lessons in potty training

the title alone should clue you in that there will be no pictures in this post.

rule #1 - the potty is your friend
rule #2 - disassociate all sentiments of disgust, taboo, and discretion when talking about "peeing" or "poo poo-ing" with the trainee
rule #3 - if there's an accident, always be encouraging and never punish the deed
rule #4 - be creative - whatever it takes to get the trainee out of diapers and into underwear, i.e. character-designed panties & potty seats, bribery, personal demonstration

these are some guidelines that i've used over the past several weeks as the household has been more aggressively "training" aly to use the toilet. hopefully this will give you some appreciation (instead of sheer disgust) for the story i'm about to share.

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after mom & dad came home today, halmuhnee asked me if aly had told me any exciting news. with a new episode of the backyardigans playing in the background, she barely realized i was home. i shook my head no, and then a pang of anxiety struck me, which i quickly tempered with a hope that my mother did not have to clean up any messy accidents. grandma then shared the news of how aly had done no. 2 in the potty today (whew!). insisting on waiting for me to see her proud accomplishment, aly refused to let my mother flush. grandma tried to reason with her, but no amount of adult reason would sway the newly potty-trained 2.67 year old otherwise. i won't go into further detail, but i will say that i was thankfully spared the sight of her daily duty.

oh i have soooo many potty stories....

"look, um-ma! three pieces!"
"bye bye shee shee! see you later!"
"i gotta get out of here!" (she always says this after she's used a public restroom because for some reason, she finds the sound of flushing much more terrifying when we're out and about than she does at home)

ok - that's the first and last entry on potty training... i promise.