Tinkle Time

Claire and I had the most exciting night last night. Derek was working late (as usual) and didn't get home until 3am. Daddy is usually in charge of bath and bed time when he's home because that is part of the small amount of precious time he has with Claire. For some reason, Claire HATES bath time with Daddy. It takes much persuasion and occasional bribing to even get her near the tub. However, when Mommy does bath time, she practically runs to the tub. Last night was no exception. When I asked her if she was ready for her bath, she told me to "march" to the bathroom. Once in there, I started drawing her bubble bath and watched as she lifted the toilet seat, put her potty seat on and demanded that I sit her on the big potty. This is something Daddy has been trying to introduce her to for months. He usually strips her down and plops her on the potty while he runs her bath (the running water usually makes her pee on the floor, so why not in the potty?) and she throws a huge fit until he takes her off. This was the first time she actually wanted to sit on the potty. She asked me to turn on her Dora bubble machine - to which I slyly replied, "No Dora bubbles until you tinkle on the potty." Meanwhile we washed our hands several thousand times with bubbles from the tub. I fetched a book and read to her while she sat on the potty - a tactic I learned from an online potty training article. She had to have been sitting there for at least 5-10 minutes (refusing to get into the bath - "No Mommy, no bath. Potty.") when I finally hear the glorious sound of my little 22 month old going tinkle in the potty! I threw my hands in the air and praised her like crazy. She was so proud of herself. I then turned on the Dora bubbles and let her take the longest bath ever. I guess this means we jump head first into the world of potty training. Hopefully, she will be fully trained by the time the baby arrives. Here are some pictures of Claire acting like a goof ball yesterday afternoon. She removed the couch cushions and to her surprise found her prized Mr. Potato Head glasses. She immediately put them on and continued to wear them for the next half hour or so.