Adios Diapers

I say this with some trepidation, since the moment I write it down Tyler might reverse it, but I think Tyler is officially potty trained! He has been having reasonable success wearing his "manties" for a couple of weeks now. If you are an astute reader of our blog, you will notice that I posted about our first foray into the potty training frontier in December. That makes it 4 1/2 months of wet undies (and worse) for Tyler to master his bladder. (If you have a strong stomach ask me about the time I discovered "chocolate pudding" all over Tyler.) This is still better then the six months it took Laura to get the hang of it. My neighbor Shauna (who I swear was channeling Dr. Phil at the time) gave Laura a stern talking to and lent us her "magic throne" before Laura could be convinced that letting loose on the kitchen floor was not normal.

I know what you are thinking: I must be doing something wrong. Before you judge me too harshly though, I have read stacks of books about potty training, talked to my pediatrician, tried all sorts of cute motivational games, made up two "big boy" songs, given the kid's favorite stuffed animal a potty chair to keep them company, and I own a slew of potty books, potty movies, and cartoon character underwear. It's like the "Failed Attempts Hall of Fame" at our house. Despite all the gray hairs I have sprouted and all the ruined carpet, nothing ever seems to work until my kids decided for themselves that they want to use the restroom.

Thank goodness Tyler decided that it was a good idea when he was two, not seventeen. I was considering flying my magical neighbor Shauna down to California to give Tyler her famous "potty talk." Come to think of it, I bet we could make a lot of money renting her out to families that are undergoing urine crises at their houses. Kind of like Super Nanny. She could be Captain Underpants or Dr. Dry or Nanny No-Pee or The Bladder Battler or The Potty Whisperer or something.

ANYWAY, (I obviously have potty training on the brain) this is a time of intense celebration at our house. All three kids are out of diapers! Hooray! There should be some kind of Parent Medal of Honor for living through this ordeal. Maybe we could declare some sort of national holiday. I know there are parents all over the world potty training their children everyday, but so far it is the hardest thing I have done as a parent. My mom just laughs maniacally when she hears this and says, "wait until they are teenagers."