Poopy in the Toilet!

(First off, those of you who prefer not to hear about poop in any manner may want to skip this post. I am a mother of a toddler and poop is pretty much in my daily vocabulary.)

Of course I never assumed I knew it all about being a Mommy. And if I ventured even close to that assumption, my daughter would reel me back in so fast I'd have whiplash. I read a lot of parenting advice. Anything from books to articles to online information. I am as prepared as any parent could get I suppose. However, in all my preparation for becoming a parent, and all the knowledge I have gained, this is what I know: I dont know anything. Even tho I have read the books - life doesnt go according to the books.

The latest realization of this is in potty training. I started to potty train Jubilee early on....probably around 12 months. Nothing extensive... just introduced her to the little potty chair and let her get used to the idea. By 18 months she had gone potty on the potty chair a handful of times. I figured, "OH! she is almost ready!" So around 20 months I figured my kid was smart enough to get the hang of it. She just needed my support. I read a lot of information and heard a lot of advice from friends, (some of which had their babies potty trained at 8 months). We picked a day and went full force with panties and everything! It was an utter failure. Jubilee didnt have one success. What I learned from that is this: If you try to potty train your child before they are ready...you are just training yourself. My friends who have had their babies potty trained at 8 months or so, (in my opinion and no offense to them at all), have just trained themselves to know the queues of their babies of when they are going to urinate.

Jubilee had all the readiness signs, (according to the books), but I think emotionally she wasnt ready. So we put potty training on the back burner for a couple months. Now, Im letting her take the lead. Once I started taking this approach, things are coming together. I didnt push the potty, I didnt make her sit on the potty. But when she told me, "poop", I asked if she wanted to go to the potty and she agreed. For 3 days in a row, Jubilee has gone #2 in the big potty...not even her potty chair. I have not changed a poopy diaper in 3 days. Im hoping today will be number 4 and Im not jinxing it by blogging about it!

She is quite funny when she uses the big potty succesfully too. When she goes we have a party. Party hats, a balloon, stickers, and a Hello Kitty sparkley she gets to wear on her shirt. We call everyone we know that would care and she informs them of the poopy in the big potty. Then we flush and she stands over the toilet saying, "bye bye potty!" She is obviously very proud of herself. We dance and sing and yell, "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!"

Never in my life would I think I would be sooooo excited over poop in the toilet. But I am.