The dreaded POTTY TRAINING

Potty training...these words have eluded me for a while now. And it is my fault because I have been really lazy about it. I knew that I would have to cross this bridge at some point and time and I kept putting it off. But the sheer fact that I have doubled the amount of diapers I change, the time was now.

I had tried to do this before, but she and I were not ready, so I gave it up. But I finally decided to face my fear head on. I think one of the reasons why I was so hesitant to do this was the sheer amount of knowledge, advice, books, pamphlets and web sites devoted to this topic. There was too much for me to figure out the best method. I asked everyone, checked out everything, bought a bunch of books. I was a little crazed in trying to find that one piece of wisdom, the a-ha moment in how to do it. For me, that did not exist. I thought this would be really, really hard and I needed someone to hold my hand through it. Then I realized that even though I don't know what I am doing in this, I do know that you just have to boil all the potty training knowledge down to useful bits of information that you are willing to employ yourself. Just do what works best for you and your child. The huge potty training industry would hate that I drilled this down to one simple, cliched phrase.

Here's what I did. I picked the weekend that we were going to do this well in advance so I could prepare myself for the end date. I stocked up on little toys and trinkets from stores as my bribes for her and every Dora or Elmo printed potty seat there is out there. One helpful piece of advice I read is that a good way to kick off potty training was on the morning you start to have you and your toddler throw diapers away and say goodbye. It worked and we were head first into potty training. Another reason for my fear, I was afraid of the sheer amount of messes I would have all over the house. (for those of you who ever come over, please know I kept this to a few rooms where I could easily clean up). She ran around in a shirt and panties all day, and while we had accidents by the end of the first day, she was able to run with me to the bathroom to go. I am happy to report on day one we achieved the holy grail of potty training...she pooped in the potty.

So all in all, and it is only day three as I write this, it has gone better than I expected. My toy bribes definately worked. If she would not go, I would show her the toy she would get and that was all the motivation she needed. Her sticker chart is full of stickers of achievement. The grandparents called and came by this weekend to tell her how proud they were of her throughout. The washer and dryer have been humming non-stop this weekend to keep up with a supply of clean princess panties. And today, day 3 we had no accidents. She even came and got me when it was time to go.

The funny thing in all of this was that I think potty training made us a little closer. We are having great conversations, albeit in the bathroom, but that is just fine with me. While I want to keep my eye on her to make sure she makes it to the potty, she wants me near in case she needs to go. Through all of this, I did not realize we were both afraid of it. It was her hand I needed to hold to get me through this and of course, she has done a terrific job.

I am sure there will be many more messes to come and we have not ventured out in public yet, but I am happy that we both faced our fear. And I am so happy to have eliminated 50% of the diapers in our house.