Because...

Way back in 2001 or 2002 I made an odd pact with my husband.  I said that I didn't want to teach our child(ren) how to drive.  I really don't like driving.  I like it on my terms, which would be a sports car and a lot of open road when I'm in the mood.  The thing is, the mood doesn't hit me that often.  When we drive somewhere together, he always drives.  It's not that we're stuck in stereotypical male and female roles.  It's really that I don't like to drive, and it takes way more mental energy for me than it does for him. If I were rich, hiring a chauffeur would be high up on my list.  Think of all the napping I could get done while I was being driven around everywhere!

So if I got out of teaching our child(ren) how to drive, then I had to pick up the slack somewhere else.  In exchange, I said I'd take over potty training our child(ren).

WHAT WAS I THINKING????!!!!

I was trying to go into this whole potty training with no pressure.  (Yeah, like I do that well.)

The series of potty training milestones goes something like this:

2 years, 0 months: Bought frog potty
2 years, 0 months - 2 years, 7 months: Ask Julia every few days if she wants to sit on it.  She says no.
2 years, 7 months (January 8th): She says she wants to wear pull-ups like Izzy.  I say if she sits on the potty and pees, she'll get a pull-up.  There may or may not have been a dot of pee.  Or it could have been spit or a drop of sweat.

Starting January 8th, we told her that if she sat on the potty and peed, she'd get to wear a pull-up.  If we were lucky, we could get her to sit on the potty once a day.  No magic ever happened, and frankly it was pulling teeth to get her to sit on the potty once a day.  At school they asked her to sit on the potty, and she very rarely said yes.  We think she slipped on the seat one time, and that really freaked her out, so there was two weeks or so when she wouldn't even go into the bathroom at school.

I think there amounted to two instances where there was a dot of pee in the frog potty.  So she got a pull-up twice in two months.

Then on March 11th, she said the words we have been waiting to hear, "I have to go potty!"

Both my husband and I race into Operation Potty mode.  "Do you want to sit on the potty?"

And miraculously she gets up from where she was sitting and nods.  I run to the bathroom and get the frog potty, bring it into the bedroom while my husband gets her pants down.  We're just amazed that she's willing to sit on the potty.  But even more miraculous...

(tinkle tinkle tinkle)  Success!

We didn't keep track that first weekend, but I think she went potty 6-7 times.  Then the next week at school I was so thrilled and telling them about her success, but they didn't have much luck repeating the success.  By the end of the week, they got her to sit on the toilet with her diaper off. Considering that she wouldn't even go into the bathroom a few weeks prior, I guess that's a big step in her school potty training progress.

Starting last Friday after work, she accumulated 13 potty stickers over the weekend.  So, yep, she's doing pretty darn well considering we're only on Day 12-13 of active potty training.  But again there's been no potty success at school.  There's got to be a reason why she won't go at school.  I've asked her.  I think she's channeling her future teenager self when she responds, "Because..." and then walks away.  I follow her, "Because why?"

"Because!" Followed by a sigh.

She doesn't at all take after me, does she?