Potty Mouth

Our latest accomplishment here has been potty training with Aimee. For about a year we had this cool little potty chair that she thought was a nice place to put puzzle pieces, goldfish and any other number of small items that illustrates the pack rat tendencies of toddlers. Then I got the bright idea to get a toddler sized potty seat that fits into the big toilet seat. And that was fun for a few more months. Aimee would sit on it, ask for toilet paper and nothing would happen. So we patiently didn't push but were anxious nonetheless because let's be honest, you secretly think that those mothers whose kids are not trained by the time they are about 2 are terrible parents and why can't they train their children?

Then you have one of your own and realize that potty training is a complete power struggle in which you have NO power. Do you read that? I think it needs to be emphasized again... NO power. So I started to give her a wide berth and let her guide me as to when she was ready. And just about two months ago, she started to guide me. She no longer wanted diapers but loved the cool new pull ups with the Dora or Princess designs on them. Eventhough she still didn't quite get the whole idea of it, she knew that the pull ups were for big girls and she so desperately wanted to be a big girl. Then at school (okay daycare) there were two other little girls about Aimee's age going through the same thing and once the teachers combined efforts and had them going onto the potty every 1/2 hour, something magical occured. They all started using the potty both at school and at home.

Please note though that this was not achieved without some obvious peer pressure as well as the promise of treats. For us, M&M's were the treat of choice. One for peeps and two for poops. So here we are just before Aimee's third birthday and we are completely potty trained. It's good to know that our daughter needs peer pressure to get the really big accomplishments done.

I didn't know that with getting potty trained a whole new window of opportunity has opened up for the child. Because now, we need to check out just about every toilet that we come upon and some we don't. My first trip to the mall with Aimee where she told me she had to use the potty, I was shopping in the mall with a Walmart shopping cart. I know, very classy. But I wasn't sure what to do since I had this cart with my Walmart, Old Navy and Macy's purchases in there and here I was alone in the mall. What was I going to do? So I pulled the gray plastic carriage into the bathroom and let the door hang open while she did her business so I could keep my one eye on the carriage lest anyone tried to take my recent purchases. And while we were there, my immediate thought was public toilet seat. How do I let my little girl sit on a public toilet seat? There were no step stools, no toilet rings to put into it to keep her tiny bum from falling in. So with a quick wipe around with some toilet paper, I put her little bum onto the big black seat and she did her stuff. Crisis averted and a big old star in the successful potty trip away from the house.

It's not all fun and roses though. You see the new battle cry is a "mommy....I did poopie" from the bathroom with her head down around her ankles on her stepstool and her bum about six inches off the toilet seat waiting for mom to come and clean her up. Now it is always mom. Dad is never called out and delivered the message of the latest edition of a poop, it's always mom that is called in for the cleanup crew. Unless the obvious occurs and I am not home. I also have to be on peeps patrol to make sure that no little drips escaped and end up on the big girl underpants because that is immediate grounds for an entire outfit in Aimee's opinion.

In all of this one of my biggest realization is that in becoming a parent I have fallen away from the English language because I am pretty sure that the poops and peeps may not be forefront in the dictionary. But it's become part of our kid language in our house. So what about you? Have you found that certain word in your household that becomes a staple but that the rest of the world looks at you as if it's a different language?