"Potty Mommy, Potty"

Ok, so I guess we started potty training. In the past three days, Natalie has decided that she wants to use the potty. I hadn't even thought of potty training her yet! Zachary was 3 1/2 when we potty trained him - I knew Natalie would do it much sooner, but gosh, she isn't even 22 months yet! I thought maybe after her birthday or something. But in the past two days, she has gone poo-poo 2 times and potty 3 times on the big potty.

I am basically just following her lead. When she tells me "potty," I take her to the bathroom, take off her diaper and stick her on the pot. Her first two successes were poo-poo! I am so proud of her (you probably figured since I am writing an entry on my blog about it!), but I wasn't quite ready for this yet.

Today was a very long day. We were stuck at home waiting for a delivery that required a signature. I must have gone to the potty with Natalie 45 times or so. "Potty Mommy, Potty." And off we went. Those of you moms know that many times you stick them on the potty, they don't really have to go, but you can't discourage them when the tell you they do. As the day progressed, Natalie had more and more rules when we went to the potty. By the end of the day, she had pants off, socks off, the door completely closed, and "mommy sit!" on the bathroom rug. Another frustrating thing is her apparent need to climb on and off the toilet while waiting for something to happen. She'd sit, then get down, play with the diaper champ, climb back on the toilet, talk to the ducks on the shower curtain about going potty, get down again, play with the diaper champ... you get the picture.

Like most small children, she became obsessed with the toilet paper and flushing. So mommy made a rule, a rather obvious one to all of us, but none the less, wipes/paper and flushing only after something goes in the potty. I am lucky, however, that she likes to wash her hands. As many times as we were on the potty today, I felt a little OCD about hand washing today.

This afternoon, I went to Target and bought a kiddie toilet seat. You know the kind that attach to the big potty. I figured since she has already been sitting on the toilet, I wouldn't mess with a potty chair. I just need to shrink that big ol' hole so she doesn't fall in! :) We are not quite ready for big girl panties yet, but I'm sure we're not too far out! I also bought a bag of M&Ms, as we all know a kid needs a reward for going potty!

I will keep you posted on our Adventures in Potty Training!