potty training

There are so many methods for potty training and thoughts on when a child is ready. You will decide what makes the most sense for your family. In terms of gear, these were the the items we used and what we learned along the way:

• Toddler Potty: These are the low-tech little potties that are at a nice height for kids to access on their own. The interior part of the seat easily lifts out so you can clean it. If you want to be more hygienic, there are disposable bag inserts, which are like tiny fitted trash bags, but they don't really conform to the seat and our son didn't like them. We have ended up just using the seat on its own and cleaning it after each use. 
• Toilet Seat Insert: This is an insert for a regular toilet with an opening that is appropriately sized for a little kid. The biggest benefit is that this is the most hygienic option - you just flush the toilet and you're done, as opposed to rinsing and sanitizing a standalone toddler potty. Another benefit of these insert seats is that it gets kids used to and comfortable with the experience of being on a regular toilet, which is important because you will find yourself taking your toddler to bathrooms in all sorts of places. The drawback is that these are little less "self service" for kiddos, because they need an adult to place the seat insert and either lift them up or set up a stool so they can get up on the toilet. (On the topic of stools, it's helpful to have one in the bathroom for sink access as well. We got this cute elephant stool from Food52 that we have really liked.) In our house we have both the little standalone potty and the toilet seat insert. I hope over time we migrate totally to the toilet seat insert (mostly for cleanliness and ease of use from the parent perspective), but for now it works well for us to do both.
• Flushable wipes: you can immediately transition to toilet paper, but our son is used to softer baby wipes (and IMO they are much more effective), so we now keep flushable wipes on hand at home (I like Babyganics). When out and about, we just use whatever toilet paper is available.