1 Mother 2 Another

On the nights they take baths, the girls
get time afterwards to do what they call the Nakey Dance, which is
exactly what it sounds like so there’s no need to describe
it. At any rate, Cora was in mid-Nakey Dance on Saturday night when
she turned to my mom and said, “I need to go potty!”


“Well, let’s get you on the potty!” my mom said,
and hustled her to the bathroom. Mom plopped Cora down on the
toilet, and sixty seconds later Cora had gone pee in the potty,
surprising both of them no small amount. But what surprised Cora
even more was that she got a Hershey kiss because of it.

Ever since Saturday night, Cora’s
been quite keen to have a repeat performance, and though most times
it’s a near miss – asking to go to the potty a bit too
late to earn anything – she’s twice made it on in time
to earn another piece of candy. We’ve cut back to one M&M
at a time, which, since M&Ms were one of only two things Cora
asked Santa for, are quite a big hit, so there’s lots of
incentive here.


So I guess we’re potty-training! Keeping in mind that Maddie
didn’t get fully potty-trained until she was over 3 ½,
you can understand why I’m a bit lazy about the
potty-training and in no big rush to scramble around cleaning up
carpet stains from a two-year-old walking around with a naked bum.
The diaper stays on, and since it’s so infrequent right now
we’re still in a regular diaper – pull-ups easily cause
a diaper rash if they’re wet. But as long as Cora’s
interested and asks for it, I’m happy to take her to the
bathroom upon request. She’s also agreed to let me take her
to the potty as soon as she wakes up in the morning and at certain
times of the day, like meal times and bed time.


I’m not holding my breath here – my experience with
Maddie resigned me to the fact that potty training will most likely
be a several-month process. But I’m thrilled she’s
started, and have a feeling I’d better lay in a pretty good
supply of M&Ms.