Potty Training

 You would not believe how many people asked me if we were going to go for a full dozen kids! When I was younger people used to harass me about having too many, but I guess when it became obvious that I was not going to be rehabilitated, some decided to encourage the craziness. Kind of like all those bystanders waiting around at the scene of an accident…

My little one was due November 7, 2010 and born in early October; a full month early. My two-year-old was born 3 weeks early (I think Heavenly Father rewards those who are willing by making the process a little easier with each additional child. Either that or my system just streamlined the process a little. You know how assembly lines work…).

But back to my story; Curly is the sweetest little guy you could ever hope to meet. And he is so smart! I’ve told you before that we carefully watch the development in our kids because of the autism thing and the boys especially. Curly was never an issue. He started talking well before he was two and now that he is 2 ½ he talks as well as 5-year-old Scout. We used the phrase "three-word-utterance" with the Dog Walker. The other day I counted a comment from Curly, "That’s an eleven-word-utterance that was completely coherent," I mentioned to my sweetie. I can’t take the credit for his brilliance, not by genetics nor by association. His brilliant genes come from his dad and most of his learning comes from Teach.

Teach and Curly are the best of friends. She puts her arms around him and says, "You’re my best boy friend!" and he throws his little arms around her neck and says, "You’re my best girl friend!" She has decided it is time to teach him to read. I’ll let you know how that goes…it’s a little too much advanced parenting for me.

One day in the middle of November when Baby Doll was still struggling with jaundice and I was still sleep-deprived, Curly announced that he wanted to go potty. I sighed inwardly, but pasted a smile on my face and suggested he try. I helped him out of his diaper and sent him on his way. We had bought him a potty seat several months earlier when the world still seemed like a possible place. I slipped back into oblivion as I nursed Baby Doll on the couch with my eyes closed.

A few minutes later Curly skipped back into the living room. "All done?" I mumbled. "Yup!" he confirmed. I drug myself off the couch and put his diaper back on. About an hour later, when the baby was finally asleep, I slipped away to the bathroom. Imagine my surprise when I saw the potty lid up and there was actually something in it! The next time this happened I was a little more positive.

After three days of taking the same diaper on and off, I sent Bossy to the store for some underwear. It’s funny, every time we have a baby and someone makes a fuss over all the black hair they always have, my sweetie tells them we order them that way. We also order them potty trained, he chuckles, and that never happens. But this time he was wrong…maybe Curly didn’t come potty trained, but he managed to do it himself and that’s the next best thing. Now how do I streamline that into my assembly line? Hmmm…..