Potty

One of the signs for potty training is the ability for kids to take off their own clothes. I happen to think Ava just likes being naked all the time, and knows that we prefer her to keep her clothes on. The only reason I care is #1, potty mess somewhere randomly in the house. This has happened to me on maybe 2 occasions where we get ready for tubby time and shes running around upstairs naked while I get a towel out for her. No big thang. However, recently, during nap time she has been undressing herself. One morning she did wake up and I went to get her and she had undressed herself yet again. She never made a mess...was just jumping up and down naked in her crib. Then it happened. On a Sat afternoon nap, she started crying and i said to Rich, gosh i hope she didn't take her diaper off. Being the great dad Rich is he said, Ill go take care of it. Not 2 minutes later did I hear him say, "Molly.....come here." I climbed the stairs and saw Rich at the changing table with a smile on his face....I looked towards the crib and there they were. Ava went #2 on her sheet. Not that you want to know the details of the situation, but it was NON messy and she didn't get NEAR them which shocks me. I mean, you hear stories about kids playing with that stuff and you find it EVERYWHERE. After talking to her teachers about it, they explained that some kids get totally wigged out by seeing it for the first time. Sound like that happened to Ava. Funny!

So it begins. Ava is quite interested in the potty and using it. She goes with the big kids at school and even went peepee once on the potty! Hila said, "push, Ava!" And she did and low and behold she went peepee!! WOW! Cool. She continues to use the potty at home, but I think its more for effect than actually going peepee. Maybe? 2 days after peeing in the potty, Ava was saying something to me and I was being a bad mom and half listening to her. You know, nodding my head saying yup....uh huh.....and so on. Then i listened again and I said, "you have to go potty?" and she nodded her head yes. So went upstairs to go potty. Ava helps with her pants and diaper and then proceeds to sit on her potty. Now I should mention that our good friend Amanda gave her a lil Elmo that she would not let go of during this whole process.

SO thre she is sitting on her potty, Im encouraging her to push! and then she points to the big potty and says "mommys potty". Of course we all know that this toilet is mommys potty, right? I mean who ELSE uses this potty? So I asked her if she would like to sit on the big girl potty and shes says yes. I move her there and she sits on it for a bit with some helping hands from me. We all know that the toilet seat is about 5 times as big as Ava tushie. Then she says, "Elmo potty". I asked her if Elmo had to go potty and she said yes, so she got off "mommys potty" and put Elmo on her potty. She shut the lid and stood up at the sink to brush her teeth and wash her hands. Meanwhile shes crossing her legs and bending her knees and what not. I asked her if she had to go potty again, and hes said yes. SO i said, alright let sit on the potty! So she did and dropped her toothbrush on the bath mat. Again she pushes and nothing happens. And she says, "toothbrush" and points at it. I said you want that? and she nodded yes and proceeded to get off the potty to pick it up.....just in time to do her business on the bath mat. Missing the toilet by INCHES! Unfortunately for me this #2 was not as 'structured' and 'solid' as the previous one ion her crib. In fact it was gross. But I put on a brave face and picked it up telling Ava she did a great job, and only missed the potty by a little bit. That getting distracted on the potty sometimes happens. And I proceeded to put it on the big girl potty where we flushed and said bye bye to it as it washed away.

We have gone to the potty many times since, but no recent activity. I am sure once her sister gets here, the potty will be sidelined for some time. Its amazing how grown up shes getting!!!