The Tale of the Potty

Last night was a good night, close to being on its way to a great night. I have to stop and think, Arabella is only 14-months-old, so is it too soon to potty train? I think the answer is yes and no. I think she doesn't grasp the concept of going in a timely manner and I don't know if getting her on a potty schedule would benefit at this young age. But I do know that our nightly routine is definitely the stepping stone to getting her started on the potty training adventure. She's only gone in the toilet once, and literally on it once. But last night was another great first.

We followed our normal routine before a bath or shower. We ask Arabella if she wants a bath while signing. She then signs back "bath" and runs to her room to get naked. Now I got her ready to take a shower with me and she ran for our bathroom. Her diaper was soaked so I assumed that sticking her on the toilet would yield nothing. But we put her on it for several reasons no matter what. First off, we don't want another pee on the potty accident. Secondly we are trying to get her accustomed to sitting on the potty ring, on the toilet. Finally we do it so that she has something to do while we get the water ready. Normally she plays with the lid of the toilet and smacks it against the back of the toilet making a rather loud, annoying noise. Her other option is pushing and pulling on the handles of the potty ring that retract.

Last night was no exception. I ran the shower water and hopped in once it was ready. Adam grabbed Arabella off the toilet and plopped her on the shower floor. Then he proceeds to say "she smells like s**t." I rolled my eyes and told him to check the toilet and there it was...number two was dropped off at the pool. She never grunted or even remotely looked like she was going to the bathroom. She pulled all of her usual tricks while waiting for her bath. So of course I had to make her stand up while Adam reached in to wipe off any excess on her hiney. My question is, if she smelled, why didn't you check before plopping her in the shower? Hopefully it was a lesson learned for all of us. I was rather excited about it and of course made a big deal of my "big girl" and she just smiled and continued to play with her walrus.

So we'll just keep on following our routine and I suppose if she starts giving me the potty sign without being prompted I will begin putting her on a potty schedule and really get the ball rolling. But for now, it was awesome step in the right direction.