When do you know it’s time to start potty training?
I’m quickly learning that while cliché it’s true: kids grow up in the blink of an eye. Every time I turn around, Bubbles has mastered some new skill or learned something new that surprises me. Just the other day she was in the bathroom with me while I was getting ready and instead of wedging her finger between the crack of the door and the frame to pry it open, she stretched up and pulled it open using the knob. She turned and looked at me as if to say “Yep, I’m a big girl now.”
Last week she also decided she was a big girl and didn’t want to wear a silly diaper any more. She’ll wiggle out of her shorts and then come up to my husband or I, tugging at her diaper. We explained that she had to wear a diaper until she could learn to go potty, and she immediately tore down the hallway until she reached the bathroom and stood there pointing at the door like “well, then, let’s do this.”
So we took her in, held her on the potty and let her sit there for a minute. She didn’t actually go, but she had a very proud look on her face, and then turned around, flushed the toilet, and applauded for herself. Over the next couple of days, she’d occasionally do the same thing. After that, she kind of seemed to get bored with it, so we dropped it for the moment. We don’t want to push her into something she’s not ready for, and then turn it into a negative instead of a positive.
Over the past couple of days she’s back to trying to pull her diaper off, however, so I think we’re going to order her a potty seat and start taking her in the bathroom in the morning when she gets up and see what happens. Most nights she wakes up with a dry diaper, so I think that’s a good sign? I know girls generally train younger than boys do, but I’m still not sure if 18 months is too young to start.
