6/10/09 Little potty no more?

I wish I had bigger or more interesting news than this, but it's high on my list for exciting events today. Katrina went from vociferously refusing to touch the real toilet to suddenly agreeing to sit on it and being outraged when I tried to hold her up. "DON'T HOLD ME!!!" she demanded. Well, excuuuuse me. I thought you were terrified!

After this, I slipped upstairs and hid the baby training potty, so it wasn't an option around bathtime. She totally got it and said, "oh, there's no little potty!" and very competently climbed up a footstool and sat on the real toilet, holding herself up with her hands, no potty ring. Tonya has taught her well; Katrina's completely comfortable with it. Who knew? (I do have to remind her to turn around sometimes though; an artifact of watching brothers.)

(And in the TMI department, I wasn't sure how to teach a girl to wipe, but it seems that comes naturally; Katrina wants to since she pees all over her legs anyway.)

The next hurdle for using toilets away from home will be the lack of footstool, since that seems to be integral in her confidence now.

Julian had a great time in his science class today, and couldn't stop talking about a paper plate, a magnet and a paper clip, which he brought home. The paper clip goes on the plate, and the magnet goes under the paper plate and moves the paper clip around on top of the plate. In the class, they apparently put paint on the paper plate and then used the magnet under the plate to move the paper clip around to spread the paint. Julian wanted the paint part when we got home, but there was no way I could deal with that. "But Mom!" he implored, "that's the science!" "No," I told him. "The magnet holding the paper clip is the science. The paper clip moving the paint around is the art." Indeed, what a perfect way to use art to teach science.

In any case, he was satisfied when we talked about what else the magnet's force could go through: glass, aluminum foil, plastic; and we tried numerous things around the house, which devolved to seeing what the magnet would stick to around the house.

I wish I had more time for things like that, but it's just dawning on me how demanding it can be to potty-train a toddler. Once again, I find myself so often putting the boys off: "Can you wait, I have to go take care of Katrina," or dropping everything at any moment to help her. Changing stinky underpants is a 2x/day habit now, and depending on what she's wearing she needs help to go. Other times she takes care of everything herself, and the only way I know she went is hearing the toilet upstairs flush.

I washed the little potties tonight and as soon as they dry, they are destined for the give-away pile in the garage.

6/10/09