Happy Potty Day!

About a year ago, when Casey was staying home with us 4 days a week, I thought it was probably time to push potty training. I borrowed Brenda's Scotty Potty book and learned a lot about how to speed up the process, by giving the child a doll that can also go "pee pee." Because Casey was so doll oriented, I thought the method might really work for her.

After a few days of intense trying I realized I just wasn't the kind of mom who had the patience to make potty training happen before Casey showed a lot of interest on her own. Fortunately, however, my sister is the potty training magician in our family. And, almost like magic, over Christmas, while spending a lot of time at Brenda's house, Casey started to show a lot of interest in using the potty.

Another major motivating incident occurred one morning in December when Jacob and Casey and I went to Ikea. Jacob was tall enough to go in Ikea's famed "Smalland" while I went shopping, but Casey was both too short and not potty trained. It was a slow morning at Ikea, and the women behind the desk told us that if Casey had been potty trained she would have let us in. So we kept promising Casey that if she just learned to use the potty she would get to go to the play room at Ikea.

After Christmas Casey started to use the potty on her own, and we switched to pull-ups. Then she started showing interest in underwear, which we had a few pairs of, thanks to Brenda. Suddenly, Casey was wearing underwear and using the potty almost every time. She had a few messy accidents, but the whole thing has seemed to come from some deep well spring of desire for independence in Casey's own little brain.


When Jacob was finally potty trained at the age of 3.5 we made a cake for him in the shape of a pottty. I covered a few mini marshmallows in cocoa and used yellow frosting to make some fake "pee." It was pretty gross, really, though also very funny. On that day the tradition of "potty day" was born.


So Josh insisted we get a potty cake from our favorite french bakery, and I decorated it with a potty and some candles. We put two candles on it to signify that Casey is still 2 years old. We had talked to our friends D and E that morning, and they said come on over to our house to celebrate Casey's big milestone! Maybe, they thought, it will inspire their son, who is just a few months younger than Casey.

This cake is almost bigger than Casey!

Happy Potty Day to you! Happy Potty Day to you! Happy Potty Day dear Casey. Happy Potty Day to you!