My daughter is a smarty-pants.
At barely 2, she often astounds me with her cognitive abilities. Without much intentional work with me, she is speaking in complete sentences, describing her feelings, counting into the teens, and sorting items by color and shape.
She is also completely ready to potty-train.
But I’m not.
I’m a teacher, and during the school year my parents take care of both of my children every day. So, it wouldn’t be me potty-training her — it would be them. And I don’t think adding, “Oh! And please potty-train my 2-year-old while I’m at work” is a reasonable request to put on two seniors already doing me a massive favor.
I've always had it in my head that I would attempt potty-training my daughter in the summer. She would be 2 1/2, and I would have the time and patience necessary to devote to this skill.
I’ve done this potty-training business before, with my son, and I wasn’t anticipating my daughter being ready for this monumental landmark before summer anyway. I wasn’t going to even try the whole shindig until she was blatantly asking to go potty on the toilet.
And then, at 21 months, she did.
“Mama, I go potty in bathroom?”
I quickly dismissed this question with a wave of the hand and answered, “No, sweetie. The bathroom is for big girls.”
So, for now, we wait.
Then a few days later, “Mama, please change my diaper — it’s wet.” Followed by announcing, “I need go poopie!” and running off to a corner of her room for some privacy.
Were these the signs I had heard so much about? Was my baby daughter ready to potty-train? All signs pointed to yes.
The thing is, I’m not ready to potty-train her. It’s not summer yet.
I know the consistency and devotion early potty-training takes and I don’t currently have that kind of time at my disposal. And I don’t feel I can put that burden on someone else.
So, for now, we wait.
For now, we talk A LOT about going potty. We show how the toilet works. We discuss how exciting it will be in the summer because she will learn to use the toilet. We’ve picked out Peppa Pig and unicorn undies.
She continues to ask me to change her diaper when it’s wet and I continue to change it and praise her each time for being such a big girl, in hopes that once we do embark on this whole potty-training business in a couple months, she’ll be halfway there.
But I’m not potty-training my daughter until it fits into my schedule.
Does this make me a selfish parent? Maybe.
Will it be the best thing for all parties involved? Definitely.
