The Potty Train

Apparently the potty train has rolled into the Kress house, and Mercy is the only one who knew it was coming.

One of Mercy's favorite books is called I have to Go. It's about little Grover from Sesame Street who runs past a series of friends doing various activities in order to find his Mommy and tell her he has to go. She helps him with his overalls and he does his business. Mercy loves to skip to the end and identify the mommy, the mommy's shoes, and Grover's little potty. About a month ago I was cleaning out a box that hadn't been properly unpacked yet and found our own little training potty. The boys weren't trained until after they were three, so I had no inclination that showing it to Mercy would lead to anything more than perhaps a reading of her book. It sat in our bathroom, mostly because I didn't  know where else to put it, and occasionally I'd ask if Mercy wanted to sit on in. Usually she said no. Then on Wednesday she ran up to me and pulling on my hand said potty? potty? She led me to it, I helped undress her, and she sat down and peed. The next day she came to me patting her bum and saying poo. I asked if she needed a new diaper but she responded with potty. So back into the bathroom we went and she did her business like a pro. She successfully peed again that day as well, so it appeared we were actually going to toilet train and it wasn't just a fluke. I had Matthew run out on Friday to get her some training diapers. She's completely obsessed with the boys' underwear and I knew that was her goal, but I wasn't entirely convinced that my barely two year old was in fact ready for big girl panties and even less convinced that I was ready to deal with the consequences of my barely two year old in big girl panties. I believe I assessed the situation correctly, as she has not repeated her successes again. If someone brings it up, she's more than anxious to sit on the potty, but she hasn't brought it up on her own again and I think she's really more interested in an excuse to take off her diaper. I am, however, completely confident that when she is truly ready, she'll train in an instant and that will be that. So, while the Potty Train is in town, we're not all aboard just yet, and that's fine by me.