The thinker

 

Little C was in the habit of tinkling just as soon as I removed his diaper for bath time. It must have been the tingle of fresh air and the sound of running water. So a few days ago I decided to get the potty out to test his interest in gaining a little direction in his tinkling.

C was quite taken with this tiny version of big sister's loo as soon as he laid eyes on it. He sat on it fully clothed, stood in it and dropped his plastic frogs inside. The second time he and sister disrobed for evening bath and sat on their respective potties, we heard a tinkling. Low and behold-- --pee in the potty! C proudly repeated: "Peeeeeeee!" over and over and L immediately leaped off of her own throne to sing his praises, too. She energetically ran nude to the top of the stairs and shouted: "Papa! Come check C's work!"

Now L takes C to the potty first thing every morning. She helps an eager-to-please C out of his jammies and dipe and then they tinkle together. Sometimes C hits the target, other times not. This morning, out of bleary eyes I spied L running from the bathroom to the nursery for wipes and I knew this would be the first of many misses in the hit-or-miss game of toilet-training. We have miles to go before we sleep.