Oh Potty Potty

Potty training toddlers have been a pretty big part of my life. Just like eating has been a pretty big part of my life.

My wonderful first born sort of figured it out at 18 months. We'd put him on the toilet and he'd release himself. We thought he was really smart. But that's only a tiny part of the whole saga. He only partially figured it out then and it took another 2 years for him to COMPLETELY figure it out. We didn't think he was all that potty smart by then. And let's just say that at 4 yo, he wakes up in the morning with occasional accidents, and if he gets too excited or too busy... he forgets.

The second born on the other hand was clueless about peeing in a designated spot at 18 months. She was clueless at 20 months or 24 months. She was clueless last week. But suddenly, 3 days ago, it hit her and she got it. So since Monday, she has been going in her potty 100%, when, on Sunday, it was just a place for her to sit with her pants down.

Some things that may have helped her:

1. I bought her some training pants with her favorite character, Dora. I tell her that Dora doesn't like to be wet.

2. I give her a temporary tattoo of Dora every time she goes in the potty. I bought the tattoos on ebay and they're really good. The ones from Monday are still on her arm prefectly. So now, she's covered in tattoo.

3. She didn't seem to understand the word "pee". So I told her to go make some water in her potty. And she understood that.

I am hoping that she is done with her diapering phase. With the third born in diapers, I don't want to be paying for 2 sets of them.