DRIVING ME POTTY

Potty training has been an active agenda item in our house for the past couple of months, not exactly an early achievement for my eldest daughter, not many weeks off her third birthday, but then again, I wasn't overly hasty in that department either apparently, so who am I to comment?

However, this particular stage in her development does seem to be hanging around rather longer than her mother would like!  The subject of potty use, displays of potty techniques,  leaving around of potty books and the supply of stickers for potty decoration has been going on for over well over half a year in an attempt to persuade our headstrong daughter to take this step towards independence.  Nevertheless, for most of that time, she decided to demonstrate independence in her own way, with outright refusal to consider anything to do with our suggestions of potty training.  

And then one day a couple of months ago, she came back from daycare and declared she didn't want to wear a nappy and went off in search of the previously rejected potty!  Mostly since then, she has hardly looked back at (daytime) nappies, and, because she'd decided to do it, wholeheartedly embraced, firstly potty training, graduating five days later to using the loo!  So proud was I, how easily it had happened I thought, it was worth waiting for and I hadn't had to go through weeks of fussing around with bribes, accidents and the usual processes involved with such a step.  But ......, I did speak too soon!!!!  

Whilst every day is spent in undies (often second, third and fourth pairs), my littlie is once again displaying her own will and refusing to do a number two in anything but her evening nappy.   I'm only too aware that there are plenty of techniques to overcome this, but they don't seem to be working with her.  Given past performance, I suppose she will probably decide in her own time, and not before, when to take this step.

The thing is, I'm feeling more like the child here than she is.  I'm bored, stamp my feet bored of this whole stage, I want it to be over, I want her to be trained,  I want to put the potty away in a cupboard and forget about it for at least a year or so until her little sister needs it.   I want I want I want!  I even make grimacing faces (of course out of her sight) when I have empty the potty into the loo (and please remember, no No. 2's yet!), something I've never done even with the most disgusting of nappies.  Why?  why do I hate this stage so much?  I don't know, I just know that of all the parenting stages I've done so far, this is the one I've found the worst.

And yet, immature though my behaviour may be at times, I AM the adult and she is the child, and therefore I must and will be patient.  I do make a huge effort not to let her see my impatience, and I hope from her point of view that I come across as a mother speaking in soothing, congratulatory terms whatever lavatorial actions she produces.  For now I will just fantasise about the time when I can sit there and say "ah yes, potty training, I remember that!"