!Newsflash!

Suddenly on Friday, Gillian decided she was-for all intents and purposes-done with diapers. She wore her underpants all day with Anna, having one minor accident. We had an uneventful, accident-free dinner out together (though I came plenty prepared for accidents). This weekend, with the exception of sleep times, she was also diaper-free. She simply decided she wanted to "wear underpants like you, Mama, see?" Mostly, she just disappears only to reapper with the inner layer of her training potty full of urine to show me triumphantly. Each time, I make some observation about the amazing quantity of pee she produced, or tell her something equally as awe-inspired to make her feel like peeing in the potty is an accomplishment akin to parting the Red Sea. The only slightly disturbing part of all this is that she is now offering to wipe my behind for me. Now she's doing it, she's the expert. Typical.

I suppose this change of heart makes me feel pretty good about not pushing any of this on her. It also rewards our basic laziness of not wanting to bother with the pain of trying to potty train her. Justifying our laissez-faire attitude is our very real belief that a child as strongwilled as she is would have not done well with potty pressuring (I mostly think pressuring is not a great tactic in this arena for any kid). I can only assume doing so would have delayed things quite a bit longer, and it never made much difference to me when she potty trained. I figured she'd take a real interest when she was good and ready. I should also say that I am not assuming this little phase will stick. If we go two weeks peeing almost entirely on the potty, we'll talk. But you should have see how excited she was about peeing on the "little tiny baby potties" today at the Children's Museum. She could even flush it by herself. I'm not sure when we'll make efforts to lose diapers overnight/at nap time...we'll see how we do in the waking hours first.