Do You Have to go Potty?

As of Monday, August 3rd, we are officially potty training Princess. She is 18 months old and obviously aware of her bodily functions. So, I've swallowed my apprehension and let my landlady know that I will be using the washing machine a little more frequently for a while.

When Princess was still a tiny baby, my sister-in-law told me that she started putting her son on the potty chair before he was six months old and by the time he was two and a half, he was completely potty trained. Without realizing that this particular technique required a parent to potty train their child for at least two years before claiming success, I trotted on over to Babies R' Us and purchased a Baby Bjorn infant potty chair. When I got home, I stripped Princess down to her onesie and set her on the potty chair. She thought it was great fun and obliged me by peeing in her potty chair. I was thrilled and began imagining not having diapers on my grocery bill in a few short months. Then reality set in. My sister wasn't quite as enthusiastic as I was and, although she promised to put Princess on the potty chair throughout the day while I was at work, I knew she would forget. Before long, I was tired of having to unsnap onesies, remove diapers, and hold Princess on the potty chair countless times a day, especially when it became clear that when she peed in the potty chair the first time I put her on it, she had done it to give me a false sense of security. So I put the Baby Bjorn in the closet and reminded myself how much I loved changing diapers.

Now at 18 months of age, it's time to begin potty training Princess again. I'm not going to stress about it though; if she's not getting the idea after a few weeks, we'll take a break and try it again when she gets older. When she woke up on Monday morning, I put Princess on her potty chair and she let loose with a stream of you-know-what. I praised her as if she had just been elected President of the United States and rewarded her with a blue M&M. Then I took her off the potty chair to show her her accomplishment. She was very proud of herself and decided to celebrate by swishing her hands in her handiwork. I decided that that would be a good time to show her how to wash her hands. After that, we ceremoniously flushed the contents of the potty chair down the toilet.

Because disposable diapers are so absorbent (which is a quality I've always appreciated about them), I borrowed some cloth diapers from my sister to use during the early days (or weeks or months) of potty training so that Princess can actually feel when she is wet and hopefully develop an aversion to that sensation. I still plan on using disposables during naptime and bedtime. I'm not quite ready to tackle nighttime training yet. On that subject however, I was pleasantly surprised when I woke Princess this morning. I took her diaper off and found it completely dry. This has happened before and I'm aware that, unless she had a lot to drink shortly before bed, she doesn't fill her diaper until the morning hours. I'm hoping that this is an indication that nighttime potty training will be a breeze.

My plan for potty training is that Princess will be completely potty trained in a few weeks (cue snickers of disbelief from more experienced parents). She hasn't said anything about it yet, but I have a feeling that Princess may not have the same plan. I'm hoping we can compromise and come up with a workable solution.

Unsolicited Advice:
I know I should probably give some advice about potty training since it would go well with this post, but I'd rather receive advice about that subject at this point.

You Can't Dodge the Bullet Forever...or Very Long At All Apparently

My niece and nephew seem to get pinkeye on a regular basis. It probably has to do with their mom running a home daycare. You know how kids are...they hate sharing unless it's a germ. I've been very thankful that at the age of 17 months, Princess had dodged the bullet thus far. However, this morning when I got her up and laid her on the changing table to change her diaper, I realized that we've been shot. She'd been sharing toys with her two cousins all weekend and on Monday, they both came down with pinkeye. It took exactly 2 days for it to hit Princess.

As soon as I wiped most of the goop of Princess's eye, I called my sister-in-law to find out what to do about pinkeye. She recommended a few easy steps--take Princess to the doctor to get a prescription, wash all of her bedding, disinfect her 732 toys, wash my hands frequently, don't touch my face, be very careful because it's highly contagious, and keep her away from other people for at least 24 hours, especially her kids as she didn't want them reinfected. Yeah. That sounds easy. I managed to get Princess an apointment at one pm with her pediatrician and called my boss to say that I wouldn't be making it in to work this morning. Then I called my sister, the one who babysits Princess while I'm working, and as soon as the word "pinkeye" slipped out of my mouth, she told me she'd see me in a few days and hung up.

After washing my hands 27 times this morning, it was finally time to go to the doctor. We checked in at the desk and hunkered down in the empty waiting room. Princess stood on a chair to watch the traffic go by outside since I wouldn't let her touch any toys in the waiting room (I didn't want to be the mom responsible for the pinkeye breakout of 2009). At one point, she looked at me, said "Uh oh!" and then I heard a squirting noise that sounded suspiciously like diarrhea. Oh joy. The receptionist behind the desk politely tried to ignore the disgusting sounds of my daughter filling her diaper with you know what and I tried to pretend I didn't know the cute kid sitting next to me with the pink bow in her hair and the pungent smell emanating from her backside.

Once the nurse called Princess's name and we were in the exam room, I quickly tried to change the diaper before it spilled out the sides requiring me to get creative with Princess's outfit since I hadn't brought a spare (Mom Mistake #4 "We won't be gone long, she doesn't need extra clothes.") Red in the face, I inquired as to the proper way to dispose of the diaper since it would smell up the exam room if I threw it away in there. The nurse very nicely wrapped it up in about 13 layers of paper from the exam table and whisked it away.

The doctor made a brief but memorable appearance and diagnosed Princess with pinkeye before leaving to call in a prescription for eye ointment. I was kind of hoping for eye drops, but the doctor said it would be easier to use the ointment since the eye drops sting. I'm a bit, okay extremely, squeamish about the idea of sticking my finger in my kid's eye to apply ointment, but being a mom, I took a deep breath and did it anyways for the greater good. Or whatever you want to call it.

Unsolicited Advice:
To apply eye drops in a child's eye, ask the child (or tell them since asking implies they have a choice) to lay down and close their eyes like they're sleeping. When their eyes are closed, drop the medicine in the inside corner of their eyes, tell them to open up, and voila! Eye drops are done.