Take the New Potty Chair on Vacation???

I would take the potty chair. He may regress anyway due to the change in environment, but at least the potty chair will be a familiar sight. As far as him hating the car, I assume he is in a front-facing seat already? If not, maybe that is the problem. If he is in a front facing, perhaps he would enjoy having either you or your husband riding in the back with him, at least some of the time. That might be new and different for him to distract him from fussing. Also a new toy or book might help to distract. Good luck!

Hello, I just thought I could help you out a little with this since I went threw it a couple of months ago. I went to a two week vacation over my inlaws and decided to buy a portable potty seat. I am so glad I did,my son was 23 old also and had bin potty training for about 1 month.If I had not taken one He would have had a set back and that would have meant starting all over. And you know what that means going threw all the accidents and all. I was very eager to potty train him since we are expecting our third child so it worked perfect for me.
As for the road trip situation, my parents live 9 hours away ( in car that is)and we often go visit. What works perfect for me is #1 and most important I go around there nap time or sleep time.It is kind of hard going at night but beleive me having kids sleeping threw most of the ride is awesome!! We also do tons of healthy snacks like goldfish,frutis and crackers.DVD player is a must and also coloring books and I stock up on dollar toys my kids have never seen so they seem to distract for a long time!!
I see we share a couple of things which seems funny to me. I am in love with my military husaband have an eight and two year old.I just thought I would share!!
God bless!!

Pack the chair. Once that window of opportunity closes it will not reopen for a LONG time. Try to travel at night while the little angel sleeps if you can. We love to play Animal, Vegetable, Mineral (mostly animal) asking questions to guess the right one. I found a portable DVD player and some headphones to be quite wonderful for my sanity on a long trip.

If it had been me i would have avoided the potty chair if i was planning on leaving since it's easier to use a reg. toilet while traveling. I'm not sure what you should do in your case but i might just try using the reg. toilet and not bring the potty chair while traveling. Just bring him to the potty when you go. If he was using it more often i might bring it but since it's not on a reg. basis and you don't bring him reg. and you won't be able to bring him reg. on the trip i wouldn't bring it. I'm not a big fan of pottys anyway. I tried teaching my daughter on one but she liked the normal one anyway. Than when i started her in daycare for a short time they actually refused to use potty chairs they said it was less confusing what was going on with the reg. toilet. They see you go and KNOW they are learning to do exactly what you are doing. Which makes them learning grown up things. Good luck on the trip. You would be amazed at how easy it is for a small child like that to set on a reg. seat and not fall in. good luck

Oh Yeah - the chair is essential. It's GREAT for the off chance that he says he has to go and you are not near a rest stop or gas station. We whip off at any exit and find a parking lot or secluded place out of traffic. I actually feel better about OUR potty in a parking lot than I do about some of those skank gas station restrooms!! EEEWWWWW. Oh - and the biggest thing to help our little guy peepee regularly - was getting to go in the bushes with Daddy. He LOVES going outside when there's no restroom. Another thing that connected him to having control over when he went and not needing a diaper was letting him pee in a little dixie cup when he was standing in the tub before bathtime. For some reason boys make a connection with that - all our nephews had success with that too! HMMM?

Travel Diversions: we have a special backpack that we only pull out on trips. It's tucked away for that special time on a flight or roadtrip. It's a character backpack with cool pockets and zippers and I filled it with cheap new things he'd never seen from the dollar store; silly putty, little fishing game, a cookie sheet w/magnet letters and numbers, barrel of monkeys, finger puppets, etc. and of course safe snacks. We hid it in a grocery bag until we were on the plane ready for takeoff and then got it out. He was busy for hours. And he felt so special to get it. Now that he's 3 1/2 and an easier traveler - it's in the closet still put together - he loves it and still asks to get it down to play. Hope that helps - happy travels! S.

pack it! Don't knock him off his momentum. And invest in a portable DVD player- you can get them pretty cheap now. Trust me, afterwards you will be glad you bought it. Just get a few dvds appropriate for both boys, like Snoopy, educationals, disney's.
And books! Although, keep an eye out for car sickness- when I was little, this is how my parents discovered my inability to 'read' in a moving vehicle- I'm 45 and to this day, It still makes me wanna hurl! Good luck- go for the port.DVD player!

My 2 yr old uses a Baby Bjourn potty chair at home. We've been on 3 trips and she's never had a problem switching between the Potette Plus and the one she uses at home. The Potette Plus can be used independently or over a big toilet. My daughter won't use it over the toilet. She likes it better on the floor with the disposable bags. I like the disposable bags because it has an absorbent layer to absorb liquids and it doesn't stink in the hotel room. You can even use in the back seat or the back of the van. (Disclaimer: Vehicle should be parked, of course)
I think the Potette Plus is supposed to be bigger than the regular Potette but anyway, my daughter is petite at 22 pounds and it is still pretty low to the ground. Her knees are higher than her waist level when she sits. I did try it at home before I left on the trip so she wasn't shocked by a new potty in an unfamiliar surrounding. In fact, she thought it was pretty cool. I got mine at Babies R Us.

BRING IT!! I can't imagine started over again. Especially if he is so young and going on the potty, don't take it away. And to keep my kids happy in the car we use the DVD player for long trips. As long as I have his favorite movie (and my 4 and 6 year old are okay to keep him happy!) we play Caillou or the new favorite, Bolt. Music they like, playing games such as looking at colors and items, etc...good luck!

Take the potty chair, get a new CD or get a portable DVD player and try the crayola color wonder paper/marker sets. They have a Diego one and a Disney pack w/Cars, Buzz Lightyear and Incredibles! Take the movies of those if you have them and make it a theme! Hopefuly the advice isn't too late! Drive safely, and try not to get too impatient on potty breaks/food breaks. He'll need to stretch his legs!

Your child is pretty young to be so interested, so DEFINITELY bring the chair! Even if he does not use it on the trip (when he would have to signal you to quickly pull over and you could dash to the side of the road and place him on it), you will defintely have time to place it in your vacation venue and see if he transfers his knowledge and interest to use it. But please, no pressure at his very young age. A portable DVD or a 10-12" cheap 12V TV with favorite movies and a splitter with 2 headphones was a classic for our kids. We would collect films and videos before the trip, NOT watch them at home, and then they'd be 'fresh' for the road. Our trips were 14 hours by car with two male toddlers, for several years, and a pottyseat and small TV w/tapeplayer were essentials!! We also did things other people mentioned with sticker books, magic writing books where they scribble on what appears to be a blank page and something appears, plus each with a backpack full of little toys---some which they picked to pack and others which we wrapped to be opened each hour as a surprise. If part of your travel can be at night or in darkness, that is another plan if they can settle in for a few more hours of sleep. Have fun!

Hi S.,
They have fold up travel pottys that you use with disposable bags. They work great. Maybe he can just sit on the big boy potty and push his pee pee down. Our little son does that because he couldn't reach the top of the potty.

Certainly bring it because I feel as though once you start the whole "big boy on the potty" thing you should stick with it. Otherwise he may learn that using the potty is an option, not a requirement for the future. Plus, maybe your vacation will allow you more time to focus on going full time. There are a lot of small potties that you can buy if you need to save space--plus you can carry a collapsible potty seat in your bag as well. Is he completely out of diapers? If not then keep him in the diapers but if you've ditched the diaper already then don't confuse him by putting him in them again. Stick with pullups in the car and for sleeping and regular underwear during the day. Don't be surprised if he only needs to go once an hour or so--my daughter goes about every 2 hours.

There are travel potty chairs you can bring instead of the whole chair. DON'T GIVE UP! He needs to get used to going in other places besides home. (My daughter was hesitant to go in some places for a little bit).
As for the road trip: I read in a magazine that you get a bunch of stickers and some paper or index cards. Give them to him to put the stickers on the paper. It worked wonders for my daughter for a good hour. You could also bring coloring books w/ crayons, markers and pens to give hime more variety.
Good luck!