Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is the doll recommended by Teri Crane in Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day: Proven Secrets of the Potty Pro. I don't know why. It's a bad choice for a potty training doll.
Because Paul drinks from a bottle while lying down and big kids drink from a cup while sitting up, I figured I would "fill him up" before wrapping him for my son's potty party. First, I had a very difficult time getting ANY liquid into the doll. After I had spent 10 minutes painstakingly getting in about 1/16 of the bottle, I noticed drops of liquid falling onto my leg from his "big boy" underpants -- the ones that had required so many late nights to design, cut and sew -- plus the destruction of a number of real big boy underpants. As I raised him into a upright posture, the liquid came pouring out -- all over me. (Thank goodness it was such a small amount.)
At first I thought that maybe even 1/16th of a bottle was too much liquid for the doll to hold, so I squeezed his belly to express as much as I could, and lay him back down to refill. Again, I had a hard time getting any liquid in -- but whatever went into Paul came out again immediately -- since he was no longer wearing underpants to absorb some of the liquid, I could see how bad it really was. Despite investing in this very expensive doll, I was going to have to resort to trying to hide a bottle behind Paul to make his trips to the potty successful -- and I was going to have to hide it from my very alert and inquisitive child. (I used the bottle that came with Paul -- wrapped in a washcloth to hide its true nature.)
I expressed every drop of liquid that I could again, and put him in a pair of dry "big boy"underpants. As I lay him down in his box, I noticed that his "big boy" underpants were wet again. Out him came, off came another pair of ruined pants, and over the sink he went. I squeezed, I shook, I even blew, but whenever I thought no more could possible be in there, out snuck another couple of drops. I literally spent more than half an hour over the sink trying to get the stupid doll empty.
Thinking that I had at last succeeded in expressing every last drop of liquid from the doll, I put him in a clean dry pair of underwear, put him back in his box and wrapped it up and placed it in the bathroom.
As miserable as this experience was, I'm glad that I tried Paul out BEFORE the potty party. What I disaster this would have been if this had happened in front of my son.
But it was NOT over!
The next morning, I greeted my waking son with the enthusiastic, "Good morning! I saw a surprise for you in the bathroom!" We rushed into the bathroom, he was thrilled to find the present, he opened the box and exclaimed "A Baby!" Of course, I wanted him to see Paul as a big kid, but he is a baby doll and looks like it. Being dressed in nothing but short t-shirt and a pair of underpants only emphasizes his babyish looks. My son insisted on naming his new doll, Baby, which was going to make emphasizing that Baby was a big kid a little weird, but I figured that we'd just have to make that work. (At my son's big kid celebration that night, he himself was getting mixed up about Baby being big kid , so I suggested that he rename Baby to Big Kid and he was very relieved. Now that Paul was dressed for the party in a pair of rust-orange corduroy's and a blue sweater, he looked a little bit more like a toddler, too.)
That was a minor problem compared to what happened next -- after all, lots of people use stuffed animals or other dolls that look just as babyish, and the potty party still works for them.
We are in the kitchen. I've just pulled our pre-prepared breakfast out of the refrigerator when Seamus exclaims with concern, "Baby wet. Baby wet." I look at my son's worried face and think to myself, "That's the end of starting things off with a post-breakfast successful potty trip for Paul." Paul's big boy underwear are indeed saturated AGAIN despite my efforts to fully empty him the night before, so we start off with an accident instead of a success. With all the distractions and excitement that ensues, my son never gets his breakfast eaten -- and neither do I.
And it's still not over yet!
Paul continued to leak all morning long. My son woke up at his usual 7:30 AM, and it was 11:00 AM before Paul successfully kept his big boy underpants dry -- despite the fact that I broke one of the potty party rules and snuck into the kitchen alone with Paul to express more liquid over the sink whenever my son was distracted by a video.
Despite Paul's flaws, the potty party plan still worked for my son. He had an accident at his own Big Boy Celebration, but he was clearly very tired after his big day and very distracted by all the commotion, attention and excitement, he wet his pants on the way to the potty. He also had a successful trip to the potty during the same Celebration -- complete with a bowel movement!
But our problems with Paul are still not over!
After success was established, I thought my son would enjoy seeing Paul "work," so I showed him how to lay Paul in his arms and feed him from his bottle. No liquid appeared to go inside of Paul, but when my son sat him upright, a great deal came pouring out of his mouth, saturating his shirt. I had explained to my son what Paul was supposed to do, and he really wanted to see it, so we spent a lot of time trying to get some liquid into Paul and eventually succeeded. Knowing what was supposed to happen, I actually had Paul's head lower than his bottom so that he wouldn't leak out the bottom. We popped him upright over this potty seat, but the small amount of liquid came pouring out so fast that my son missed it.
All all around major disappointment on all fronts.
My advice: Choose a different doll!
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Product Description:
Baby Paul is a charming all-vinyl bundle of joy who drinks, wets and loves to take a bath! Paul is an excellent potty-training aid for your child, too. He is anatomically correct and comes complete with blue potty, pacifier, feeding bottle and disposable diaper. Blue eyes.Measures 14" tall.
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