"MMMOOOOOMMM I HAVVEEE TOOO POOOTTTY!!!!!!"

The 5 sweet words that every mother of a toddler wants to hear.

Forget about Christmas and birthdays, the day your 2 yr old tells you BEFORE (that's important: BEFORE) they pee/poop (yes I said poop!) in their pants, on the floor, on the couch..... is the BEST day of a mother's life!!

I've been trying to potty train little asian baby since she turned 2 four months ago. I tried every method from lollipops to time-outs with no success. I've done countless hours of research, reading, and basically asked every person who already has a potty trained child about tips and tricks.

BUUUUTTTTT.....what I've come to realize is this:

" THEY'LL DO IT ON THEIR OWN WHEN THEY'RE READY!!!!!! "

Now, I know the above phrase is not true about EVERY parenting experience, but it is true about the potty training experience.

As I mentioned I've been trying to potty train little asian baby for about 4 months now. Sure, I haven't always been "on top" of the whole situation, but who & what mother of a crazy toddler has the mental capacity to take their child to the "potty" every hour just in case they have to go? Plus, I'm not a mind reader, how was I suppose to know that after sitting for 5 minutes on the potty with it "not working" (that's what asian baby says when she doesn't have to go. "It's not working mom") you would then proceed to potty on the floor the minute you hit the living room? So basically I became a quitter and gave up. However, I realized that little asian baby probably shouldn't wear diapers for all of her childhood.. PLUS another mother at my church whose son is not yet 2 yrs. already potty trained him, so to save face & not fall behind in the "mom race" I gave it another go.

This time, however, I was better prepared. Plus I had a secret weapon.
Panties.
More specially though, Dora panties.

One of the moms I consulted told me that when I'm ready to potty train little asian baby, to buy her cute panties she could wear. She told me to pick panties with a character or picture that little asian baby would like and make a big deal like "LOOOOOOK!!! YOU HAVE BIG GIRL PANTIES NOW!!! ISN'T IT SOO CUTE!!!! DON'T YOU WANT TO WEAR THEM LIKE MOM!!! AND NO MORE DIAPER!!!! YOU'RE A BIG GIRL NOW RIGHT????!!!!!!" (and yes, yes, imagine me saying all this with an overly enthusiastic, drawling, kind of annoying, child enticing tone)  so I did that. I asked little asian baby what kind of panties she would like to wear and she said "Dora panties mom". So off to the big red bullet store we went and bought "dora panties"

Now I don't know if it was the dora panties or the fact that really little asian baby was just ready. BUT IT WORKED!!!! SUCCESS!!! FANFARE AND TICKER TAPE PARADE PLEASE!!! So now at home anyways, because I'm not yet ready to venture out into the world with a diaper-less toddler I can PROUDLY say that little asian baby is potty trained. Although we did have 3 small accidents (pee only! not poop...well one poop.....) little asian baby has only pottied in the potty for about 2 weeks now.

So I'm glad and thankful that we've begun to make some progress on the potty training front. The road was definitely frustrating, messy and I did give up a few times, but what I am constantly reminded of with every adventurous parenting experience is that all kids will eventually "get there" when they're ready.

Oh, and you need A LOT of Clorox Greenworks cleaner, Lysol & paper towels handy too.

-little asian girl