"Did you wipe?", and "Are you sure that you did?", are questions that I ask everyday of my three year old daughter, and many times a day. I am sure that this is just about the only time that one human being asks this question of another human being.
Finally now, we are at that point where it is fairly safe to send her to the bathroom by herself to pee---Fairly safe, certainly not fool-proof. What can we say? We take joy in the fact that we can send her to do ANYTHING by herself and so we take FULL advantage of this Growing opportunity, however it comes with it's own risks and set of small disasters....like today.
We (Shayla and I) are out on our front porch this afternoon when Shayla informs me, "Daddy, I have to go pee!" while grabbing herself with unabashed force.
"Okay. Well then, go for it", I tell her. "You feel alright with that don't you", I ask?
"Yeah..", she says while running off, because she's waited too long before announcing her need.
"Ok then. Success to you", my words trailing after her.
She then comes back in about 5 minutes with new pants on. "Hhmmm", I think.
"What's up with the new pants? We need to put the others back on Shayla", I say as I get up while I'm speaking, knowing that I need to investigate this little forray into autonomy.
"So, why did you change pants", I say walking down the hall towards the bathroom?
"Because the others are wet", she says.
"Aahh, so you waited too long before giving in to the need to go potty, and you wet yourself", I say after spying her jeans lying on the floor near the base of the adult's toilet. I pick up the pants and see how they are wet down the legs, but then...Hey, that's not all! I realize that I am standing in wetness! I look down and the base of the adult potty is not the only thing that is glistening wet, but I look across to where her trainer potty is sitting against the wall opposite the big potty and then it dawns on me what she has done. She usually hops right up on the big potty to go to the bathroom, but this time she decided to use the trainer potty. Why? Good question. Nostalgia?? I don't know. She is an accomplished 'big potty' user after all. Today however, she decided she would pop a squat on the little trainer potty and then since that potty does not 'flush' she decided that she would empty the 'inner bowl' into the big potty--to show what a big girl she is--and then flush it. Apparently, it mostly went according to plan, except that she spilled about 90% of it on the floor as she was trying to enact this delicate feat of balance and coordination.
'Daddy to The Rescue'. So I wipe it up as I remind her that she need not be concerned about dumping the little potty into the big potty. "Mommy and daddy will take care of that for you", I tell her, but I know full well that she doesn't want anybody 'taking care of Anything for Her'. She is a Big Girl Now, and don't you know that Daddy!!? "Yes, you are a big girl", daddy is thinking. He's also thinking that this was the harbinger for the question that is begging to be asked, "You're really wanting to go to Goodwill, aren't you Little Potty"? That will take care of that. ;-) 'Multiple Choice' potties.... What was I thinking?I should've gotten hip to this 3 yr. old's conundrum a little while back. Why not make it a little easier on everyone?
Welcome to my world. ;-)
Finally now, we are at that point where it is fairly safe to send her to the bathroom by herself to pee---Fairly safe, certainly not fool-proof. What can we say? We take joy in the fact that we can send her to do ANYTHING by herself and so we take FULL advantage of this Growing opportunity, however it comes with it's own risks and set of small disasters....like today.
We (Shayla and I) are out on our front porch this afternoon when Shayla informs me, "Daddy, I have to go pee!" while grabbing herself with unabashed force.
"Okay. Well then, go for it", I tell her. "You feel alright with that don't you", I ask?
"Yeah..", she says while running off, because she's waited too long before announcing her need.
"Ok then. Success to you", my words trailing after her.
She then comes back in about 5 minutes with new pants on. "Hhmmm", I think.
"What's up with the new pants? We need to put the others back on Shayla", I say as I get up while I'm speaking, knowing that I need to investigate this little forray into autonomy.
"So, why did you change pants", I say walking down the hall towards the bathroom?
"Because the others are wet", she says.
"Aahh, so you waited too long before giving in to the need to go potty, and you wet yourself", I say after spying her jeans lying on the floor near the base of the adult's toilet. I pick up the pants and see how they are wet down the legs, but then...Hey, that's not all! I realize that I am standing in wetness! I look down and the base of the adult potty is not the only thing that is glistening wet, but I look across to where her trainer potty is sitting against the wall opposite the big potty and then it dawns on me what she has done. She usually hops right up on the big potty to go to the bathroom, but this time she decided to use the trainer potty. Why? Good question. Nostalgia?? I don't know. She is an accomplished 'big potty' user after all. Today however, she decided she would pop a squat on the little trainer potty and then since that potty does not 'flush' she decided that she would empty the 'inner bowl' into the big potty--to show what a big girl she is--and then flush it. Apparently, it mostly went according to plan, except that she spilled about 90% of it on the floor as she was trying to enact this delicate feat of balance and coordination.
'Daddy to The Rescue'. So I wipe it up as I remind her that she need not be concerned about dumping the little potty into the big potty. "Mommy and daddy will take care of that for you", I tell her, but I know full well that she doesn't want anybody 'taking care of Anything for Her'. She is a Big Girl Now, and don't you know that Daddy!!? "Yes, you are a big girl", daddy is thinking. He's also thinking that this was the harbinger for the question that is begging to be asked, "You're really wanting to go to Goodwill, aren't you Little Potty"? That will take care of that. ;-) 'Multiple Choice' potties.... What was I thinking?I should've gotten hip to this 3 yr. old's conundrum a little while back. Why not make it a little easier on everyone?
Welcome to my world. ;-)
