Pee pee in the potty!!

We've just had a monumental event -- Evelyn went pee in the potty tonight for the first time!! If you're wondering how excited we were, just imagine John and me doing a conga line around the house chanting "Pee pee in the pot-TEE! Pee pee in the pot-TEE!..."

For months now, we've had Evelyn's little pink Baby Bjorn potty in the bathroom under the sink, collecting dust. She has a tendency to pee right around bathtime, be it in her diaper, on the floor, or right in the bath. So we figure, OK, we'll break this thing out every night so she gets the idea and we won't pressure her and we'll see what she does. We knew that she understood what we meant when we said "pee pee" and she often made the "Sssssss" sound in response.

Once, back in December, when I was waiting for her to pee at the doctor's office so they could get a urine sample (she had a high fever that turned out to be roseola), I could not get her to drink anything. Desperate to get out of there, I finally said "Evelyn, do you want to go pee pee?" She responded by saying "Ssssssss" and lo and behold, the little clear plastic bag hanging out of her diaper filled with fluid. I thought, OK, this is going to be easy!

Not so much. She refused to sit on the potty. She'd look semi-interested and would lower herself almost to the point of sitting, and then stand right up, shaking her head and saying "Nooooo?" There was plenty of peeing in front of the potty, but not quite in the potty.

Then last week, we were in her room looking through one of her Baby Sign books (which she has loved for as long as she's enjoyed books) and came across a picture of a girl sitting on a potty. She said "Try it?" and I said, "Really? Try the potty? OK... " (skeptically, I might add.) She led the way into the bathroom and I took her pants and diaper off, and she sat right down! Then she looked through her book again and found the girl on the potty, pointed to it and said "Try it?"

Try it? You bet your ass you can try it!

She didn't pee in the potty that day (and in fact peed in front of it again, looking down at the dribbling puddle at her feet and saying "uh oh...") but I was revitalized with hope that we'd get this potty training going. The next day, whenever we were in the bathroom, she'd say "Try it?" and we'd try, and sit there and read her book. Yesterday, she refused to sit until we located the book, which my mom had so recklessly removed from the potty area! And today, at last, she did it! And I missed it! I was getting her clothes out while John drew the bath, and I heard him call out excitedly "She's going pee in the potty!" Never have I heard sweeter words...