Potty Training: No. 1 Tips for Going No. 2

In a moment of wishful thinking, we decided to redecorate the hall bathroom this month.

The addition of a hot pink potty chair changed the whole vibe of the room, not to mention our lives.

After reading a few books promising miracle potty-training techniques, all signs pointed to CeCe being ready for us to introduce the idea of the potty.

The signals that your toddler may be potty ready are pretty straightforward:

• Do they wake up dry from naps?
• Do they complain about wet diapers?
• Do they show interest in imitating mom and dad, etc.?

But even if your child seems ready, are you?

Nobody tells you the emotional toll potty-training has on the parents.

I haven’t found a checklist for mommy’s readiness to potty train, so I made one:

“How to Tell if You are Ready to Potty Train Your Child”:

• Have you developed the patience of a saint?
• Do you have a monk-like ability to stay calm?
• Have you eliminated “adult” words from your vocab-ulary that are likely to slip during accidents?
• Are you prepared to say the word “poo” more times than you ever thought possible?
• Does your washing machine have a “heavy soil” cycle?
• Are you comfortable giving celebratory high fives to your child before he washes his hands?
• Do you understand that every time your child grunts or suddenly gets very still and quiet, you are going to say, “Do you need to go potty? Are you going right now? HONEY,  GET THE POTTY CHAIR!”

If you can answer yes to all of these questions, congratulations! You are ready to potty train!

We have a long road ahead of us full of “uh-oh’s” and “oopsies.”

If we can get through this initial phase without CeCe wearing her potty chair as a hat, I will consider this venture successful.