Life, and All That Surrounds It

Picture a 2 1/2 year old stopping in the middle of what she is doing, scrunching up her face and when we ask her if she needs to use the potty answering (in a strained voice) "no, I poop right here". That was Hannah until the past two weeks. She would say it anywhere: on the playground, in a store, in the living room, wherever she happened to be when the urge came on. She would poop and explain to us that she wasn't interested in quickly trying to get somewhere else (e.g. a bathroom) but would just do her business "right here". It was hilarious. I'm disappointed I never captured it on video.

However the past two weeks have been different, and she is quickly becoming a potty master.

Disclaimer: even though I usually shy away from potty talk, this post will be a little more detailed than usual. So to those of you who have never changed a diaper or don't plan to in the next decade: you are not my target audience of this post. Sorry.

I don't know enough about child development or child psychology to know why, but I do know that all of a sudden a switch flipped and she was ready for potty training. We got her fun new Dora pull-ups and the rule was she wasn't supposed to "pee on Dora". She seemed to like the pull-ups because they were more comfortable than the diapers and she could take them on and off (which is the whole point).

Jeanne created a poster of a toilet with a cover and each time Hannah went to the potty (and wiped and washed her hands) she got to lift up the cover on the poster and add a sticker. It's gotten to the point where she would go potty out at a restaurant and then remember hours later when we got home that she was owed a sticker.

At first she would take off her pants and pull-up but we would then help her on the potty and watch her go (with the requisite excitement at the tiniest bit of urine) and then help her get dressed again. But she quickly realized that when Mommy and Daddy go potty they get to go in all alone and close the door. So that is what she does now too.

She protests vehemently if we try to follow her into the bathroom. And we don't want to argue and distract her from her goal. She brings her stool over to the wall and turns on the light. Then moves the stool to the toilet so she can pull down her pants and her pull-up and climb up on the potty. I'm fearful that the climb and 180 degree turn with pants around her ankles is going to result in a nasty fall someday, but so far she's been careful.

If she pees she wipes, flushes and gets her pants back on and comes out. We usually have to remind her to go back and wash her hands before she earns a sticker (I can't figure out why hand washing isn't as much fun, especially when we got her fun soap). But when she poops (or does "poo-poos" as she calls it) she runs out to get us so we can all look in the toilet and admire her work. Usually it's an itty-bitty piece of poop (which again elicits excitement from all) but sometimes she has a real bowel movement.

She can now go much of a day with a dry pull-up as long as we consistently ask her if she needs to go. She stills wears a diaper for nap and bed time but she can sometimes make it from morning to nap and then nap to night with a dry pull-up. We have about 75 diapers in the closet and my guess is we won't have to buy more than one or two more packages.

Potty training had been an area of parenting that I was not looking forward to, but so far she has made it really easy. And since Jeanne gets to deal with her when we're in public (I haven't had to bring her into a public men's room yet) for me it's been easy!

Keep up the great work, Hannah!

(I tried to get some photos but I'm not allowed in the bathroom, so you're just going to have to use your imagination).