Potty Party

There are some things that I really amp up and get neurotic about as a parent. When Lucy was a colicky infant I researched formulas, pacifiers, bottles, nipples and everything else endlessly. I was certain that I could find the answer to stop her crying in a book, or on a website. As she got older I read about transitioning to solid foods, starting milk, drinking out of sippy cups and any other change to her routine. I would research endlessly, reading posts from other Moms on different approaches for tackling these issues. There were certain milestones that I got hyper about, and after Lucy's second birthday I was beginning to ramp up the process to tackle potty training.

When Lucy was around twenty-one or so months I bought a potty seat. When I brought it home and showed her she held it by the handles and stuck her face through it and grinned a huge ass grin. Okay, not quite time, so the potty seat went away. Eventually around Lucy's second birthday I busted the potty seat back out and every now and then would sit Lucy on it to just hang out. Clothes on, clothes off she'd sit for a couple mintues and then get bored. Every now and then she'd wake up dry in the morning, but there were no other cues for readiness that the books told me to be on the lookout for. When Josh was two weeks old, the whole house was just remembering how babies cry a lot and things can be pretty hectic. One morning I got Lucy out of her crib, took off her diaper and it was dry and then asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty and she said yes. Sure enough she peed and it was like the first landing on the moon - clapping, everyone looking at the pee. I was so proud of my little girl. Over the course of the next couple weeks she peed more and pooped on the potty. She was more ready than I was for this. I hadn't prepared my sticker charts or anything! Sure there were a couple days with pee on the floor and one poop in the underwear, but nothing too horriffic! She had basically potty trained herself. So we went out and bought underwear. We got fun colors, Dora underwear, Ariel underwear and even some Diego boy briefs since "the man" doesn't think little girls need Diego underwear. Anyway, I took Lucy to the toy store for a present for doing so good on the potty and she chose a trash truck.

My little Lucy proved me wrong once again. Sometimes I feel bad because I think I underestimate her. She took a new room and her baby brother in total stride - both things that sent me into a web surfing tizzy. I am so proud of her, she is becoming such a little girl. Now that she isn't in diapers she has total plumbers crack in like 90% of her clothes - it is pretty funny. She loves to pee in other people houses and relishes in everyone looking at her poo. We talk about her poo like she is laying golden eggs, but it seems to work. I dreaded the whole potty process, but Lucy once again proved to me that she is smarter than I give her credit for.

p.s. I use the word potty all the time now. It would have really annoyed me before I had kids to hear the word potty - but it really does sound much nicer that toilet. Given that I talk about it a LOT of time now, I'd much rather throw the word potty out there eleven million times a day than toilet.