The Family Potty Seat

There is a law, irrevocably decreed (in the Hoskins' house-that is), that one must become potty trained upon reaching the milestone age of two. I don't know if that stems from the fact that by the time any of our kids have turned two, we have already been doing double diaper duty for six months, or what. But I do know that it is our law that no diapers can be bought for any of our children once they turn two. So, since Emma recently had her second birthday, we have been knee deep in toilet training the last few days. On day one and day two, Emma refused to go potty on the toilet a single time. Day one was mostly just cleaning up accidents and explaining how it all worked. Day two, Emma discovered she knew when she needed to go potty, and could tell us she needed to go, but she refused to actually go on the toilet. She would shout--"I'm peeing," or "I'm pooping," (She initially spoke in present tense even though she meant she needed to go) and then we would hurry and sit her on the potty. Once on the toilet, she would squirm and cry, but absolutely not let herself go. And of course, the minute you took her off, she would go right on the bathroom floor. It was quite frustrating. So, on the evening of the second day, Nick simply refused to let her off the potty. She cried for 45 minutes, and then finally could not hold it any more, so she went. And after going once, the light turned on, the fear disappeared, and it was smooth sailin' from there. In fact, it was probably a blessing that this is the way she learned, because now we know she can hold it for quite some time! And can I just say--we are done with double diapers for the rest of our lives! Three down, one to go!

Way to go Emma love!



Oh, and for some comic relief, I have included a photo of our newest potty training devise--the family potty seat. I saw it in a magazine a few years back, and decided it was worth the investment to not have a little potty or a floating potty seat hanging out in our bathroom. Instead, we have this fabulous new seat with the potty seat built right in. We love it--only, we wish it weren't quite so, well, wooden. Yikes!