Need I say more?

For many months we’ve tried everything we can think of to get this kid interested in going potty and getting rid of diapers. She’s been in pull-ups since about March, but let’s just say each one only gets “pulled up” once (to put it on her)…

Guess what happens yesterday, the DAY of the other kid’s 7th birthday party? THIS KID decides she wants to wear big girl panties RIGHT NOW. Of course she does.

Here’s how that has gone so far:

• Maybe 15 minutes after making a huge (positive) deal about putting on Trolls big girl panties (which we’ve had since before Christmas), Ella is standing in a puddle in the middle of the room.
• That’s ok! Accidents happen. We head off to the bathroom to dry off and try again.
• Maybe 30 minutes after putting on the 2nd pair of Trolls big girl panties: another section of floor, another puddle. At this point, I ask “What happened?” To which she responds, “I went pee-pee in my panties. It was an accident.“
• We discuss how it’s OK but for next time, if we have to go pee-pee, what do we do? Ella sings, “Stop and go right away“. Thank you, Daniel Tiger. See? She knows what to do. That’s something.
• We put the tiny potty out in the middle of the room on a towel, so in case she needs to go, it will be close by. She’s pleased by that. She even sits on the potty a couple of time, but no pee-pee.
• Maybe an hour or so after the 3rd pair of Trolls big girl panties are on, we are moving around preparing for a party, not even thinking about our big pee-pee adventure. I’m in the bathroom helping Zoe with her hair.
• From the other room I hear, “Mommy! Mommy!” You can imagine what I’m thinking…
• On the contrary, Ella has on her own gone pee-pee IN THE POTTY in the middle of the room and is sitting on the potty extremely pleased with herself!
• Insert WHOOPING and hollering, and we make a HUGE deal of this FIRST TIME EVER going pee-pee in the potty (after literally hundreds of times sitting on the potty this year), and I rush to the kitchen to get her an M&M (that’s the deal).

Timing is everything. As you know, we had a birthday party coming up in short time after that. At the risk of derailing all interest in those big girl panties, there was no way we were going to that party without a pull-up. I was already worried enough about what was going to happen when she needed to poop…

And so, guess what goes nicely under big girl panties for a BIG party “just in case” we’re not close enough to a bathroom? A pull-up.

As long as she could ALSO wear the big girl panties, she was OK with that. About 7 minutes before we need to walk out the door for Zoe’s party, guess who had pooped? Thankfully, in a pull-up UNDER big girl panties. Disaster averted, for now. And so off we went to the museum – she even showed some of our friends those panties ;)

And guess what happened this morning when she got up? BACK in the big girl panties only (no pull-up), because she was going to JUST wear big girl underwear like her friends Scout and Mara and Priscilla! Sure, we had another accident, but I remain hopeful. School starts back on Wednesday with a new teacher (and many of the same kids), so I’m extra hopeful that THAT will keep her interested.

In just 13 days she will be three years old. THREE. We’ve been alluding to that milestone being a good time to get out of diapers.

For now, at least she’s interested at all (finally). Please cross your fingers…