Caitlin decided she was ready to do her business in the potty in early February of this year.  Unfortunately because work was driving me insane Caitlin’s potty training took a back seat.  Then summer rolled around and both she and I had ample time on our hands.  It took a little while for her to get back in action but she was a fast learner and soon picked up where she left off.

Potty training this time around is not as annoying as it usually is.  My guess is it is partly due to the fact that I’m not pushing it.  After all Caitlin is not even two yet.  For her to be interested in doing anything in the potty is pretty amazing to me.  So we just go with the flow.  If she tells me she has to go “puppie” then I led her to the toilet otherwise I just let her do her own thing with the occasional reminding question asking her if she needs to go potty.  Whenever she has her accidents (and she has quite a few per day) I just remind her that she needs to do her business in the potty, clean her up, and go about my way.  It’s been a month since we started actively working on her potty training and she has had more successes than accidents.  Which leads me to her latest accomplishment and, to me, a pitfall in potty training:  going in a public restroom.

The family and I were in Target last Sunday when Caitlin started squatting and telling me she had “puppie.”  Assuming that she had gone in her diaper I led her to the restroom to clean her and put on a new diaper.  I laid her on the changing table, took down her shorts, opened up her diaper, and noticed nothing was in there.  There were no poops in her diaper!  That was when I realized that she was holding her poops till she went in the potty.  Afraid that she may let some poops out I frantically took off her shoes and pants, left everything on the changing table (including my purse), and ran to the closest toilet stand.  There wasn’t any toilet seat covers to lie down and I was not planning on putting Caitlin down in order to place some toilet paper on the seat.  I ended up placing Caitlin on the seat and holding on to her so she didn’t fall through.  And there she pooped – in the Target restroom.  I was disgusted and yet so proud that my little girl was getting so good at going in the potty.  I also realized that this won’t be the last of our expeditions to public restrooms.   I just need to figure out a plan of what I’m going to do the next time.  If anybody has some advice I’d love to hear it. 

This picture was taken in early February when Caitlin first started taking an interest with the potty.