Panties!

We have officially embarked on the journey of potty training. In truth Kate has seemed ready for this for a while, but seeing as I was in my first trimester at the time I wasn't really up for it. Once second trimester hit and I began to regain some energy, I decided I really needed to stop putting it off and just give it a go. The thing is that when you are wiping baby bums (well, toddler bums) all you can think about is how much more convenient it would be to just have them use the toilet. But when it comes down to actually doing it, you realize that diapers are probably the most convenient thing ever. But I decided to just give it a shot. Since Kate is still on the younger side, I figured that if things didn't work out we'd just try again later, no harm done.

And a part of me wanted her to not be ready. Yep, I became the parent who wants to keep their baby small forever. It's just that diapers are one of the last signs of being a baby, and even if Kate was ready to start giving them up, I wasn't. But one morning we just ditched them and put on panties. It was a long day. We spent hours on the potty. It was exhausting. There were tears and tantrums involved. The next day was better. The third day she had zero accidents. WHAT?? Same with day four and five. Day six I started giving her a bit more freedom and trying to encourage her to tell me when she had to go (instead of sitting on the potty practically all day long). So we went back to having a few accidents. But you know what? She was doing phenomenal. She caught on to the concept so quickly. And the part of me that wanted to keep her a baby just died a little inside. Oh well, I guess this is really only the first step. I'm sure there will be many more of these moments on my parenting journey, probably of far greater significance than learning to use the toilet. But still, it's hard to watch your baby grow up.

It's probably been a little over two weeks since we started this potty training thing. Yesterday Brett and I were hanging around the house and noticed that Kate (who had run out of sight) was being unusually quiet. So I went to investigate. I found her sitting on her little froggy potty going poop all by herself. I was amazed! Later that day she came running out of the bathroom naked yelling, "pee!". As I rushed in to get her on the potty, I realized she had already gone. She wasn't telling me she needed to go, she was announcing she already had! And while she still wears diapers when she sleeps and while out of the house, she has started keeping her diapers dry during outings. I'm a bit terrified to put her in panties when we go out of the house. Cleaning up pee on my own floor is no big deal. In my car or out in public seems unfathomable to me. Maybe I just need to get over it? I guess we'll just see what happens. But we are well on our way to having a potty trained little girl.

Did I just say little girl? Oops. I mean, she will be Baby Kate forever, right?

Oh, and by the way. She looks absolutely adorable in panties. So much so that even though I think it would be safe to put some shorts on her in the house now, I just haven't bothered because watching her run around in panties is so cute!

Just reading a magazine on the potty