Lots of Hope’s friends have started potty training, some have finished it … it hasn’t even occurred to me to begin.
Maybe in the summer when she can potter about outside minus undergarments in the garden. Right now it all seems like alot of unnecessary faff, she’s happy, I’m happy and we don’t have to time trips to sit on a cold toilet seat every 15 minutes.
One friend suggested waiting until she actively wants to, that’s what he and his wife did with their daughter and she pretty much self trained in 2 days. That sounds like the kind of route we shall go down.
She’s quite into poo at the moment. We went to a wildlife park and rather than telling her Granby she saw giraffe eating, hippopotami swimming or meerkats standing up she has raved, at some length, about the rhinoceros poo she saw on the floor of the rhino area. “poo, Granby, ‘noceros poo. Big poo”, and so on. We went to a farm shop yesterday and she stood for 20 minutes watching William and James the Shetland ponies eating their straw, then as we walked back round towards the car, she spotted something in the middle of their enclosure, “wow, look Mummi look, Hopey see poo, William James poo”.
She also tells me when she has ‘done’ a poo or is in the act of doing one (although I can normally gauge the latter from her stance and expressions), and if she wants a nappy change. The whole act of doing the change is something we both enjoy, she bounds into the ‘nappy room’ (my office) if we’re at home, and I pick her up and put her on the nappy mat where she is very obliging with handing me wipes and nappy and asks to see everything that is removed before it goes into the bin. If it’s a wee then we have a chorus of, “no poo only wee wee” and if it’s a full nappy the she beams and says, “Hopey done a poo, Hopey see it?”. If she needs a touch of cream (very rare) she will tell me, and more often than not she sings the whole time. She’s equally happy if we have to do the change on a loo floor, someone’s spare bed, a sofa, a table etc. When we’re finished she smiles and shouts, “all done, Hopey all clean” and scampers off for her next adventure.
This morning I came back into the bedroom after my shower to find Hope had lined up “everyone” (all her night time sleeping companions), we then had to change all their nappies … and she commentated on each one, “OOHHHH Minnie Mouse done a stinky poo”, “Rabbit done a wee wee”, and so on … it took 10 minutes and involved imaginary wipes and nappies and was a serious business but lovely to do together, we made a great team as she passed me the wipes and I handed her nappies.
So … we won’t be rushing to the potty. She comes in and out when I’m on the loo, she asks what I’m doing and then hands me paper before wandering out again.
Maybe I’m way off mark here but I really don’t understand the urgency to make children grow up before they have to, or even want to. I understand many nurseries won’t allow children who aren’t potty trained and the shocking cost of nappies, which therefore makes early potty training a necessity. For us, I don’t want to put either Hope or myself (or family) through the pressure of toilet training before she really needs to or wants to. It will happen in due course.
