The Universe is Laughing at Me

Miss L and I have been halfheartedly going through the motions of potty training for the last couple of weeks. She's on the young side and I don't have a lot of spare attention, but she's interested in the process and tall enough that she's going to be ready for some things (that also require no diapers) sooner than later. Like Småland at IKEA.

The major stumbling block is just getting her to understand what I want her to do while sitting on the toilet. She's perfectly happy to sit there, especially since she gets my undivided attention and we read books and look at catalogues. She'll even ask to go to the potty, but previously it's just been when my attention has been focused on other things, like making dinner or the baby crying. On the upside, she's very good at telling me when she's gone on the floor while I was looking the other way. (She refers to everything as "poopy" when it's not in her diaper.)

This morning, we went through the normal routine of her asking, then sitting there with nothing happening for several minutes until she got bored and wanted down. Less than half an hour later, she asked again while doing something that looked a lot like a gotta-go dance. So off we went, and within a few minutes of sitting down...tinkle, tinkle, tinkle.

I, of course, went nuts. She just gave me this look like, "Yeah, Mom, that's great; can we go back to looking at the ducks now?" We cleaned up and washed our hands, and I finally got to break open the big container of individually-wrapped Twizzlers that's been sitting on the back of the toilet since we began this process. (Note to self: chocolate was a much better idea. Must get M&Ms and a big jar.) Then I called everyone I know.

As I was crowing to my mother, Miss L comes up to me announcing, "Poopy!" I peer around the corner to see a very small puddle on the floor. Oh, well. I take her to the bathroom, pull down her training pants, and exclaim in dismay as several toddler turds roll out and across the floor.

*sigh* One step forward, one step back.