1 Mother 2 Another

Yesterday, Maddie used the big-girl potty
the entire day.


Yes, we’re back to potty training. Maddie gave up using the
potty months ago after an accident, vowing to never again use the
big-girl potty. But about a week ago Maddie announced she’d
like to use the potty occasionally – “Just to go pee,
no poopy!” Then two days ago, Maddie pooped in the big potty.
Incredulous, she grinned triumphantly. “That was easy!
I’m going to poop in the potty all the time now!”

And yesterday, Maddie finally went the
whole day with a dry pull-up. She’s been incredibly close the
past few days, using her pull-up in a crowd situation when she was
too shy to ask for a potty or, until Monday, to poop. I’m not
sure what’s happened to make this worth her while, but
I’m hugely excited about it, as you can imagine; we’ve
only been potty training for, oh, a year now.


I think we’d have been successful a long time ago if
we’d been willing to do the naked hiney thing, but that
wasn’t an option between me and Brian. And we learned way
back that trying to force Maddie into something will backfire, so
we’ve been patient and nonchalant and gritted our teeth,
trying to wait this thing out. But Maddie’s said several
times recently that she’s ready to wear big-girl underpants
now, and wants to use the potty all the time.


I’m trying not to get my hopes up in this; Maddie’s
said these things before, partly because she can see it’s
what we want to hear, and partly because she wishes she really felt
that way. She’s had some deep neuroses about using the potty
and we’ve seen the struggle in her; she’s so advanced
for her age in so many ways, yet the last person in her play group
to still be in diapers. I can see this affects her, and knew that
eventually it’d bother her enough to do something about it.


Will this no-hitter of a day be the start of the new Maddie? Or
will it simply be a blip on the potty-training radar screen,
destined to fizzle out as all other tries have? No one can say. I
do know that that Maddie’s excited about getting to pick out
a new toy, but she’s even more excited at the accomplishment
itself, and that’s a switch for her; she’s usually more
excited about the immediate reward. But as we lay in bed last night
talking over the day, she kept bringing up the potty. “Mommy,
I was scared to poop in the potty but I did it anyway. I’m
very brave, and now I know there’s nothing to be afraid of. I
can’t wait to buy big-girl underpants!”


We’ve got two final prizes dangling in front of her: she gets
to pick out a large toy when she’s officially out of diapers,
and she’s been eyeing a Handy Manny tool kit. And second,
we’re going underwear shopping when we’re sure
she’s ready. Maddie’s been chatting for days –
will she pick out the Abby Cadabby underpants? Or the Elmo ones? Do
they make Thomas underwear for girls? She’s in raptures just
thinking about all her choices.


Ah, that rite of passage for all girls – the first trip to
the lingerie store. Let’s hope there’s a bathroom
nearby when the time comes, because we’re still new at this
thing.