Potty Talk

Thanks for all the encouragement and advice regarding Kate's dinnertime habits. I don't think I'll go with the "sit here until all those peas are gone!" thing (no one seriously suggested that--more like cautionary tales from one's own childhood), but I'll definitely continue to offer them and not try to supplement with extra fruit.

Regarding the sitting-down-to-eat thing, I had been feeling it was time to get stricter on that anyway, so we laid down the law on that one last night. We were having pasta--something Kate likes almost as much as we do--so fortunately we could focus on the sitting and not so much on the food. (Yes, yesterday was our anniversary, but our nice date will be tonight, so we just had our favorite Italian meal last night at home.) Anyway, Kate managed to stay strapped into her seat for the whole meal, so in a way that was easier than I expected. She screamed and squirmed off and on--and was generally too frustrated to eat more than a few pieces of pasta and the tomatoes out of her salad--but that's all fine. Tonight she'll be with Granna and Opa, and never has trouble staying in her seat there or at school, but we'll see how it goes Saturday and Sunday at home again!

On to the next fun parenting challenge I can pick your brain about: potty training!!

Kate has been aware of her "goings" for quite a while now, notifying us when she needs a diaper change. I'm still not sure if she knows before she goes, or only after, but even that level of awareness is still a crucial precursor to potty training. She's only 20 months old, but I figured we'd set the stage and start getting her more familiar with the idea of using the potty. We're talking about it, calling her attention to when I go to the potty, and asking if she wants to sit on the potty.

I tried sitting her on the toilet a few times in the last couple months, since she was showing some signs of readiness, but it scared her. I would prefer to train her on the big potty, so we don't have to go through the second phase of re-training her from the little potty to the big one, but when I looked at all the varieties of rings and seats, etc., this 3-in-1 potty seemed our best option. The seat removes to become a ring for the big toilet, and you can close the lid to make it a stepstool (all for less than the price of a cushioned ring).

So, this gem is now sitting in our bathroom, letting Kate get used to it. She's sat on it a few times with her clothes on, so we'll get there! She actually went on the kid-sized toilet at day care the other day. She often learns by watching slightly older kids (a competitive streak, perhaps) so when she saw some of the closer-to-2 kids doing it, she told her teacher she wanted to do it too!

We're pretty much at the very beginning of the process, so let me know what methods you all have used. I've heard about the one-day thing, letting the child walk around naked, a timer schedule, etc.

In your experience, what has worked well?