Chloe Potty Trains Mommy

Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Since this site is "All About Chloe" I must brag on our child to declare that she is out of pull-ups and into underwear! Yes, I can admit that I finally bit the bullet and admitted that it was I who was holding back my child's potty training success. Perhaps I wanted to hold on to the "infant" stage just a little longer or perhaps I am incredibly lazy and found running errands with a child in a pull-up was easier than leaving the shopping cart of groceries in the middle of the store to seek out the toilet. Perhaps it is a bit of both.

I am happy to say that I came to this realization this weekend after reading an article on potty training in "Toddler" magazine and after a conversation with Chloe that went something like this:

Chloe: "Mommy I am so proud of you!"
Me: "Why are you proud of me Chloe?"
Chloe: "Because you wear big girl panties and use the potty like Claire."

Claire is a 3-year old friend of Chloe's. Hmmm, I thought, she's ready, stop being a slack mom and put her in the underwear. So, Monday Chloe picked out a pair of panties and off we went. Only one accident while playing in the backyard. But, today was the true test. Tuesdays are busy in and out days for us. We have Mommy & Me and Pre-school.

I am slowly realizing that I can very easily become one of those helicopter mother's hovering above her child, the one's who worry about everything and fear their child cannot succeed without them butting into every aspect of their life. I know those mom's want the best for their child, and hey I want what's best for Chloe too. So, perhaps that is why I had the fear that she would have an accident in class today and be forever traumatized. I was simply neurotic in hovering above my child asking every 5 minutes, "Do you need to go potty?". Lucky for Chloe our Mommy & Me instructor had an intervention reassuring me that Chloe would be ok and to lighten up. She told me all kids have accidents, Chloe is not yet 3 and if she has an accident, oh well, she'll clean it up and we will change Chloe's pants. No big deal. And it wasn't a big deal to Chloe. I stopped bugging her and she did just fine. No accidents.

Just as we left Mommy & Me to go home and have lunch I realized that Chloe would be without me during pre-school. What would she do? Could she tell her teacher she had to go potty? Oh no! As the fear and worry began to possess me once again, I told myself to let it go and not to worry. Whatever happens would happen and it's not a big deal. So, I took Chloe to pre-school where she promptly entered and told her pal Claire that she was a big girl too. I guess her sense of being a big girl has also given her a new sense of empowerment as she also told a little boy in class that she didn't like him kissing her (I wish she would have also told him that her mom didn't like him wiping his boogers on her either). You go girl! After telling her teacher that she was in panties, I left only to return some two hours later eager to see if she was in the same pants. And you know what? She was!

So, I am making a vow to stop hovering and go with the flow (figuratively and perhaps literally).

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