Musical Princess Potty? You're FIRED.

We decided to start potty training my middle daughter when she was about 18 months old. I was working as a waitress, and my husband was staying home with the kids (he had just moved down to Texas to be with me and wasn't working yet). So he took on the responsibility of potty training Jasmin. 

We went to Walmart, and him, being the nice guy, decided to pay the extra money and spring for a musical potty. You know the ones, they play a little song when your child goes potty in them.  Like, woo-hoo! You went potty, here is a little ditty for ya.

So, one day, he sat in the bathroom all day with her, loaded her up on liquids, and waited, M&M's on the counter, ready for her to go potty and try out the new seat. 

She started doing the "pee-pee" dance, so he sat her on the princess potty, ready for her to go potty so they could hear the music and enjoy an M&M. 

Jasmin started to potty, and as soon as the music started playing, she screamed, jumped up and ran to the corner of the bathroom. And yes, while she was running and crying in the corner, she was still peeing. Fun, right?

Ever since then, every time Jake would try and get her to sit on the potty, she would refuse. And if you tried to pick her up to sit her on it, she would make a guttural scream (we called it the Gremlin sound). So as you can imagine, potty training her was a long, hard process, thanks to an apparently very scary chair. 

I recently found a product called a Little Looster that I would have loved to have had with Jasmin's potty training. Like you I'm sure, I hate spending money that I don't have to. I wasted $30 on a princess potty that Jasmin hated. And after we finally got her to use that, it was soon time to transition her to using the regular toilet. Why not save a step (and money?).

The Little Looster is a stool that wraps around the base of the toilet. Instead of your child having to have their feet in front of them (like with a regular rectangle stool), they can have them out to the sides (where it's more comfortable for them). I was a little worried about the size of it when I received it, but it fits snugly around the toilet, meaning neither hubby or I have to move it out of the way when we use that bathroom. Plus, in the girls bathroom, the sink is in one part, and behind another door is the toilet and shower. I'm able to open and close the door, even with the Little Looster around the toilet. 

It helps keep your kids stable when they're on the toilet, which means no more having to grab the sides of the toilet (YUCK) to keep from falling in. 

My older daughters are 5 and 8, and they love having it in there. They've both said how much easier it makes it to sit on the toilet. 

 
I took these photos of Jasmin earlier to show you what a difference the Little Looster has made. And I didn't notice until I uploaded the pic that on the pic without the Looster, Jasmin has her hands on the sides of the toilet for balance (Yucky yucky). 

I've been really happy with my Little Looster, which retails for $35. Have I mentioned that it's a 2011 Gold Medal winner? And it's been featured on Parents.com and on Fox News? 

Monica at Little Looster is offering Life, Crafts and Whatever readers a $5 discount. Use the code REV6MM when you check out. 

Thank you Monica for allowing me to try one of these. I know when it's time to potty train Ava, this will be a much better potty training experience than what we had with Jasmin.