Potty Trained and Proud of It!

Once again I've managed to fall behind on my blogs. Imagine that! At this point it would just be easier and probably smarter to start over on a clean slate but I just can't bear to overlook some of the highlights and major milestones we have reached here in the Smithson household over the last few months. Perhaps one of the biggest milestones and one definitely worth celebrating (over and over) is the fact that Abigail is now potty trained! Goodbye diapers, hello Dora panties!

We started down the road of potty training a month or two before Caroline was born. At that point in time, potty training really just consisted of humoring Abigail by placing her on the potty anytime she remotely showed a slight interest in it. That interest quickly faded however and once Caroline was born it was all but non-existant. We decided to drop the idea and just wait until Abigail began to show interest in it again. After all, I always heard from others that you can't force potty training. Our patience paid off...somewhere towards the end of January Abigail began showing an interest in potty training again. Despite the fact we were in uncharted territory and had no idea what "training method" we were going to use, we didn't want to let this opportunity pass us up again. We pulled out all the stops we could think of and tried every potty training trick in the book and in the end we realized that with a little consistency, a lot of patience, and a willingness to be on standby 24/7 while your daughter runs around the house completely naked, potty training is well worth the madness. Don't be fooled...I may have made it sound smooth sailing and simple but I also skipped over a lot of the details, such as there were a lot of stickers, m&ms, and creative potty dances involved.

In the grand scheme of things I know this milestone will be one that quickly fades with time. I know it won't be one that she lists on her college application as a proudest achievement (at least I hope not) but for now and for the next few months to come, it is one that as a mommy I will gladly celebrate any and every time I hear the toilet flush.