I'm A Big Kid Now!

I'm potty trained!

After many, many months of prancing around the issue, committing, then not committing, and lots of awesome stickers on cute, homemade charts, I finally did it.  I accomplished the ultimate goal in personal independence.  I am potty trained.

Oh, wait, you thought ER was the one who was at the age of potty training.  Well, yeah, she totally is.  She'll be 3 in--oh geeze--exactly 2 months from yesterday!  But you see, it was she that trained I...or, she trained me?  Either way, at 31 years and 3 months, I did it.  We finally all got the knack of "going."

ER is fairly smart.  OK, she's really smart.  And I'm not just saying that because I'm her mom.  In a university-affiliated, double-binoculared, outdoor clinical study, it was discovered that 95% of participants concluded on their own that ER is indeed, really smart.

Photo courtesy of www.guardian.co.uk

"Hot damn!  That kid is SMART!"  -Actual quote from a survey participant

We embarked on the spirit-shaking journey last May-June.  I heard it was easier to potty train in the summer because girls could wear dresses and they were wearing less clothing in general because it was warmer.  That was a nice comment someone made to me one time.  

This just in from the trenches: Potty training, much like Honey Badger, don't give a shit what time of year it is and how much clothing the trainee is or is not wearing.

Long story short, ER was showing me all the textbook signs of readiness (and I knew she was smart enough to do it), but it was just in the past couple of weeks that I grew the 2-pack of Charmin Ultra needed to stand back and let it happen.  Was I trying to not let it happen because I don't want her to grow up?  No.  Was that maybe something that was happening subconsciously?  Maybe, but if it was subconscious then I wouldn't know for sure, and it would have to remain a mystery, so I can't really give you a definite "yes" or "no."  I just wasn't ready to commit to getting ER to the potty constantly, and getting over the hump of accidents to a land where accidents were very few and far between.  But now, I have seen the Promised Land of using 1 (one) Pull-Up in a 24 hour period.  It took us a while and we went in many different directions (as evidenced in the map of our journey below), but I have arrived.

Original photo courtesy of indy1jones2.deviantart.com; directionals added by me.

So yes, I am the one that was potty trained.  I will say that lately ER got a LOT better at initiating checks, and listening to me when I asked her to check, instead of just blatantly blowing me off like she has been known to do.  She's taking ownership of the process and it's fan-TASTIC!!!!  

Was there one thing in particular that might have spurred her?  Yes.  I came home with some Princess and the Frog stickers.  The girl plays with stickers all the time, so I didn't think stickers would, well, "stick" as an incentive.  I didn't give her enough credit.  She loves this movie and Princess Tiana and darned if she didn't go bananas for putting a Tiana sticker on her chart when she had success.  Whatever works, right?  

Photo courtesy of moviecitynews.com 

ER loves this movie?  Who am I kidding?!  All 3 of us love this movie!!

Congratulations to me!  Oh, and same to you, ER.  You're a champ <3