Hooray for the potty!

Diaper changes have been such a nightmare lately because Keeley insists on doing it herself. She, unfortunately, lacks the dexterity to do it and that causes frustration for everyone. At least one time a day for the last few days we have had a crying diaper change because after 15 minutes or so of naked toddler running around and refusing to let me do it or help her do it, I have to hold her down. Today was no different - except for a minor complication in the middle. After 10 minutes of running around, Keeley was in the kitchen and I heard "uh-oh" I went in there to see that she was mortified because she had tinkled on the floor. She quickly let me put on her diaper and then clean up the mess that was distressing her.

At that point, I decided to start making a more conscious effort to introduce potty training - or at least familiarize her to it. She shows plenty of the signs: she can (make that insists) on taking her pants on and off, she is very interested when we are using the restroom, she identifies when she has or is about to dirty her diaper, etc. We have a seat that goes on the toilet but it scares her. I was hoping she'd warm up to that one because, let's be honest, a child sized toilet is just one more thing to deal with that needs cleaning.

When we went shopping today, we picked up a child sized potty and planned to research our selection when we got home. We thought we'd made a good choice because it looks like a toilet and it plays a little song when the kid actually goes to the bathroom. As soon as I got it out of the bag, Keeley got very excited talking about the "kids" and the "potty" and "tinkle". She started taking her pants off and then her diaper. So I was stuck trying to quickly assemble the potty with a naked bottom in the kitchen.

She sat on the potty a couple times in the kitchen and familiarized herself with it. We then moved it into the living room. She sat down and I turned to get the manual when I heard it playing the song. The song scared Keeley and she hoped up and looked in the little potty. Kelly, Keeley, and I were all very excited for her. She then pulled on a pull-up and made the all important call to Oma (who was also very excited). We'll see what tomorrow brings.

I am in no hurry to bring on the mess and timing issues of potty training. But I am ready for the independence struggles over the diaper being put on to end! A step in the right direction for sure!