It's happening!

Wow. Remember how I said I was gonna let the pee part of potty training "just happen?" Well, it's happening! Today it happened all over the play structure at the park, and later, all over the downstairs bathroom floor. Suddenly I'm not so sure I'm a fan of potty training! LOL!!

It actually started last Thursday at our weekly park playgroup. Two of the little girls had potties at the park, as they'd just started training. Katie was fascinated. I don't really know why - she has (at last count) four potties of her own and two potty seats, and has had them since before she could walk or talk. Of course, these were different shapes and colors, so maybe that was it. Anyway, I took the opportunity to point out Katie's friend Molly's cute "big-girl" undies. I've been trying to persuade Katie to wear undies for the past 8 months or so, and she just refuses and screams for her diaper.

But maybe seeing Molly in her big-girl undies did the trick. Yesterday at Target I asked Katie if she would like to wear Hello Kitty undies. (They had a 7-pack, super cute!) Unlike last time I'd asked her, this time she said "Yes!" I explained that she'd be wearing these instead of a diaper, and she seemed OK with that. So I bought them. Cool!

I should also mention that for the past couple of days, Katie's had a ton of what E.C. calls "catches" - basically pees that went in the potty instead of in the diaper. A pee anywhere but a potty is known as a "miss." We usually would have a catch or two a day, and 5 or 6 misses in a diaper. I wasn't really keeping track because I'd just decided to let potty training happen on its own. Katie had an entire day (Saturday, I believe) with no misses at all! Every time we'd go to change her, the diaper would be dry. Then we'd put her on the potty, and she'd pee. It was great!

Yesterday before dinner we let her pick out a pair of new undies, and she wore them until bath time. She successfully (with a little help from Dada) got them off when it was time to pee. YAY! We diapered her as usual for bedtime (baby steps)! This morning she peed on the potty, and then we put a new pair of Kitty undies on her. And then I guess I got greedy.

Since I knew the other girls would be at the park today with their potties, I figured Katie would probably be willing to go potty alongside them. So I put her in undies and brought a change of clothes and one of her potties. I was pretty worried about the car ride, but it was fine. We got to the park, and I asked her if she wanted to go potty now, next to the car, or at the park. She said park, so off we went. I put Katie's potty in an accessible spot in the shade near the swings, and asked again if she wanted to go. "No!"

She was climbing on a play structure when it happened. She stopped suddenly, and shifted her weight to one side. One of the other moms said, "Oh, she's peeing!" OMG! I grabbed a diaper from the diaper bag and tried to mop up. Then I stripped Katie from the waist down, saying, "Guess what? I have a dry change of clothes for you in the diaper bag!" She chose a new pair of undies, we put the dry clothes on, and that was that. Then I used my water bottle to rinse off the play structure. Ay yi yi. Hope the other moms were OK with that - I didn't know what else to do!!!

I realized that next time I'll need to bring two changes of clothes. After the first accident, I realized that we were out of options if there should be a second one! All I had in the diaper bag was a onesie for a 6 month old, some wipes, and a couple of cloth diapers without covers. Not exactly Boy Scout caliber. Thankfully, we made it home dry. As soon as we got here, I asked Katie if she wanted to go potty. "No!" She played in the garage for a bit while I made lunch. Then I asked her to come in and wash her hands in the sink. Once there, she wanted to wash her tea set too. I let her do that for a while. When I went to check on her, she was squatting on the floor, clearly trying to get her undies and pants off, but they, the floor and her socks were soaked. Oh well. We changed again and ate lunch.

Then we went upstairs for her nap. I asked if she wanted to use the potty. "No!" I put her in undies again, knowing that I'd probably be washing her sheets and sleep sack afterwards.  She took forever to fall asleep, talking and singing at the top of her voice. Then she screamed. It wasn't a real scream - it was high-pitched and short, and sounded like her frustrated scream. But because of the diaper situation, I took the stairs two at a time. I expected to find her standing in a soaking-wet sleep sack. But no, she'd screamed because I'd left her curtains open. (wtf!! Toddlers!!!!) However, I was able to convince her to use the potty. Hallelujah! I'm fairly confident that she will make it through her nap dry, as long as I go and get her immediately when she wakes up.

And just now, as I was hanging diapers on the line outside, I realized...if I'm able to keep this up, we could be done with diapers. Just like that! Obviously we're going to have more misses, but this might be the end of diapers! Am I ready for this? Am I ready to constantly ask Katie whether she has to go? Ready to have her say "Pee pee!" just as we're pulling out of the driveway, late for school, when I've just spent the last half hour begging her to go? I know diapering is kind of a nuisance, but in a way it's also very convenient.

Oh well, I'll adjust - it was just a shock to think I might not be washing diapers anymore. At least, until Little One #2 comes! ;) Can't wait!