And Then I Stepped in Gum . . .

No, No, Not Yet!

To set the scene, I have to tell you that I bought our first potty chair when our daughter was 12 months old. I don't know what I was thinking -- it was probably on sale, and I'd been reading about how you should have the chair in the bathroom to familiarize the child with it. Yeah, that didn't really work for us. To make a long story short, I fretted about potty training Katie for almost two years, vowing that she'd be trained by the time she was 3, a deadline she made by about three weeks. And that was only with the help of bribery.

Then here comes the second child. Potty training? What's that? I don't have time for potty training. I'm immersed in all the other trauma in our lives, and oh yeah, have I mentioned that we're moving in less than a month, a trip that will take a minimum of four days in the car? And that we're planning at least one other car trip this summer? And that Ian doesn't turn 3 until December, so I really don't need to worry about this yet?

Yeah, well, apparently my children can even rebel against plans to slack.

We did buy Ian a potty chair (had to buy a new one, as the little "shield" went missing from Katie's). We tried him on it a few times, but certainly didn't push. He's asked to go a few times, but often as not, as soon as his little butt hits the chair, he'll say, "It dee-nent work," and hop back up again. And yet -- for the last couple of weeks, he's gone potty before he gets in the bath, copying his big sister. And then today, Dave found Ian in the bathroom, naked from the waist down, having taken off his shorts and his diaper and gone potty all by himself. He had the lid to the toilet up, trying to figure out how to dump the potty. Mr. Independent, that's my boy.

But we're not ready!

Hey, if he's contrary about this, do you think he might turn out to be the one neat freak in the house? Boy, wouldn't that be nice?

posted by Jennifer Morgan, at 10:44 AM