By Alex Iwashyna, blogger at Late Enough
When E was 18 months old, he started showing interest in the potty. Being a first time mom, I took my genius to the doctor and got ready to buy underroos.
My doctor may or may not have snickered. And said it was normal for E to show interest but the likelihood of him potty training was… well, remember the snicker.
I was pretty sure my doctor was wrong so I coaxed E to the potty once a day. And he happily sat and then stood up and peed all over the floor.
A year and four months later, he potty-trained.
Then N comes along and shows interest at about the same time. We ignore it. Because HAHA potty training your 18 month old? We are WAY TO SEASONED to make that rookie mistake again.
Except she showed interested at 19 months.
And 20 months.
Santa brought her underwear so she’d stop stealing my son’s.
Hoarding underroos is no way to live.
And she began to use the potty everyday between Christmas and New Year's.
Now, I wasn’t completely convinced. I mean, she’s clearly a genius because she loves shoes, cats and can peel a clementine faster than me, but potty-training?
But on the second-most-wonderful-day-of-the-year, the day that our children go back to school after winter break, Scott and I were chatting on the phone, and he mentions: I sent N to school in underwear.
Me: WHAT?
Scott: I sent diapers, too. And two changes of clothing!
I freaked out. I pictured her peeing on the floor every hour. Crying. The teachers thinking that she’s just having an off potty day so refusing to give her a diaper never realizing that we hadn’t actually started potty-training her! {breath}
I picked her up braced for my daughter to come out wearing a plastic bag and a note from the teachers stating: YOUR CHILD ISN'T READY. STOP BEING THAT PARENT AND BUY SOME DIAPERS. Instead she was wearing the same pants we dropped her off in and didn’t pee until we were driving home. (Look she’s not a MIRACLE child.)
The purse goes well with pee, okay?
So I got out my iPhone timer, set it for every 30 minutes, and asked her if she had to pee. We broke out our pee-pee song and dance. (Picture the Cha-cha-cha and maracas being potty-trained. Forget it… here's a video reenactment… (click here if you can't see the video)
And up until getting croup on Thursday-Saturday, she is 21 months old and potty-trained.
Well, maybe an accident per day.
But as long as it happens on my husband’s watch, I’ll take it.
I'm adding a sign to my front door: Welcome To My Diaper-Free Home. BOO-YAH! My kids clearly couldn't care less.
