Potty training success!

By Mama Mabel

We've finally done it!  Ladybug is potty trained.  Everything fell beautifully into place this weekend and now she's wearing big girl panties.  She hates peeing on her clothes or the floor so she's fairly motivated to make it to her little training potty.  The only hard part is when she has something better to do.  I'm starting to use that to my advantage though because I won't let her do the fun thing until she at least tries to use the bathroom.

Usually in the mornings, that fun thing is brushing her teeth.  She was argumentative this morning though so as soon as I made the offer to let her brush her teeth (like she had asked) as a reward for peeing in her potty, she decided she no longer wanted to brush her teeth.  I was too stressed for a stalemate since I was running late for work so after a hurried negotiation, we decided that she could pet the dog if she went potty.  She then happily did her business like the big girl that she is.  Then, in a truly toddler move, she completely forgot about the dog and asked to brush her teeth. The important thing though is that she went potty first.  We're maintaining the momentum.

The whole process has been arduous.  It's been happening on and off for almost a year.  There has been much weeping and gnashing of teeth.  To have it all finally come together is so fulfilling as a parent.  It makes me wonder if this is how God feels when we finally understand something He's been trying to teach us.  "Mabel is just figuring out balanced submission after 5 years of marriage?  Hooray!"  That sort of thing. 

It's nice that He lets me experience the same thing with my own child so I can better understand Him. 

It's also nice that my diaper budget is about to be $0.  Win-win.