Domestic Interiors

I cut off all my hair yesterday. Not me, personally, like Deenie (Splendor in the Grass) or Deenie (Judy Blume) but I did ask the nice woman who usually just trims the ends to hack away until her shoulders began to ache. Eight inches gone, maybe nine once you take into account the way the much-shorter strands bounce toward my ears like so many helium filled balloons. Lately my mermaid hair was making me feel less like I was luring sailors to a watery but sexy grave and more like they would need to send the dive team out to try to free the propellers. When your own head starts making you think of red tide it's time for a change.

Patrick said it looks nice. Caroline was curious and said "Har? Har? Har?" a few times while walking around me like she wanted to kick my tires. Edward knows that I don't have tires and therefore I am of limited interest to him. Steve got the most horrible fixed smile on his face when I walked into his office and said, "Oh! My! Look at that! Your hair! Is Shorter!" Steve has always been abnormally attached to my hair so I think it's good for him to adjust to change suddenly. Keeps him young like a week at the seaside.

Patrick cried the first day of school because someone accidentally grabbed his lunch and it took a while to get sorted out. The old Patrick would have probably shrugged and said oh well tra la la but the new Patrick EATS and the threat of going another five hours without sustenance was too much for his delicate system to fathom. It turned out someone in another classroom has his identical lunchbox and took the wrong one by mistake. When Patrick came home and told me the story I mystically channeled an organized crafty mother (was it you? did you feel light-headed on Tuesday and cannot account for thirty minutes from that afternoon?) and I rummaged around in the kitchen junk drawer where I found fabric paint from two Halloweens ago. I added yellow stars and blue galaxies to his lunch sack (Patrick said, critically, "Um, have you ever heard of elliptical galaxies? Yours are all spiral" I said, "Have you ever heard of shut up." Well, I thought it at least.) Problem solved. Then Patrick collided cheek to skull (his cheek, the other kid's skull) while playing tag on day two and he cried again.  

-- Steve is gone tonight so Patrick is sleeping in my bed. I was letting him read in there until ten as a special treat but he just clumped out and very accusingly told me he was turning out the light because he was so tired he couldn't stay awake another second. I was, like, uh, ok? He clumped back again.

Despite the initial setbacks he has declared school thus far to be "not so bad." When I asked him over dinner tonight what his favorite thing at school was he said Gym. When I asked for his second favorite he said Art. This amuses me: Patrick, my arty little jock.

I have book ads up. I think we have collectively been identified as people who might be interested in books and since this is most likely true (and they pay me to run them) I am encouraged by this perception of us. The book being advertised right now is called Three Part Invention and I know nothing about it beyond what I read from the link. Go look. Have you read it? Do you recommend it?  

Caroline is chattering away in her crib. It is 9:45. She went to bed TWO HOURS AGO. I guess she is not technically bothering anybody but who's ever heard of a baby insomniac? What does she do in there for all that time? I heard her last night yakking about something at midnight.

-- She just escalated to crying. I went up and she was very excited to see me.

"Window?" she pointed. I asked if she wanted to look out the window (I'm a sharp one.)

"Yes," she said.

"OK but then back to bed." I took her to look out the window.

"Moon?" she asked. "Tar?"

"No moon tonight. No stars. Too cloudy."

"Cowds," she agreed shaking her little bobblehead.

"Bedtime. Time to sleep. Do you want music?"

"Yes."

So I turned on her music and I gave her another board book, dimmed the lights and left her to it.

I know what you are about to say. I do. You are about to say that we should ix-nay the usic-may and the books. Then she might go to sleep earlier. And you are no doubt correct. But this way they sleep until we wake them up at 8 or 8:30. Edward gets his thirteen hours and Caroline gets her eight and I get my five or six and we are as happy as larks. No. Bad analogy. As happy as a lazier bird altogether. Pigeons maybe.

I cannot get over Caroline's language boom. Like, window? Never heard that from her before, ever. I love it. I love it I love it I love it. Patrick was a total delight and the joy of my heart but he never uttered anything that made any sense for the first two and a half years and it is now so much fun to have a little creature who TALKS. This must be why people get parrots. When my mother was here we got Chinese food one night. I gave Patrick and the twinkles some chicken noodle soup because I am selfish and I didn't want to share the Chinese. Caroline looked at her bowl and then looked at my plate and was, like, oh no no no, I don't think so.

She pointed.

"What? Taste it? Me?" she said in such ringing bell-like tones that Steve and my mother and I goggled at her.

So she got moo shu.

Then Edward said, "Dada doo?"

So Edward got  moo shu too. 

She calls Steve "Dee"; she calls me "Mee"; she calls Edward "Eee". Patrick? He gets both syllables. "Pah-tuh," she says lovingly. But for Caroline herself she really puts in the effort: she is either Ka-ha-hine or Ka-yuh-yine. And sometimes she pats my chest and says Mee (short for mommy I assume) and then pats her own chest and says ME! Like, and don't you forget it.   

Edward has the funniest assortment of words that he says well: otter, tractor, wheel, car, heart, hexagon (hexagon?) more, read it, cracker, one two tree, TV and yes. There are a whole bunch more that he says terribly but I have decided after judicious consideration to give him the benefit of the doubt until he turns two. Unlike a young Patrick he appears to be improving in his speech, albeit much more slowly than other twins in the house. A propos of nothing else: at breakfast today he had his (formerly Caroline's) deer talk to his (formerly Caroline's) otter. He held them both by the scruffs of their necks and waggled them as he babbled. Apparently there was a quarrel because he starting shouting No no no (nah! nah! nah!) and then he slammed them against each other. But they reconciled (Yah? Yah) and kissed (mwak mwak mwak.)

End scene.

-- And now Edward has woken up crying for the first time in weeks and weeks. Criminey.

Hey, here's a question for you. I would have thought based upon our experience with Patrick that it would have been more likely for me to investigate teaching Caroline and Edward to pilot single-engine aircraft prior to kindergarten but Cricket has developed an avid interest in bathrooms and everything people do in there and I am wondering... you don't possibly suppose a twenty month old child, a baby really, practically an infant, could learn to use the potty? A few weeks ago Patrick brought down a copy of some toilet training book (the potty book for boys; it is written in really badly scanned rhyme) and proceeded to read it to Caroline and Edward. He then brought up one of his old potties from the basement (Patrick will make a great manny one day, I'm just telling you) and left it in the powder room. A week ago (two?) Caroline started grabbing her, oh, bikini area and shouting, "Pee! Wet!" before racing off to the potty where she would attempt to unzip her footie pajamas. Then two days ago a series of circumstances conspired to leave her naked for about five minutes during which time she, ah, well, relieved herself in a tidy, well, yes, about six inches to the left of the potty. I found her in the kitchen grabbing a cloth with which to go clean things up - they really are the anti-Patrick in so many ways. Where was I? Oh right. I have zero interest in potty training or toilet learning or whatever the enlightened are calling it these days if it means I spend the next year and a half inconveniencing myself when I could just as easily wait until she is ready and be done in a week. But I don't want to, oh I don't know, stifle the kid either. Can a twenty month old ditch the diapers? Please advise.

Our Lady of the Laundry Room (what's the feng shui on a cluttered laundry room?) 

Edward cannot hear you because he has a bin on his head.

Comments

[Drea]

SHE IS READY!!!!!!! start thee with the potty training! Girls are usually "ready" sooner than boys... and she is showing every sign of it. I was potty trained approx 14 mths, my daughter approx 18 mths (altho night time was much harder simply because she would sleep through the signals-- I would wake her at midnight and let her know that she had to stay dry at night 3x to get into big girl panties. After that-- she started changing her own sheets LOL)

It is NOT too early. Dont push, but take her in with you when you go and let her sit on the potty and keep asking her each hour. Before you know it, no more diapers (at least during the day!)

P.S. it is only a "modern" i.e. last 15 yrs trend to say that we should wait so long to potty train. it doesnt have to be arduous-- just a natural part of the day. Seize this moment!

[MichelMom]

She is ready! My daughter was completely potty-trained before 14 months. And I don't recommend pull-ups at all.
Would like to see a pic of your new do :)

[Stephanie]

My older two both trained at 20-21 months. My youngest is 13 months and I honestly have no idea what I'll do if it doesn't work on her. Potty training a preschooler sounds about as reasonable as teaching a herd of angry, wet cats to dance the polka. There's no psychological warfare potential with a young toddler.

I would try it for 24-36 hours. Take her to the potty every 45 minutes, leave her naked on bottom if you can(no underwear, at that age they will just think they are diapers), diapers for outings and sleep. If it's not taking by then, just drop it.

[Rachel]

She's ready for sure! All mine (1xboy, 3xgirl were trained at that age). Despite the whole having to drop everything and get them on the toilet when they NEED to go, it's WAAAAY better than cleaning 3yo poopy diapers.
I'd say it's more like a week of no pants to make sure they get the hang of it too - i never ever had any joy with pull-ups. If the pee doesn't run down their leg a time or two it takes much longer to get the hang of it. No pants all the way.

[Justin]

Sounds like she's practically there already, and I'd lay even money Edward will follow right along. I've never quite understood the theory diapers are easier till they're older, it doesn't seem all that pleasant for anyone involved.

[Carolina]

I was a baby insomniac. And then a child insomniac, a teenage insomniac, and an adult insomniac. If she really has insomniacal (or whatever) tendencies, you're wise to encourage her to practice self-entertainment in her room. I learned to tell myself elaborate stories in my head because I would lay awake for two hours almost every night before I fell asleep. All of which is to say, the stim-fest could easily have nothing to do with what's keeping her awake.

In other news, the child for whom I was a nanny a few years back (also a girl with an older sibling) not only was potty trained and going out on long trips in underwear by 18 months, but in fact potty trained herself in the two months preceeding that. She wanted to use the potty and would try to sit on it. Taking her diapers on and off for her became too much of a pain so her mom bought her pullups to use as diapers and then we realized they were always dry. She was actually going to the potty when she needed to pee. We were skeptical for much longer than we actually needed to be, and all totally weirded out by it, but there you have it. Anyway, as others have said, it really is possible. Seize the moment, hurrah!!

[bethany actually]

Yes, she's ready! Before disposable diapers, most kids were potty-trained by the age of two, because who wanted to extend the laundry that much longer!? I've heard that there is often a window of opportunity for potty training around 18 months of age. Couldn't hurt to give it a try for a few days!

From the time she stopped nursing to sleep, my daughter always took a good 1-2 hours to put herself to sleep...until she stopped napping during the day. When she was still napping, we'd put her to bed around 8, she'd go to sleep between 9:30 and 10, and would wake up around 7. (She has always awakened around 7 no matter WHAT time she goes to sleep.) Once she stopped napping, we'd put her to bed at 7 and she'd be asleep at 7:03. Having no nap during the day was offset by suddenly having an extra three uninterrupted hours to myself in the evening.

[Julia]

My niece potty trained herself at 18 months. My sister finally clued into it when she heard something in the middle of the night and found her daughter in the bathroom, half a sleep, standing up, with her diaper off, peeing on the floor. I think that was pretty much the last accident she had.

[QoB]

according to family legend, I potty trained myself at 20 months. I would just refuse to go in the nappy until we got home, because I hated the feeling of a wet nappy.
So, it appears if she's ready and interested, go for it. one fewer child to change is a winner.

[Sarah]

My neighbor child, fourth of four, trained herself at a very early age, probably before 20 months, because she longed to do what the big kids do. Or for more imaginative reasons she couldn't communicate. Try to go with the child, just do't make the mistake of expecting Edward to follow suit. There is a tide...

[TeacherMommy]

Julia, your writing is a delight to the eyes and a joy forever. If you ever stop blogging I may just have to go on a hunger strike. Or something. Maybe not a hunger strike. I really like food. What if I stopped washing my hair? Would the prospect of some poor woman out there looking increasingly like a greasy Medusa urge you onwards toward the keyboard?

Oh, and if you're ever in the Detroit area with the twinkles and a woman shrieks and comes over and starts yumming all over their adorable selves, you'll know who it is.

[Amie]

Yes I've heard girls are WAY easier to train than boys and that they are usually ready earlier so I would try it out and see how it goes...you can always go back to diapers for a while if she's not quite ready and you feel like ripping your short hairs out lol...she sounds ready to me though so good luck!!

[Jackie]

Absolutely! give it a try! Girls usually seem to be ready to potty train earlier than boys, so I would def try if she's showing that much interest. My daughter was in underwear before two as well. Good luck!

[Jen]

Number 1 was not read when I started potty training her at 18 months...did not get her fully potty trained until she was almost 5! So, lesson learned, number 2 was ready just before she was 2 and it took no time. Number three had no interest until 3, as much as I wanted her to be potty trained at 2, she had other plans. Caroline is doing a lot of what my second did when I decided to potty train her at 2, and it didn't take long. Go forth and potty train, and let us know how it goes.

[Becky]

It's totally normal for girls to develop language at a faster rate than boys. I had a child development prof that used to like to remind us that "Boys are the mutation." Holding out to 2 sounds like a great plan- most intervention programs won't do much before 2 for speech anyway unless it's really extreme.

Good luck with the potty training. I'm hoping to get Megan trained by 2 even though I didn't dream of it with Charlie before 2.5.

[Alli]

Yes, she is starting the beginning of a slow process - let her learn! You can't tell us about your radical new do and not give us a look! Pic, please.

[sueinithaca]

my daughter potty-trained herself at 17 months. My son, well. He did the same but then reneged at 21 months. Now he's 2.5 and walks around with a naked butt all day UNTIL he has to pee or poo, at which point he demands a pull-up or a diaper. Then he pees and screams that it made him wet. We've tried explaining that he probably would'nt personally get as wet if he just peed in the potty, but no dice. We've even tried explaining politely that we live in the woods and he can just go pee out there. Nothing doing.

The moral of the story is, yes. A 20 month old can potty train herself, but only if she's a girl.

[jessica]

I had a daughter who acted exactly the same way. She was ready in a way, but at 20 months, the physical mechanics of the potty are tough, especially timely clothes removal as you move towards bulky winter garments. I left the potty out for her, and she used it on what I referred to as a "party trick basis" for about 6 months. We always put her on it when she expressed an interest, we praised her, and we encouraged her to use it before bed and upon waking. But she also wore diapers, and if we were out of the house, I acted like there just wasn't a potty available for her.

By the spring she was going at home with great regularity. She was just over two, and she was wearing much lighter-weight clothes. She trained herself in about two weeks after that.

[Shelley]

Because I am old as dirt, and as another poster said, had kids before the popularity of disposable diapers, all my kids, 3 boys and 1 girl were potty trained by 2. It's just how we did it in the olden days ;)

My daughter, the youngest, pretty much trained herself because all the 'big kids' used the potty. I think she was about 18 or 19 months old. Go for it!

And thanks for sharing your life with us. I love your writing!

[Vanessa]

i agree with so many others - she's probably ready. my daughter pee'd and pooped in the potty for the first time at 18 months...but wasn't REALLY potty trained until a year later. we weren't actively training, though. just letting her go whenever she asked or showed interest.

[Alison]

No picture of the new do?!?

She's ready. It will be fine.
:)
My son trained/learned (haha) himself at 22 months.

[Aunt Becky]

It's called "potty learning" now? Man, that makes me feel old and stodgy because I bristle at the idea of it being called "learning" rather than "training" and maybe THIS is why my 2.5 year old runs screaming from his wee toilet.

Or maybe it's the cheering soccer ball attached to it. I can't be sure.

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1423927717]

Keep it up with the music and books at bedtime!! (that is the teacher in me speaking) Look into the "Indigo Dreams" and "Five Funny Critters" CDs, too. Love your blogs, Julia.

[Carolyn]

Your kids are so CUTE! I had to start with that. I have three as well and it is neat to see how the two boys are alike and different and how my one girl is like them and non-stereotypical in many ways (trucks are a love) but the language! She is so verbal it makes me fall off my chair from the adorableness. And, yes, the potty. She is interested as long as it is isn't required of her. So if she wants to go, she does. If I ask her to go she will always say no. If I negotiate it, she almost always does need to pee. She is 2 1/2. I recommend being supportive but not having expectations. The boys I didn't even think about it until they were at least 3 and it isn't like they ever asked either...

[Kate (Bee In The Bonnet)]

It seems from reading here that people agree that she's ready. And that at one point in time, it was usual to potty train earlier. And I have known friends who were successful at training much, much earlier (yes, I know it's weird. yes, it takes a LOT of work, but my point is that in some cultures- notably Chinese culture- you start "potty training" basically as soon as the child can sit up on their own). I point that out to simply make the point that we feel like 20 mos is young, but it's only too young if it doesn't work for you as a family.

Oh, and also, I used to work at a daycare, and we had a girl there who was just shy of two and fully, panty-wearing potty trained, and she would be routinely placed in diapers by the teacher of her (two year old) class because the teacher didn't want to take her to the bathroom. Which pissed me off to no end. I campaigned her parents and the center director (successfully) to have her moved to my three-year-olds classroom, because we actually paid attention and let the children use the toilet when necessary. And OH, the stir that caused! She's too young! (Apparently not.) She's going to have an accident! (Not once...) She's not ready to be in a class of three year olds! (Maybe- they all treated her like a baby sister, which worked out fine, I think.) Her parents are mean! (Um, no. They were just paying attention to their kid's signals...)

And I guess the point of that little story is that it is deeply ingrained in some people that two year olds MUST wear diapers, and no amount of evidence to the contrary will convince them that it is okay for a less-than-two-year-old to be potty trained. And I think that your less-than-two-year-old is giving you ample evidence that she might be one of those who is the anomaly, and ready to give up the diapers.

Granted, I'm not the one who has to spend the intensive time to teach her, and I'm not the one who has to clean the carpet when there's an accident. On the other hand, I'm also not the one who has to change her diapers, either. So, really. I'd say just go with your gut on this one.

[Lisa V]

I always lived by Brazelton's potty training advice- if you start potty training at 18 months your child is fully potty trained at 30 to 36 months. If you start potty training at 24 months your child is fully potty trained at 30 to 36 months. If you start potty training at 30 months your child is fully trained at 30 to 36 months.

Does she have the fine motor skills to get her pants unzipped, unbuttoned, up and down?

Is it worse for you to deal with wet pants than diapers? I always thought diapers were no big deal, and hated, hated, hated doing laundry- so I delayed potty training until the kid was super ready.

So share a picture of your hair! I'm sure it's charming.

[mama2beans]

Good lord, that child is SCREEMING ready to potty train!! Snatch the opportunity now while it's presented, these things tend to go in waves and she may not be interested again for three years. Gah. I know a handfull of children that were completely daytime trained ( as in, no parents needed) by 18 months.

[Chris]

She sounds ready. Ben and Alya did the same thing at about 1.5. They would use it...then 2 weeks later - no interest. Alya is just now trained (except for bedtime) and will be 3 in November. Ben - no interest. However, Caroline seems far more advanced in her interest than they were. I vote ready. I know. Potty training is such a pain in the ass.

[babelbabe]

oh my god, could they be any cuter? I don't think so, i think it would hurt if they were any cuter.

re: the language: I am JEALOUS. My 19mo says about four words, and otherwise goes, Eh! Eh! Eh! while pointing. it is driving me MAD.

[Anne]

You could always ask Patrick what he thinks a good name would be for an alternate universe characterized by elliptical galaxies. I bet he'd have a wonderful answer.

[heather]

My parents say that all of their kids (myself & younger brother & sister) were trained before 1.5 years. My mom said I pretty much learned to walk and then was potty-trained, and I learned to walk around 9 months so....
I'd say she's ready!

[Lucrezia]

I was potty trained when i was a year old, basically as soon as I could walk. From what my mom said, and she had two of each, girls are a lot easier then boys and can be trained sooner. So I think she's totally old enough if she is interested.

[Maria]

I never would have thought the potty training thing could happen so quickly either...until my youngest daughter potty trained herself in about five days at 19 months. I seriously thought she was crazy and/or would regress soon after, but no. I had a tiny little fully potty trained baby. It was wild and totally great! I say let her be naked for a few days and see what happens.

[Suzanne]

If she's showing an interest in potty training might as well try. We started at 21 months and my daughter got to the point where we were having 1 or 2 accidents a day. Then a few months later she decided she wasn't interested anymore. When I suggested she use the toilet she hit, kicked, or bit me - and she's not a lashing out type of kid. So we backed off. She's now 26 months old and shows intermittent interest. I think it has a lot to do with a kid's personality and parent's tolerance level with putting up with the pain in the ass factor of potty training more than anything else. I have a child who views it as a power struggle and wants to do things in her own time so I figured I'd give her some time.

She's also a little insomniac and will sometimes spend an hour or two reading or singing before she falls asleep. That's when she isn't taking off all her clothes and announcing "I'm climbing out of my crib!" And then, after I greased up the sides of the crib to prevent the climbing out, screaming "What is on the crib!?!"

[Andrea]

I have three boys, and the first was fully trained (day & night) by 27 months with false starts at 22 months and 24 months. When we tried again at 26 months, he got it within a couple of weeks. Our second son started showing some signs of readiness around 20 months, so we took the plunge during a visit from my parents when he was 22 months, and he was pretty much fully trained (day & night) by 24 months, though he suffered a regression when his brother was born two weeks later. Now he is 26 months and fully back on the band wagon, so given that girls generally train earlier than boys (so I've heard but have no personal experience!), Caroline is likely very ready - you should totally give it a try!! I'm fully ready to introduce training our third son (now 8 weeks old) a few months before he's two despite everyone who's told me that boys can't train until they're at least three.

[Diane]

I had an insomniac toddler, too. If I made the mistake of putting him down for a nap, we all paid for it later. He used to lay in his bed and siiiiing for hours. No kidding, he'd have self produced full length multiple act and multiple character operas starring all of his toys.

My oldest totally trained himself by 20 months. He didn't want the little girl whom I baby sat anywhere near *his* potty. I told him he could have possession of said potty only if he used it the way in which it was meant to be used. Bingo.

That same child was very, very verbal at a young age. He said his first word at ten months, and hasn't stopped talking yet. He is nearly 29.

[Natalie]

She's ready.

...and, picture of the haircut, please!

[Portia]

I'm joining the rest in clamoring for a picture of the new haircut!

Also: your kids are so cute it makes me want one nownownow. Please cease posting such adorable pictures so that I can get through grad school before succumbing to the urges. Thanks.

(p.s. I would NEVER tell you to cut the music and the books! Some kids just have a hard time falling asleep -- so much better for them to be able to entertain themselves!)

[Emmie (Better Make It A Double)]

SO ready. One of my twin boys trained on #2's really early, the other on peeing, so it was complicated, but both were pretty much out of diapers by 2.5. I agree that it's silly to wait when they show an interest. Why on earth should we strap chilrens' excrement to them for a moment after they desire to be done with that? Is that respectful? True, they'll learn faster at 3, but that's another year's worth of diapers x2 if you wait.

[Meegan]

Caroline is totally ready. My 3 year old daughter was ready about the same time. I'm told kids with older siblings often start toilet training sooner? BUT. Don't expect Edward to show any interest in the next, oh, decade. I swear it if wasn't up to mothers, boys would happily soil their diapers until they left for college. Oh, well, I suppose that last part is just me....

WE MUST SEE PICTURES OF THE NEW HAIRCUT!!

[Bonnie]

Julia, have you ever heard of elimination communication (EC)? There are people who pretty successfully train 2-month-old infants!

So I say, go for it if she seems interested. One in diapers is better than too, am I right?

[Katerina]

Julia, we all know you are NOT a narcissist so why don't you - please please - show us your new hairstyle??? I know I speak for hundreds, perhaps thousands! Come on... the kids are super cute but there's a reason why they are... and you are 50% of that reason.

We wanna see the HAIR!!!

P.S. I feel stupid asking this... sorry... but, where do you buy those cute kiddie clothes (shown lately) with elephants and other animals on them? I'm based in Europe but perhaps could convince my US-based relatives to buy some for me (or rather, my 1 year old boy). Your kids' clothes are generally nearly as adorable as the kids themselves. Good job.

[diana]

My daughter is just weeks older than them and, because she clearly indicated she knew the swing, we started to train in, I dunno, end June?, well, it's almost there...
You are a perfect mothe to share your dinner. I hide myself to eat!

[Sarah]

My daughter potty trained herself by about that age. Just hated diapers and the whole process took maybe two weeks. But we kept her in overnight pull up like things for quite a while though she almost always woke up dry.

My one bit of advice (and I didn't read through all the comments to see if anyone else mentioned it) is to give up the onesies. Go to shirts and very easy to pull down and up elastic band pants.

[mama without instructions]

My daughter potty trained herself at 20 months in a couple of weeks. Really, she was pretty close to accident free after a week. I am not bragging. Seriously, I did very little, in major contrast to the effort with her older brother when he was 2.5. I think it was a second child thing and she's super stubborn and was just ready I guess. It was a bit of a pain but I worried that we would miss the window of opportunity if we waited and it generally went great. She is almost 2.5 now and is out of diapers at night finally too. Good to have it all behind us. Good luck!

[Terrill]

At about that age, both my girls potty-trained themselves, but only when they were bare-bottomed in the house. It took much longer before they could handle underwear--but, it made my life at home much easier!

[Liz S]

Adding my two cents to the concensus that she is ready. My daughter self trained at 20 months and was night trained by 25. She did it all with very little help. Long trips, day events, etc where never a problem. My son was 3.5 I tried numerous times before and he just wasn't ready. My second son self trained at 2.5. Just watch for readiness and encourage the process.

[swimmermom]

Yes on the potty training! Some kids are just ready at a relatively early age. My kids (all boys, who supposedly train later than girls in general) self-trained between 21 and 26 months. It was GREAT. We honestly did nothing in particular to make it happen, simply provided the means (toddler-accessible potty) and assistance as requested (wiping). They had very few accidents, ever, even at night. It was like a light switch flipping on and staying on. Go go Caroline!

[r]

Katerina, if I'm not mistaken the clothes you're jonesing after are by Zutano. Wonderful, wonderful stuff ... soft, wears like (cushy) iron, doesn't fade. You used to be able to buy it on Zappos, but they don't have any listed at the moment. A quick Google search should find you a vendor.

All the lovely chatter you have going on in your house! You are a lucky duck.

[Ruth]

Oops! Didn't mean to be anonymous on that last comment.