I really don't know what the brand they have at my plumbing store is, but it costs about $350. I have to say, my DS loves it (he's 20 months). But then again, there isn't a toilet he doesn't think isn't made to play in.

I personally think it would be a great thing to add to a bathroom, if you can remove it and replace with something else later (ie a bidet) if you use that and nothing else, it does limit the room somewhat :)

Eljer makes one called the kindergarten toilet. I have no idea if it's a good one or not, but it's priced less than the others you were looking at.

Here is a link that might be useful: Eljer kindergarten toilet

Thank you for the Eljer link -- I really appreciate it!

Well, we ended up ordering the Kiddy Loo from Renovator's Supply and this is why: it's one-piece, so my fingers are crossed for cleaning. We also liked that it comes with a toilet seat and lid (the Eljer w.c. does not -- must purchase separately). Our three year-old has never been interested in playing with the toilet (putting toys in, for example), but we also have a one year-old (who's not yet walking) and I don't know if he'll be a toilet nemesis. So, better safe than sorry, we figure.

The toilet in the children's bath needed to be replaced anyway, so we figured let's just go ahead and get one which is actually useful for them. When they outgrow it we'll replace it (again) with a full-sized model.

After it's intalled and used I'll come back and post what we think about it.

Thanks again for the tips!

Is this sort of disposability of what should be a long term purchase [when they out grow it in about 5 seconds], the-world-MUST-accomodate-your-whims the sort of lessons we should teach kids?

Well, the toilet arrived in July, and I was excited. But that quickly turned to disappointment when we opened the box and found the toilet badly broken -- clearly it had been poorly packaged. The site (Renovator's Supply) from where we'd purchased it claimed it to be UPS' fault, so we filed a claim with UPS and, naturally, UPS passed it back to the seller (as it should have -- anything fragile not cushioned is asking to be broken).

We heard just today that we could have a replacement toilet in THE NEW YEAR. (today is September 4, 2007, so yes, that's four months from now) My initial reaction was "well that's just bull----." So we're expecting a full refund ($309.50) and we'll have to decide where to go from here. (the Eljer toilet amsunshine kindly linked above, the outrageously expensive Waterworks toilet, or just a regular toilet and a stepstool)

I'm disappointed but don't know if my experience is representative of Renovator's Supply shoppers' or if I'm just "lucky"!

If we do decide on another pint-sized toilet, I'll post back our experience ....

Oh that just sucks! I have to run into our local plumbing place and pick up a couple of parts and pieces during the next week and I'll see what brand their toilet is so maybe you can find it elsewhere (it was in the same price range as what you posted and they mark up hugely so I know you can do better).

I have had great success with RS but then again I've never had to return anything. I guess that might be a good thing!

Igloochic -- thanks for your offer and support! It's nice having someone who "gets it" on the same continent! I'm so happy to have a toilet-trained child that I want to go out of my way to make it as easy for him (and my younger child[-ren]) as possible.

So, I called our local plumbing store (McGuckin's) and they found this cute Kohler toilet. It's for commercial use so requires a special valve to work in a residential setting. With valve (& tax) it'll be just shy of $400.

For our new master bath toilet (which I adore), Toto's Nexus, we didn't even spend that much! (although in fairness, the washlet seat cost more than that, but I love it and I'm an adult!)

So then we found the American Standard toilet; it has a full-size tank but a mini-bowl and a mini-seat. With shipping, it would be ~$350. (I haven't yet called McGuckin's to see if they can get it for me -- am sure they could, though.)

And then there's amsunshine's helpful link to the Eljer toilet. With shipping it would be ~$287.

So gauche to couch everything in terms of money, but ours is not a budgetless life.

Basically, I think the Kohler is out (not just because of cost but also because it's not designed for non-commercial use). Now I just need to research both American Standard and Eljer to see which is a better choice. Wish me luck!

I found some cute ones on this site. Might be a good deal since it comes with free shipping. I also found a used one on Craigs list for eighty bucks--I believe it is in Seattle -shipping would probably be high.

Here is a link that might be useful: toilets

Thank you for the link, moneypitowner! The toilets there are $330 - $350. Decisions decisions ....

Love your idea of putting in a child size toilet. Have you found a good one yet? It looks like the one found on Waterworks is the American Standard one.

I thought of doing a vessel size vanity with undercounter sinks until the kids get older and taller and then installing the vessel sinks at the standard height. Or, doing a wall mount vanity at a lower height and then raising the height of it when they grow.

RMkitchen

Quote"So, I called our local plumbing store (McGuckin's) and they found this cute Kohler toilet. It's for commercial use so requires a special valve to work in a residential setting. With valve (& tax) it'll be just shy of $400."

BE VERY CAREFUL HERE- The special valve it needs is a "Flushometer" which is another $350 + and flushometers require a 1" supply line. Most residential structures simply do not have an adequate water distribution system to support them.

First, thank you to all of the virtual hand-holders out there! And thank you to the two respondents today, esp. the tip on the Kohler valve -- that would have been a total disappointment.

Well, it's been about three weeks since the "Tricky Potty" was installed. After (my husband's) back-and-forth between the American Standard Baby Devoro and the Gerber, we chose the American Standard: it has a lid (for whatever reason, important to me) and my husband thought if it needed repair it would be easier to find American Standard parts.

So, our three year-old christened it the "Tricky Potty" (not sure why) and it's okay. Granted, it's only been three weeks but here are my reservations:

-We had it put upstairs in the children's bathroom. But that's a trek from the playroom (in the basement) and the family room (main level), so he doesn't want to use it every time. He prefers to use his old training potty (which I've moved to the base of the stairs going to the upper level -- getting it closer). Now, I can understand this as when I need to go, I don't go upstairs to my bathroom: I use whichever bathroom is closest. But, it would have been totally stupid to put a kiddie toilet in our main level bath.

-Removing the previous (full-sized) toilet in the children's bath left the mark of the seal on the floor (you can barely see it in the bottom of the picture). It's kinda ugly. I have no interest in redoing that bathroom floor at this time for one important reason: it's vinyl, and it's my understanding that a seamless floor will be MUCH easier to keep little boy tinkle-free than a tile floor (grout). (Friends of ours have a ten year-old son and they were the ones who told us "do NOT put tile down until your sons are out of the house!" because even at ten years-old, there's lots of tinkle in their grout.)

-And speaking of ... there's no "tinkle shield" on the Tricky Potty so I have to keep reminding my son to be careful. Even still ....

-It's very expensive. The toilet itself was $350 and the installation was $354 (yes, four dollars more than the toilet itself). I honestly wonder if it would have been better to get a standard height toilet both in the main level bath (which a few months ago we replaced with a comfort height Toto) as well as the children's bath. From a week-long visit with my parents I know he can v. easily hop on up to a standard height toilet no problem. (However, he is one who likes to read when he's on the toilet, and he'll only read on a small toilet [training potty or Tricky Potty].)

-Through bribing, we've finally convinced him to only poop on the Tricky Potty. And for me, Christmas has come early! I am telling you, it is a slice of heaven to not have to manually empty and then clean out the training potty. Yippee!

So, that's where I am, completely ambivalent about it. Other children who come over think it's fabulous (and my one year-old is interested in it as well, but for nefarious purposes), as do their parents. I can honestly say that every single one of them has said "what a great idea -- we should get one, too!" Clearly, that's what I thought, but now I'm not so sure I'd do it again.

Oh well, live and learn!

{{gwi:1459580}}

Thank you so much for the update. Your son is adorable! You make a really good point about the child toilet being on the second floor. This would be the same situation for us. I guess we will rethink putting one in too. It would be great for a one-story home though. Darn it, now I wish we had a one-story home, because I LOVE the idea of the kid potty.

As plumber who worked on a public school maintenance team for about ten years let me interject my opinion.

At 5 to 9 years of age a child size toilet or a small stool to stand on is a necessity, however by the time the boy is in the 6th grade he will be able to stand up to a full size toilet with pride.

When we consider the cost of the fixture and the fact that the fixtures are designed to provide 30yrs service or more, is it really cost effective to install one in the home for such a short time?

Now on the other hand, if you are a young couple designing a high end castle and you anticipate having more than one child in future and would thereby need it for a longer period, it might be a good idea to consider installing two waterclosets, one for the little ppl in your lives and another for the bigger ppl. if you were to install two you could always convert the little ppl one to a bidet at a later time after the little ppl are big ppl.

Thank you both, mel71 and lazypup, for the feedback. I guess I just never thought about the practicality of the Tricky Potty ... until we had one! It just seemed to make perfect sense: we had to replace the toilet, so why not get a kid-friendly one. Who knows, maybe over time and once my younger child is toilet-trained it'll be better served.

Anyway, thank you again for your kind and insightful words!

I don't know if mel71 will see this, but I wanted to say that while I'm still not 100% convinced we needed a Tricky Potty (aka child-sized toilet), my three year-old has "grown" dependent on it and it's no longer the hassle it was in the beginning.

Within days of my previous post (a few months ago) we got rid of the training potty and since then my son really likes to announce "I'm going to my Tricky Potty now!" I think he likes the independence, actually.

We have a step stool (it was there for hand-washing) in our main-floor bath, and he now likes to push it over to the (comfort height) full-size toilet to use it, then push the step stool over to the sink to wash his hands.

I think what it comes down to is that I didn't give him enough credit, that he would pretty easily adapt and use whichever toilet was available. (Although I think he prefers his Tricky Potty.)

At this point, with a three year-old and a seventeen month-old, I'm still not 100% sold on the child-sized toilet, but in just a month our lives (vis a vis the toilet) have changed so much, who knows what will happen within the next few years! I guess it's growing on all of us.

That's my little update on a little toilet for my little boy.