Tour De Potties

Well, the sticker chart did the trick for DD. Using the potty is now de rigeur, and it's quite accepted that when she wakes up in the morning, we put on 'big girl panties' and that's how she spends all day. No accidents, she is doing really well!

The downside is what I am calling the Tour De Potties. DD is now fascinated by how different public restrooms can be. She absolutely loves checking out the different toilet paper holders, and whether a stall has seat covers or not. Handwashing is a whole different set of things to explore: some faucets turn themselves on and off, others require lifting a lever, others are knobs...and the soap varieties! Liquid soap! Foamy soap! Even one place with soap flakes! Who knew it could be so fascinating?? She dislikes the hand dryers ("they're too noisy Mommy, I don't like it") but loves the motion sensing paper towel dispensers. She hasn't figured out how the center 'pull' towel dispensers work yet, probably because her hands are usually too wet to grasp and pull effectively.

I did not anticipate this side of potty training. I was expecting to stop more frequently at public restrooms, but was totally unprepared for the sense of wonder my DD experiences when she gets to use a different public toilet. She just can't get over how many things are done differently in each place! So now we are subjected to, "I need to go pooooottyyyyy," whenever we are in a store where, coincidentally, she has never used the bathroom before. Hmmmmmmm. We are still in that delicate place where we don't want to discourage using the bathroom, but when my DD chooses to make this proclamation just as I've finished putting all the groceries and her brother in the car, well, it's a bit more dodgy to get everyone organized and back inside for the sole purpose of using the restroom.

I am trying to be more proactive about this, and ask her as we enter the store if she needs to go. And of course she gets a mandatory pit stop before leaving the house. When presented with these requests, I find myself gauging how long ago she finished her chocolate milk and how far we are from home, coupled with the relative new-ness of the store, etc. Should we go? Will she make it home? Questions I had not anticipated as part of this whole process. And sometimes I am boldly telling her she will have to wait until we get home, and praying we make it. So far, so good.

Yet another reminder that the world is a whooooooole different place to a (nearly) three year old. *LOL*