Training Tales

Miss A is still going strong with the potty training. She is very proud of her bathroom accomplishments and always wants us to look at what she's done. She's been known to tell strangers that she "pooped in the potty today!" Everyone has been really polite so far, congratulating her and so forth. The other day at the park I was sitting next to a mom whose little girl A was playing with. This mom's little girl came running over to us at one point and said while pointing back at Miss A "She pooped on the potty today!" Oh boy.

Today she asked me to come to the potty with her. Her face lit up as it always does when she begins to pee. And then there was a huge fart. She looked surprised and I explained it was a big fart. She then says earnestly "Do you want to see my fart?"

It was all I could do not to burst out laughing.

Potty Tales

Wow! This potty training thing is tough. It's been happening gradually for several months. My goal is to have A trained before the baby comes. Also, she is starting preschool in September and must be trained by then or she won't be able to start.

I don't know why I wasn't expecting it to be hard. I guess because several months ago she sat on the potty and went #1 and #2 without batting an eye. It gave me a false sense of security. Then there was the whole breaking my ankle thing. Potty training during that time was pretty much not happening. So now we've been back on track. We've tried just switching to big girl panties but... the laundry... with the still sore ankle... was too much. So we're doing the pull ups thing. Which sometimes seems pointless sometimes. I try to talk to her and explain that she needs to tell me when she needs to go. When I ask her if she needs to go she won't. And I don't want to make her. We have good treats for when she does go and when she does go she seems very excited and proud of herself.

So. Maybe I'm just impatient. It's happening. Just not as easily as I hoped. What else is new? Really.

Still a Baby, Yet Also a Girl

My girl she is a growin' up. She is in this weird phase right now between baby/toddler and little girl.

We are still breastfeeding a tiny bit. And given her age and how smart she is I am amazed that she's never asked for it or tried lifting up my shirt or anything like that. What she does do however is tell me when “It's all gone.” She'll stop nursing and lift her hands up almost into a shrug and exclaim “It's all gone.” and then we switch sides. She'll do the same on the other side. The first time she did it I thought she was playing but she's deadly serious. I think it's the funniest and cutest thing.

We have been gradually working on the potty training thing. She doesn't ask to go but if I ask her if she has to go she'll enthusiastically run to the potty. And regardless of whether or not she actually goes she flushes the toilet, waves and says “Bye, bye poo!”

When we are changing her diaper now she'll ask “Is it a poo?” and if it's not she'll say “Just pee.” She is totally mimicking me because I think I have always said that while changing her diaper since she was born.

It's so funny what they learn and what they are paying attention to. It makes me a little nervous actually. I never know what she's going to say next!

Something for the Scrapbook

Due to the graphic nature of this post (mentioning pee and poo which I refuse to call anything other than those names) viewer discretion is advised.

Okay. Something really weird happened yesterday. As Miss A was finishing her lunch she started getting what I like to call the “doin' her business” face. And let me say now if I haven't mentioned it before that we've had the potty set up in our bathroom for a while now. You know just for her to get used to the idea. She's sat on it many times (mostly with her clothes on) and wiped her (clothed) bum with toilet paper. So she had the idea. Also my mother had been hassling me lately, telling me that she was so obvious when filling her diaper that she'd be 'easy' to potty train. Ha! I thought.

But today when I saw that face I thought, what the heck. So I explained that 'we' were going to sit on the potty. We took off her diaper and down she sat. I read her a book a few times in a row as she sat there and wiggled around a bit. I honestly didn't think she was doing anything at all until I smelled a little something. I assumed that she may have left a tiny poo behind which I would celebrate with her anyway. Then we looked through a home decorating magazine after which she seemed to want to get off the potty.

When she did I was shocked and surprised to see that there was a tiny amount of pee and a very nearly adult sized poo sitting in the potty. Quickly I started clapping my hands (as I've been told you should celebrate and congratulate the child) and saying 'Yay! Good girl! You went on the potty!' She clapped her hands also but seemed a bit confused and also shocked about what was in there.

I had to take a picture (I know what you're thinking but I'm comfortable with the fact that I'm a sicko) and I immediately emailed it to Peter at work with little explanation. He promptly called me back for further details. I can hardly wait to scrapbook this poo photo using decorative brown and yellow paper and stenciling 'Miss A's first Poo on the Potty!' JUST KIDDING!!! But it will make a great bribery photo when she's a teenager. “By all means A, go ahead and disobey me. Just expect to see that photo of your first poo in the newspaper next week.”

Now before anyone gets all “I can't believe you potty trained your child at 18 months!” let me be clear. I haven't! In fact now I'm feeling all this pressure to start potty training. When I put her on the potty I didn't actually think she'd do anything! I started getting all stressed about it after it happened like, so does this mean I have to start potty training or what? But she can't really tell me that she needs to go. How are we going to do this? I don't know what I'm doing... AhhhhH! Then I took some deep breaths and realized that I can take things slowly and gradually. And that is what we are doing. Today we haven't used the potty at all. Maybe after her nap. Maybe not.

But it's still exciting. The prospect of not having to buy diapers anymore is exciting. I know I have the accidents, bum wiping and so forth to look forward to but still... exciting. And although the poo photo exists and I'm tempted to post it because I am sick like that I'll simply post a shot of the infamous potty...