Cakes took longer to potty-train than Bee, but once she started, she trained much faster. In about 8 weeks, Cakes has gone from telling us, whenever we asked her, that she would use the potty “on Monday,” to going “pretend potty,” to actually peeing in the potty.
Then we had the poopie obstacle, which she seems to have overcome, but she refused to sit on the big toilet because she was afraid she would fall in. We were fine with that, though I was getting pretty tired of cleaning out the potty chair 10 times every day. Still, a small price to pay for no more diapers.
Yesterday, I heard Cakes rummaging around in the bathroom, so I went to investigate (one must always investigate when Cakes is making noise. Or when she’s quiet. Basically, it’s best to not let her out of your sight at any time). When I walked in the bathroom, she was proudly sitting on the toilet. She had gotten the little potty seat with handles, which fits right on the toilet seat, out of the closet, and she put the stepstool that I always use (because I’m too short to reach my closet shelves) in front of the toilet so she could climb up on her own. When she saw me, she exclaimed, “MOM! I’m going potty in the big potty!”
I applauded, and (attempted to) jump up and down, and made a really big deal over it. I said, “Well, I guess you don’t need that old potty chair anymore.” Cakes agreed that she could use the big potty now, so we should clean the potty chair up and put it away for DJ. I took the insert out so I could wash and disinfect it, but as always lately, I got distracted and forgot about it. When I finally got around to cleaning it later in the afternoon, and went to the bathroom to put it back, the potty chair was nowhere to be found.
I found Cakes in the living room, wearing pajamas (she had been dressed in actual clothes earlier, but she changed because she has an obsession with PJs lately), and sitting under the Christmas tree with a book. “Cakes?” I asked, “Do you know where the potty chair is?”
“But Mommy, I don’t meed the potty chair anymore,” said Cakes. She still gets her Ms and Ns mixed up.
“I know that honey, but I can’t find it,” I replied.
“But I don’t meed it!”
“I know you don’t need it, but I still need to know where it is.”
“But I’m a big girl now! I can go potty in the big toilet!”
“I know that honey! But I need the potty chair so I can put this back. See, I cleaned it all up for DJ.”
Finally, she reluctantly got up and went down the hall. I followed her into DJ’s room, where she opened the closet door, and there was the potty chair:
I tried very hard to suppress my amusement, because it was obvious that she was completely over that stinkin’ potty chair. She wanted it out of her sight, which is why she put it in DJ’s closet. She’s done with it.
She is just the funniest kid – so headstrong and determined – and once she makes up her mind about something, there’s no changing it. So, the potty chair has been exiled to the storage shed, and last night Cakes proudly demonstrated for Daddy how she can get on the big potty all by herself.
She’s very proud…and so are we.
