 4 squares at
at time if anything & put it in a shallow basket next to the toilet so she
can reach it.
Don't expect her to be able to take of herself, wipe herself etc.
Assist her & keep up the goldfish for awhile!!

I think you're expecting a bit much. My three were trained early (between 22 and 26 months) and they liked me going in there with them for the first several months.
And one sheet? I am not one to waste toilet paper but I would find that a little gross, sorry. I think it's good hygiene to have a little cushion when I wipe, and that's what I taught my girls.

Let her adjust to going to the bathroom. She is only 2 1/2. Give her time.
I hope you are kidding about the one sheet per trip.

I just have to chime in on the one sheet!!! That made me laugh. Seriously though, if you can feel clean and dry only using one sheet, then that's really cool. You're saving some cash on TP. Me? No way!! If I were to use one sheet my hand would be wet every time. No matter what kind of toilet paper I'm using. YUCK! Of course, I had to teach my girls to use a wee bit less (they liked to spin the toilet paper like it was Wheel of Fortune!!!). Anyway, kudos to you for using one square, and for getting the kid potty trained. She'll go by herself eventually, I promise.

Oh, and Lee Lee, "spare a square!" HAHAHA!! Too funny.

Totally, completely normal. She decided when she was ready to train, and now she'll decide when she's ready to "go it alone." If you want that to happen sooner rather than later, just don't make it an issue. If you resist going in there with her, she'll cling.

And I do need to ask -- by one sheet of TP, do you mean one little square??? If so, please don't do that, for her or for you. That's not hygienic, and it can lead to the transmission of infectious diseases.

Using only 1 sheet of tp per trip? Seriously? Do you only use one sheet?
I would say 2-3 is more like it.

Take an old Cottonelle box, take the tp and break it up in to 2 sheet sections that are piled in to the old box. Show her how to get one 2 sheet section.

For the goldfish, keep giving them if she is expecting or asking. You don't want her to lose momentum at this point.

My DH tried to get DD to use 1 sheet and it just ended up a mess. It had to 'splain that I used more than one sheet myself, so instead we say "just a few". I also think that at 2, it's quite normal to want your help or company. I would treat this like any behavior that you want her to do independently. I would start out attending and then slowly give her more and more of the responsibility (and praise) til she is doing it herself. Until we changed our sink, my DD was unable to wash her hands herself because she couldn't manage the controls. Find out if there's anything like that where you thought DD could do it and she can't, quite.

I accompanied my daughter and supervised/assisted cleanup as needed until she informed me that my presence was not necessary.

As for one sheet, I'm an adult and I can't do that. I drip, and dabbing dry doesn't cut it. I would have more success shaking it off than dabbing it dry.
I tauight my daughter to take two or three squares and fold them over to make several layers to absorb liquid, so she only needed to wipe once for urine. .

My husband always complains that the girls in the house use too much TP (like a softball, he says). And I explain to him that the cavern runs deep and needs to be dried.
Anyhow, you'll be in there with her for a while. And you'll be wiping for a while, too! All normal for her age. 2 years old can't really reach back there and do a good job.

I think she is still very little to be using the toilet all by herself. Maybe you can give it some time and try when she is 3. My son is 3 now and I still go with him. He is old enough to understand what needs to be done and follow my instructions, but whether he will do it everytime or not is a different question. So I am always there to make sure he doesn't make a mess and is clean and also washes his hands once he is done.
I am shocked about the one square of paper as well. I would suggest not doing that. Because yes, girls need to just dab dry but one square of TP is not enough at all. Unless you want to change her underwear every time she is uses the toilet, let her use more TP and fold it up and dab dry , so that her fingers are not completely wet with urine as well. The fact that you even think it's ok surprises M.... kinda grosses M. out actually.
But well, I know everyone feels differently about different things. If you are letting her use just one sheet, I would make sure YOU wash her hands very well after she is done. She is 2.5, she will only learn to be as clean as her mother teaches her to be. And if she is washing hands by herself as well, please don't let her touch food(esp of her friends). It's very very unhygienic.I would not trust a 2.5 year old to do a great job with so many restrictions.

Just be patient. Yes she'll need some "accompaniment" for a little while yet.
What we did was pull ups at night till there were 7 dry nights in a row.
And that was it.
All kids are different, she may be dry at night very soon or it might be a few years.

And unleash the TP! No O. can "dab dry" with O. stinking square!!! Lol

Updated

Now you stick with what works, which is letting her take the lead. If she's not ready to go on her own, then you go with her. Help her when she needs it, but even just your presence will be comforting for her. My youngest just potty trained a month ago at 2 1/2 and I wouldn't dream of letting her go alone! With my older two I was accompanying them until at *least* age 3 full time, and till 4 when they asked. Baby steps!

As for the one sheet....I get that we only need to dab dry, but unless your daughter is a 5-star hand washer she *needs* to use 2-3 sheets to keep herself as clean as possible. I like the idea of reusing an old Kleenex box and pre-measuring the tp out in 2 or 3 sheet sections.

And keep giving her the goldfish, but only when she asks. She'll eventually not need/want them at all.

Now what?
You thank your stars you get to cut back on pullups and only use them for night time.
1 sheet per bathroom trip is not reasonable and she won't be cleaning herself well whether she uses one or several.
That's one of the reasons you SHOULD be there - to make sure she's wiping well (and to make sure she doesn't flood the toilet - what little kid doesn't want to play with the swirly water every once in awhile?).

(Our son was potty trained for several months (he was 3 1/2 when trained) when he used the bathroom at home by himself. We were down the hall in the living room and the next thing we hear is 'Uh oh - the water's coming out'. Me and Hubby take one look at each other and said "Oh, that just doesn't sound good" then made a dash for the wet/dry vac and to shut the toilet's water switch off.)

Go with her to the bathroom till she's at least 4.

Wow 1 sheet? I feel so wasteful! I use at least 6-8 sheets. Please understand this is not good hygiene and she won't properly clean herself. I've helped potty train many girls during my years in childcare and never once heard of using 1 sheet.

She's only been on the planet for a little more than 2 years. Of course she wants someone with her when she uses that scary toilet! Think of a little one's mind - to her the possibility exists that she could fall in and be flushed away. A time will come when she'll want you to leave. Until then bring a newpaper or magazine, or smartphone, etc and catch up on reading, news, facebook, etc.

You want her to to use only one sheet of toilet paper? what? Who wants to get urine on their fingers? Show her how to use 5-10 sheets and make a little ball of it and how to hold it so she doesn't get them wet.

The big change now is that no matter where you are you'll be finding and using public bathrooms - Target, Sears, Friendlys, the park, the grocery store, etc. The automatic flush toilets scared the daylights out of my kids since it would flush while they were still on the toilet! YIKES! to this day I know where all the bathrooms are and my kids are teens!

This is normal.
She is young. Just a Toddler.
My kids at that age... well my son wasn't even potty trained yet.
My daughter, I would keep her company and help her.
No biggie.
One day they will be telling you to go away.

Remember that: at this age, their fine-motor skills & gross motor skills are not fully developed yet, nor accurate.
And they are, messy.
Normal.

Kids this age, can't even write well, yet.
They can't even dribble a ball, yet.
They can't even dress themselves well yet.
For example.

I dunno.
With my kids I helped them, when they were still so young.
And going into a bathroom by themselves, can be scary. At this age as well, they start to have general "fears" developmentally. About anything or about the dark etc.

One important thing though:
Make sure, you teach her to wipe from front to back.
Little girls, need to learn this, and to do it well. Which can take time.
They need to learn, so that they don't get, bladder infections.

How much TP? This amuses me, since both my DH and I have been on a scientific quest for several months to find the best brand, ideally recycled. There are several that immediately turn into a tiny, saturated lump when using one square after peeing. I don't mind my hand getting wet so much as my lady bits and underwear feeling wet, so those don't work unless I triple or quadruple the layers.

For those who are curious about our findings so far: Marcal Small Steps is by far the sturdiest, most absorbent and least linty of the recycled ones, but for my grown-up needs, 2 sheets is a minimum. Charmin has a 3-ply paper that DOES sometimes work with one square, but I cannot forgive the insulting TV ads they used to have with the silly ladies and the annoying Mr. Whipple (I don't have TV, so they probably have different advertising by now, but I have a long memory…).

On the need to accompany your P. to the potty – Congrats on the success! She'll be a pro before long, and her need for your help, encouragement and approval will diminish whether or not you do anything. But you can probably speed the process with a reward in the short run. The problem with awards is they can easily become bribes, demanded and expected in return for anything parents want. I've seen that happen in a couple of young families, and it was such a gradual slide they didn't see it coming.