Urine For A Treat

I never thought a child's bodily functions would bring such excitement to our household. I use to giggle at conversations around this kind of stuff and when I witnessed a conversation about it on TV, I would think - "that never happens in reality".

Well, it does.

And today is a "whoo hoo" (as Tait puts it) victory-dance-kind-of-day in our house.

Less than two weeks after deciding we might start our Potty Training Regime (which, as Ben's Mum accurately pointed out is more like a Parent Training Regime), I feel like we are seeing a bunch of little victories culminating to a big feat.

Sparing most of the details, I will go as far as to say that at 23 months Tait is now stopping those very important activities - such as eating his breakfast and making a boat out of my laundry basket - to tell me he needs to do the following:

Big potta, Mama!! Big potta...poooop, Mama!

If you don't have kids, trust me you don't get how monumental this is around our house. We High-Five it out. We Pound It when he's successful. We all yell "whoo hoo Tait" as a family. And, Smarties are handed out in pairs to each of the boys when Tait does more than tinkle in the toilet.

Today was even more incredible because after less than two weeks of running diaper-less around the house, and after our 1hr diaper-less walk yesterday afternoon (and dry at the end!), today we attempted to go into town in big boy underwear. Tait had been very diligent about warning Ben and I this morning - and successful with every warning.

Recalling that we went "cold turkey" with Noah I thought, what the heck, and we set off.

I don't do pull-ups or training diapers because to me, those marketing ploys are still diapers. Kids can "let loose" and it's not that different than a diaper. They aren't being trained. The kids aren't that uncomfortable . I do understand the concept and the buyer-friendly persuasions. Yet, other than being able to pull them up and pull them down, I don't see the difference between Pull-Ups and Pampers. It's about Training (the parent, as mentioned above), it's not about hoping for the best and waiting for the worst. It takes patience, energy, and diligence. For us, sometimes it takes the microwave timer. It's exhausting at the end of the day...but these days are short. They're but a moment, if you're looking at the big picture. They are well worth it.

Two hours later we returned from town. Groceries piled in the trunk. We hadn't stopped for a potty break because quite honestly - I forgot. (What a great Mum, eh?!)

The Verdict?

Dry As A Bone, Baby.