52:9:Potty

Around our house...

We love to go potty!

Remember when I said be careful what you wish for in reference to hoping Claire would pick up some new hobbies?  Well, along with climbing out of her crib, Claire has now started to take potty to a whole new level.

Background... Claire has been able to tell us for over a month now that she is poopy.  She will actually request a diaper change.  Awesome... or so I thought.  The doctor was very impressed at our last check up and mentioned that if Claire was willing to talk potty, we should encourage her.  Give her words for "tinkles" (oh we call it pee.  I've tried to make "tinkles" a thing, but I said ONE TIME I had to pee and it stuck) and "poopy".  She also mentioned we could get a trainer toilet and put it in the bathroom.  Not to force Claire to start to use it, but to get her used to it being there.  And of course, let her go to the bathroom with me and tell her about what I'm doing.

So what did I do about this conversation and sage advice?  Nothing.  I reveled in the fact my kid could tell me she needed a diaper change (how much does THIS cut down on sniffing her booty in public?).  But I didn't really want to start potty talk or potty field trips.  Unfortunately, Claire had other ideas, so now I have a constant bathroom companion.

And then...

Claire started stripping (removing pants, diaper, shoes, whatever is in her way) and pottying.  Normally at day care during nap time.  Whoops.  The crazy thing is, she'll do this with a dry diaper.  She has to have planning and skill to get all those items off (and thrown out of the crib, too, by the way) and then she squats in a corner and potties.  She also did this in the bathtub just before she got out this weekend.  We said it was time to get out, she made a move like "hang on a second" went to the side, squatted, and peed, then wanted out.

I'm not planning on actually potty training until maybe this summer.  We just want to keep the lines of communication open since she's interested in it now (I realize that she isn't ready to actually become potty trained--she doesn't have the bladder size or control).  But I also realize that it doesn't hurt to get her familiar and comfortable with the idea.  She needs skills like being able to sit on the potty for an extended period of time (tonight it lasted almost five minutes... whoa!).  She also needs to be able to hold her tinkles... something she definitely cannot do during naps or night time. 

So tonight after her bath she ran back to the bathroom and got on her toilet so she could reread her bath-time book.  I yelled for Matt and he snapped some shots using his phone (sorry, you can't stage everything!).  I just thought it was funny how only a week ago I was running out of ideas for pictures and whala!  My little girl is all grown up!  Be careful what you wish for!

Very serious reading going on here, folks.

So pleased with herself!

And yes, I am sitting on the adult potty, but the lid is down and my pants are on!