Once Upon a Potty

*For those who are perturbed by potty language, please choose another blog. I will try to keep it clean, but can't promise much.*

I have had high hopes for potty training Em since before she was born. I was going to use cloth diapers so that she would start out from the beginning knowing how a wet diaper feels. The "good" brand diapers absorb the moisture too quickly; children in crappy diapers or cloth tend to train earlier. When my cloth diapering dream ended in a rash of, well, rash, I tried to use the cheapest diapers possible. That went by the wayside until a few months ago - she kept pooping through them. Since her birthday, however, we have been using store brand diapers, and sitting Emmy on the potty after she wakes up, after nap, before bath and before bed. Back in February, she was using the potty pretty much everytime we sat her on it. We signed potty, we talked about wet and dry, we practiced washing hands, we read potty books. Things were going swimmingly.
Then she started walking. Once she figured out how to get up from the potty, that was what she wanted to spend her time doing. It has been several weeks since she would sit on the potty unless she was being entertained. I still made her sit at least before bath, since her peeing in the tub is not how I want to spend an evening, but rarely was anything happening.
I was getting a little frustrated; not that I wanted to force the issue, but she had been doing so well! I had been quietly buying training underwear anytime I saw it on sale. I had bought another potty so we could have one on both levels of the house.
About a week ago, I decided I know enough and have enough experience to give this a good try again, without pushing her or really frustrating myself. So, every afternoon, after nap, I put her in underwear. I let her walk around the house, and dragged the potty with us into every room. I analyzed every facial tic, and would have her sit on the potty whenever she looked like something was going on. She peed on herself a few times, and I just cleaned it up, and reminded her that her potty was close for next time. By Friday, she was telling me as she was peeing in her diaper or underwear! She's not really ready to be potty training for real, but I feel really good about where she is now. Last night, she told me in the tub that she had to poop. I got her out of the tub, and she did poop - right in the potty. Same thing this afternoon. She's definitely got an awareness now of what's going on, so if things continue like this, we may be done with diapers before the fall!!!
I'm really excited for this next step onto toddlerhood. Whooooohooo!

Catch Up

I've been really bad about uploading pics. This one is Jeffrey having a BLAST in the tub, and Emmeline about to lost it. Great blackmail for high school though.

This is Emmeline finding her basket on Easter morning. I was sort of busy and only managed to get one of her in her Easter dress though, so I'll have to ask the Grandmas to help me out here.