Potty training. I would hazard to guess that few words carry such a powerful mixture of excitement and frustration. When I discovered that I was pregnant with this little one, I immediately hatched grand plans for my daughter, who at the time wasn’t even 1 1/2 years old, to achieve important milestones. Potty trained by September and weaned by October: those seemed like feasible goals.
It’s quite funny, though, how planning out someone else’s life rarely goes according to plan.
Sometime during late summer, my mom bought Marcie her own potty. Of course, I hyped it up like it was some sort of magical chair. Each time Marcie sat on it, bursts of praise bounced off the bathroom, or kitchen (let’s be real), walls. Unfortunately, Marcie seemed to view this new contraption as simply a chair or a stool to use to reach her bathtub toys. Preoccupied with the busyness of life, I decided to forego my now overwhelmingly unrealistic goal and let Marcie develop an interest in the potty all on her own.
I’m really glad I did. Several days ago, Marcie started saying “poo poo” when she had either pooped or tooted. I thought it was cute. My husband, though, thought it was perhaps something more. Last night, after dinner, Marcie started saying “pee pee” as my husband was changing her into her pajamas. Out of curiosity, he took her into the bathroom and placed her on her potty.
And she peed in her potty chair!
Of course, it must have been a fluke. I mean, there’s no way that this kid would start potty training herself on her own. However, this morning, she notified me when she had to pee and actually peed in the potty. Twice!
Although potty training is an unpredictable process that may go terribly awry tomorrow, I am learning that 1) Listening is one of the most effective tools of parenting, and 2) My daughter is capable of hyping up the potty all on her own!
Daffodils and Diapers 