Poo, it really is a stinky job toilet training your baby birds.

There will be accidents (and deliberate misdemeanours).

Hypothetically, there may also be times when your toddler-bird pulls down her pants and deposits a nice big turd in aisle 7 of your local Woolworths. You may or may not have wipes with you that day. You (this continues to be hypothetical of course) may also have a screaming baby, a trolley load of perishables and the skills of David Beckham to stealthy kick said poop under the aisle. Hypothetically, you may also owe a massive apology to ‘Phil’ from the produce section who you blamed the smell on. (Note to self: perhaps should also send a bottle of wine).

You need to accept that you will become aware of the 3 closest toilets to your local Coles (we go there now… no reason for the change).

You will no longer have a trip straight from A to B. You will now pass through G, J, P, Q and R. You will need to visit every-bloody-single restroom at every-bloody place you visit for the next two years.

Our toddler-bird struggled to start with. She desperately wanted to do it but just couldn’t make the connection between needing to go and holding on long enough to get to the toilet. We tried sticker charts and bribery. We used positive-reinforcement. We hesitantly tried negative-reinforcement. All without much success. Then one of gorgeous friends introduced us to ‘Mr Poo goes to Pooland’ by Tasmin Black.

Written in kids language. With sensational ‘stick’ figure drawings it sent home to toddler-bird the ideas needed to be a successful toilet attendee.

The only downfall is the fact that we as a family, now farewell our toddler-bird’s poops with as much fanfare as the Thanksgiving Day Parade. But hey, we can use the money saved on nappies for therapy one day.

I really recommend this book to anyone who is attempting to toilet-train their little birdies!

Good luck little Nesters!