I feel really silly not being to figure this out...

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The Sprout (5 in two months) has been potty trained since about a week after his second birthday (I know, lucky me. My second kid refused to use the toilet until he was going on 4). Anyway, he has been using the potty for a long time now, and he's been able to just take himself whenever he feels like it for a long time. He doesn't even announce he's going, he just goes.

Up until maybe 6 months ago, he would yell that he was done and we'd go wipe his booty. Then he decided that he wants to do it himself, and we've encouraged him. It started with him yelling he is done, and we'd go hand him a wipie and he'd do it and then we'd do it again to be sure he'd done a good job.

Well now he has started not asking for help. He can't reach the wipes on his own, and won't use the toilet paper correctly. He keeps, I guess, getting it on his hands when he is wiping and then smearing it on the cabinet wall beside him. The best solution I can think of is to make the wipies something he can reach on his own, but I can't think of something that would work. He does wash his hands, and we often catch him before he gets out of the bathroom, so we can prevent this, but not always.

Our bathroom is tiny. The toilet is right next to the sink cabinet on one side and the bathtub on the other . The toilet paper and wipes sit on top of cabinet. He can't seem to reach them either on the back of the toilet or on the countertop. They will fall in the tub out of his reach if we put them on the edge of the tub. Any ideas? I am so beyond tired of going into the bathroom and seeing that all over the cabinet wall.

I've tried to increase sensory play opportunities. I made some sensory bags to squish, some bottles to look at, been letting them play with shaving cream and cornstarch oobleck, and homemade slime. He's still doing it.

Set the wipes on the floor beside the toilet, like you would a garbage can. While it may not be the most sanitary place, it's a lot better than whats going on right now. If you don't like setting them on the floor of if he doesn't like that then get a big thick book or two and put that on the floor and set them on that. Go to the junk store and buy a couple of big thick, hardback dictionaries or encyclopedias and superglue them together and set that on the floor as a makeshift table. Once he's able to reach stuff up higher, just throw the books out.

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I'm giving it another shot. We will see.
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That's a good idea! I knew I was just having a mental block to this.

Or... decorate a box you can use as a table. Put something heavy in the box so it doesn't move around a lot.
Or... teach him to grab some toilet paper before he hits the john.

Or the kids department at Walmart or Target has these little kids footstools that have Cars or Toy Story on it. You can make it his own special stool and as he gets bigger he can use it for other things.

How about those shampoo bottle/soap holders with the suction cups - you hang on the tiles? If you were to "hook" it onto the side of the bath tub, you can place the wipes there. If you can't find one that fits, find one with a flat bottom and hang it upside down and use it as a "shelf".. ?

Thank you all for the ideas. Sometimes I just get so locked in on a single option (that won't work) that I can't see around it at all.