News from the Trenches (or Potty Training 101)

Would you like to hear how potty training my two-year old is going? Okay. I'll tell you.

Not great.

She's a very smart child and she knows the principal. She will even tell you, (at the dinner table, at your mom's house) that big girls go pee-pee in the doddy. (that's "potty" for those of you who do not speak two-year-old) and babies go pee-pee in a diapa ("diaper").

Here's where the problem comes in. Her 1 year old sister gets to wear a diaper and has absolutely no potty responsibilities. So why should one be expected to do what the other is not? My two-year old has figured this out. She's not budging.

My baby, on the other hand, has decided that the potty is absolutely fascinating. It's great to splash in and put shoes in and rinse your toys off in. Just a great place to play, until the Mommy-monster finds you and goes into a fit of "Oh no, Laaaaaaaaneeeeeeey! UGGGH!" and scolds and spanks and washes you and whatever you have decided to bathe there.

The reason she has the freedom to slip off and do this is because she is as quick as lightning. So, we have to shut the bathroom door to keep her out of there. That's easy enough, but then Marley will have to pee and she can't open the door yet. Yet another difficulty in parenting children so close in age (11 months).

Last week, I talked to a mother of a little girl who is one-month older than Marley. Her little girl is completely trained. "I just started putting her on the potty when she started walking," she says to me. Well, isn't that just where I made my mistake? Marley was 9-months-old when she started walking and I was 7 months pregnant. Potty training wasn't high on my list of priorities at that time.

The other answer I hear all the time is just to wait and train them together. Laney is not ready for that. Plus, I can just imagine how that will go. Double your accidents, double your fun!

I should give Marley credit. She is making progress. Last weekend she wore panties all weekend long with only one or two accidents. She even remembered to tell my mother-in-law she needed to go to the potty when she was playing in the pool. That's something that even big kids don't do all the time.

I know it won't be long until this will just be a memory. It's hard to wait for your children to accomplish things like this though. It reminds me of the weeks we waited for Marley and Laney to begin walking. Everyday you wonder if it will be the day that they finally take those first steps. And when they finally take off, you can't even remember what it was like before.