Back in February, we had our most rewarding parenting experience yet: a potty training marathon weekend! Honestly, we've spent a good deal of time over the last 18 months in the bathroom with Ava, gently trying to introduce the toilet. This technique was great for Ava in so many ways. She got to sit on a comfy throne, read lots of books, and exert lots of control over her helpless parents. She didn't pee and she didn't poop and that was just fine with her. After all, that's what the diapers are for, right?
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| Cooking her famous barley soup. In undies. |
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| Reading a book. In undies. |
Eventually it became clear that in order to get rid of Ava's diapers, we would just have to, well, get rid of them. And so we did. With Brian's mom, Layne, in town, we figured we had numbers on our side. The time had come.
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| Blowing bubbles. In undies. |
Our adventure started with a trip downtown to H&M to pick up some underwear. It was exhilarating and we bought one of every pair in her size. Then we boxed up all of the cloth diapers and put them in the basement. Then we spent three days in undies and a t-shirt (well, the adults wore pants), feeding her juice at every turn, and letting her watch a congratulatory YouTube video whenever she used the toilet. She had one big accident, a couple of small ones and then spent the rest of the weekend watching all sorts of chimpanzees spinning until they got dizzy.
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| Mowing the neighbor's lawn. In undies. |
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| 3rd position. In undies. |
While we were at it, we figured we would go for the gold and get her out of nighttime diapers as well. Even though we were waking her up every two hours (true story) she still managed to soak the bed every other hour for a week. She's a miracle child! But, just when we were sure nighttime potty training was out of reach, we heard Ava race to the bathroom on her own, use the toilet, get up on her step stool to wash her hands and then run back to bed without our help. We are convinced there is no better sound in the world.
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| Checking email. In undies. |
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| Roughhousing. In undies. |
