A Light At The End Of The Diaper Tunnel

I am here to confirm, that yes, it's true...your child will not go off to college wearing a diaper. But, honestly I was beginning to wonder. With Anna pushing 3 1/2 and not a trace of potty interest, in fact pure disdain, I wasn't sure we'd ever get her separated from the security of the diaper. I started to feel the pressure right around her 2nd birthday as other parents began to exclaim that their child had been potty trained for 6 months already and more and more of her friends began sporting cute character undies to school.

Or how about this summer at the lake when some distant family member showed up for a day at the beach with her potty trained 12 month old BOY!!! Yes, you read that right, 12 months old. All the while, my 3 yr old frolicking around on the beach, saggy diaper and all...dancing and giggling and going as she pleased. But, seriously, what's next? What...someone is going to tell me their child was born and immediately sat on the potty??? The peds claim that the average age for potty training is 3 1/2, but Puh-lease!!! Does that mean that everyone I know and their brother is lying about their child's potty going abilities? I dunno...but, I can tell you that it seemed Anna was the last 3 yr old on Earth still in a diaper.

So, Hallelujah, it finally happened. We had tried it all...candy, stickers, toys, staying up with no bedtime, charts, cute undies. You name it, we tried it. One day we were out of diapers, so I even told her if she pee-peed on the potty I'd take her to the Disney Store and she could literally shop her little heart out. I told her she could have the whole store if she wanted, and I meant it. I would have pulled up a semi and loaded mickey after mickey into it if it meant she'd use the potty. But, all the child wanted that day was to go to Babies R Us and get her diapers. Wow, we're screwed.

But, finally the pediatrician had a brilliant idea...and this worked. So, take note if you have potty training woes...couldn't hurt to try! We started by telling Anna that it was fine if she used her diaper, but that she had to physically go into the bathroom to do pee pees or poopys. This went on for about a week...and religiously she would announce her need to go, run into the bathroom and relieve herself. Then with some prompting from her little sister, who sits on the potty like it's the most thrilling thing in life, Anna started sitting on the potty with her diaper ON and going. Within a couple hours of that and with the help of a few m&ms, BAM she was full blown potty trained. No accidents, nothing, total control. There was no sitting on the potty every 20 minutes for 10 minutes for 3 days straight....so basically no potty training misery. I guess that's the good news about waiting until 3 1/2!!

So, here we are, day 5 and she's doing great. All that needless worry for nothing. So, if your soon to be 3 or 4 yr old is still hanging on to diapers, don't worry! The doctors are right, who woulda thought?...they will not be going off to college in Depends.