Potty Talk

Diapers - one of the last vestiges of babyhood to be left behind. We're done with cribs. We're done with 'baby' toys. Jason still uses a tray, but that's mainly because he's not big enough to reach the table yet in his seat. Bibs are used only occasionally now, depending on the meal. I've taken the gate down at the top of the stairs, keeping it close by only to contain Sarah and Jason when I need to keep them up there with me. What I'd REALLY like to see go are the diapers. Pull-ups. Whatever. (Baby wipes, I love you, I will always keep you around, you with your magic stain-removing powers!) We have been buying diapers for over 8 years now, and I'd really like to be done with that.

Evie was pretty easy, once she got it in her mind to do it. She showed zero interest in the potty until 2 months before her 3rd birthday, and then when she made up her mind it was done in 3 weeks.

William took a bit longer (which is the biggest understatement of the year.) I don't think William showed any interest EVER. From shortly before his 3rd birthday until he was 4 & started preschool we struggled with him. He knew what to do, he just didn't want to do it & he always seemed surprised when he'd have an accident. I won't share with you those horrors, those are just for me.

We're working on the potty again with Sarah. She wasn't really interested (at all) this past fall & with the birthdays/holidays/fall craziness, we decided to give it a rest until the new year. The new year's here, and she's still not interested. WHY kids are just fine walking around in a soggy bag I will never get. I hear stories & witness friends' kids graduating to underwear at 2-1/2 & think surely I'm not doing something right. Are you supposed to really push it when they're fighting you every inch of the way?

So we've been working with Sarah; sometimes she cooperates, sometimes not; Matt is much better at getting her to try than I am, probably because she is more like me than either of us realized until just recently - you want to watch a contest of wills, come visit my house & watch me do battle with Sarah :) She's gotten herself to the bathroom twice this past week on her own, so progress is slow. One happy benefit of all this, though, is Jason.

Jason is doing AWESOME. If you remember, he turned 2 in November. Jason is my proof that my first three ARE different from other kids, and it's not ME, it's THEM. Hah! Jason's very much interested in the potty, and he's doing a great job with the whole process. Matt will tell you that's because Jason is the most like him. Probably :) Anyway, I'm hopeful that at least he will be done with diapers by his 3rd birthday, at which point Sarah will be 4; surely she will be done with them by then too! It would be heaven if they could both be finished by the summer, but I'm not getting my hopes up - day by day here. So my hiney-wiping sentence will hopefully be up within the next 10-1/2 months - ok who am I kidding, the wiping goes on long after the diapers are gone - but you get the idea. Then I can allocate that $80 a month towards preschool :)

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And since it doesn't feel like a blog post without a picture, here's a flashback photo for you that my dad sent me - he's been scanning old pictures & slides & this one really struck me (and not just because of our hideous haircuts, thank you very much, Mom!) This is a photo of me and my sisters from the summer of 1976 at our grandparents' beach house. I'm 6 years old; NOW tell me which child of mine most resembles me??!

If you can't tell, I'm the one on the left :)

Have a great week! Harried Mom out.