she did it!

yes, the rumors are true: little afton did earn her strawberry shortcake house.

project potty training: complete!!

well, sort of anyway.

i like to divide potty training into three separate (but obviously related) parts: number one, number two, and through the night.

we're done and done on number one, we ebb and flow (literally) on through the night, and number two could use quite a bit more, uh, finesse, but overall, i'd grade afton as a solid "good enough."

so what changed?

well, most children have some difficulty with some aspect of going potty (and if your kids don't, then, i hate you, i hate you, i hate you), be it bladder control, laziness, stubbornness, fear, or any number of little inexplicable toddler behaviors.

turns out that afton was afraid of the potty.

so step one for us was to put her in underwear and then have her come to me when she needed to go potty, and i would change her into her diaper. that process morphed into her sitting on the potty while in her diaper. and then just "lining" her potty with the diaper until finally, glory be!, she could actually go in the potty. followed by the gold standard of potty training: going potty in a public restroom. took about a week or so total.

gummy bears and jelly beans for all!