Potty Training

During Chloe's marathon nap yesterday I decided to read up on potty training. I have to interrupt this story and say that I love how no baby/toddler book recommends an age to start potty training but will tell you when you've waited too long to potty train. When Chloe was 18 months old, she had an interest in the potty and even used it on occasion but her pediatrician told me she was not ready. So, I waited. Well my silly book says that 2.5 years old is pushing it in terms of potty training, that a child should have been started prior to that time. OY! Chloe is only 26 months, but I love how these books give you the checklist of when to start and tell you to wait till your child reaches these and then tells you that if you haven't started this by the time your child is 2.5, you have your work cut out for you. I digress....

I guess I am a little taken aback by the task of potty training Chloe. Maybe I am the one resistant to the potty. Life is easy with a child in a diaper. I don't have to worry when I take her out about the restrooms, etc. I know many people are excited to have their child out of diapers. Maybe I am just bizarre.

Anyway, yesterday was our first foray into potty training. We read the Prudence book and then Chloe sat on the potty after she woke up from her nap. I will try to relay what happened as best I can:

• Chloe is quite happily on the potty after her nap. I read Prudence (the potty book) and after the book, Chloe asks for a magazine. Starting her young, I hand her the latest Pottery Barn catalog which she enjoys looking at and telling me all about pillows and beds. She puts the magazine down (still nothing in the potty) and tells me "no more diapers!".
• I tell her, "ok, you can wear big girl panties when you pee pee and poo poo in the potty" [Yes, I am teaching Chloe the juvenile words for going to the bathroom and not taking the advice of my book and teaching her the technical term of BM (bowel movement) and urinate...can't do it, she's 2, it's poo poo, not BM. They recommend this b/c they say she will have to relearn these terms when she is older and it can confuse. Maybe I am juvenile and I hang out with juveniles, but I have never heard anyone tell me that they have to do a BM. Thanks for sharing! Too much information. I use "go to the bathroom" as a general term and so does everyone else I know.]
• After a good 15 minutes on the potty, Chloe decides to get up and refuses her diaper and/or pull up. Ok, fine, I'll let her run bare bottom (a book recommendation and we have wood floors, no carpet to clean so it wipes up easily). She is happy and I am ok with that.
• We head downstairs when I hear "Mommy, Lizzie (the dog) pee-peed."
• I say, "Lizzie pee-peed or Chloe pee-peed?"
• "No, Lizzie pee-peed in the yard!" she says.
• "Yes, Lizzie pee pees in the yard," I respond, looking down at the step and seeing Chloe standing in liquid. "Chloe, did you pee-pee?"
• "Yes," she says, "wipe it off!"
• So, I do and we head back downstairs, Chloe bare-bottomed and pleased with herself. She begins to sing a potty song which goes: "My potty, my potty, go pee-pee in the potty. NO! Get sticker if pee pee in the potty, my potty, Chloe's potty." Truly she is a budding song writer, but the "NO" mid-song has me concerned.

We discovered this morning that Chloe is serious about "no more diapers" because she had a complete meltdown this morning as we tried to put one on her. It took Matt and me holding her to put on her pull up. She screamed and cried the entire time. We would have let her go without anything on, but we were going to the train station and I didn't want people to question why our 2 year old had on a top and no bottoms. Also, I was just plain lazy and didn't want to have to wash her car seat if there was an accident.

It looks like this potty training journey is going to be full of excitement.