Ashley Tisdale Recalls Daughter Jupiter’s ‘Messy’ Potty Training Journey: ‘Towels Everywhere’ (Exclusive)

Ashley Tisdale is just like Us moms when it comes to potty training her toddler.

“I fully prepared myself,” Tisdale, 39, exclusively told Us Weekly of the daunting parenthood task while promoting Cocomelon “Gotta Go Zone” on Friday, June 20.

The actress, who shares daughters Jupiter, 4, and Emerson, 9 months, with husband Christopher French, explained that it’s important to potty train in one spot in the house — so as not to cause chaos everywhere.

“I feel like you need a zone, to be honest,” she said. “I remember we were like, ‘OK, the playroom is the zone where you just kind of, like, take the diaper off and you’re like, OK. You really need to tell us when you have to go.’ Because it’s them learning like the sensation of, like, having to go to the bathroom. So I just really kind of prepped myself, like, towels everywhere, and we rolled up the rug and you just kind of know that it’s gonna be a little crazy for a minute.”

Tisdale said that the first day of potty training was the craziest, but then it got a little easier to manage as they planned it “at the right time.”

“What I noticed, we tried earlier where it might have been a little bit too early and it wasn’t as easy. But when they are ready, it’s a lot easier than expected,” she explained. “And so by the second day it was even better, and then the third day I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ You just time in between when they feel like they have to go — I think for us it was every 30 minutes we check in with her and say, ‘Get to go potty.’ You know, you just kind of stay on top of them. So I feel like a weekend is always great because you don’t have to to work on the weekend and you can just really pay attention and be as present as you can.”

Although Emerson is too young for potty talk, Tisdale has noticed that her younger daughter is eager to tackle everything her big sister does.

“They just kind of wanna be like them,” Tisdale said of babies vs. their older siblings. “And honestly, just even now, I feel like we really had the shortest time crawling. Like, I think she crawled for maybe two weeks, and all of a sudden she’s standing and wants to walk, and it’s so early. I feel like she wants to really try to walk, but I think it’s because she sees Jupiter walking everywhere and I’m like, ‘Girl, just crawl.’ She just seems like she’s gonna fast-track in everything that she’s doing.”

What Emerson won’t be doing is having a big birthday bash. After planning and executing an amazing Wicked-themed party for Jupiter in March, Tisdale is looking forward to hosting an “intimate” first birthday.

“Unfortunately, it was one of those things where I’d never had a baby shower because of COVID with Juju. So her first [birthday] party was really that type of thing for me. I was like, ‘Well, it’s kind of combining baby shower and birthday.’ So it was like a lot of our friends and it was this huge party. But each year I put this pressure being like, ‘Oh, my God, I’ve gotta do it again,’” she said, laughing.

Tisdale added that Jupiter “creative directs” her own parties, and the pressure to deliver what she wants is high.

“So we’re starting Emerson — she’s only 1, she’s not gonna remember it too much. So we’re like, ‘OK, let’s have an intimate party and for her second birthday, we’ll maybe make it like a real fun theme.’ One of my favorite themes I did for Jupiter was ‘Jupiter’s Farmer’s Market.’ And that was so fun. I think doing something fun like that when she gets to 2 will be a little bit more … she might remember it. I don’t even know? I think that it’s not until they’re 4 that they start to really remember those things, but yeah. Intimate birthday forever.”

Contemplating the discussion, Tisdale quipped, “This is such a second child thing to say!”

The High School Musical alum is currently teaming up with Cocomelon to promote the “Gotta Go Zone” event in Los Angeles, which supports parents and caregivers with tools, tips and toddler-approved fun to make potty training less stressful and a lot more joyful. The campaign kicked off on Saturday, June 21, and runs through Friday, June 27, at Griffith Park.

“I was just excited to, obviously, partner up with them because they were such a huge presence when we were potty training Jupiter,” Tisdale told Us. “Cocomelon always helped with the music and with JJ and [the] ‘Gotta Go’ [potty song] — just making [potty training] more fun than stressful.”