Our Potty Princess - NOT!

Laura, Laura, Laura. *sigh* Some days you just can't get enough of her funny talk, her subtle efforts to get you to pay attention to her and the joy she brings when you watch her with her babies, imitating her family as she goes. Other days you wish she didn't feel the need to reach up and turn your face towards her with her hand because you have failed to pay enough attention to her latest 'Watch me, Mommy!' or paused when you were reading the current favorite gripping preschool book to pay attention to something else demanding your attention for a moment. We won't go in to the nights lately when she wakes up crying and we can't figure out why. But in general I can say I love the stage she's at right now and I find that would choose to leave her stuck here for awhile if I had the choice. Well, almost.

As I head up the steps once again making a beeline towards the changing table I wonder when it is that she'll decide that going on the potty beats sitting in what is there when she doesn't. When is it that she'll decide that being able to poop and get off the pot is much better than tolerating the smell and the goosh until we discover it and change her? And when is it that being soaking wet is supposed to bother her??? I realize she's three and a half but given her slow start, we figure she'll be behind on a few things but I'm beginning to realize this just might be one of those things she's willing to control no matter what the cost to her little baby buns.

Yes, she's stubborn now and then. She gets that from her Daddy, I'm sure. And this is one of those things she's just decided she's going to be stubborn about. I figure that when you wake up dry more often that not, it's time to be letting it out on the porcelain throne. Uh no. Not if you are Laura. She'll sit on the potty for 10 minutes or more. Through multiple readings of "Once Upon A Potty". Ignoring the ever present running faucet meant to help her along a little. Determined to get that diaper back on before she relents. Honestly, my fanny can only take so much time on that little stool so I tend to give it fifteen minutes or so and call it a draw. If I manage to have enough guts to check, I can find a very wet diaper within minutes.

In our efforts to get Laura to decide she's a big girl we've invested in Barney undies, Dora and Disney Princess Pull ups and even ruffled panties. All to no avail. Barney gets wet, Dora's flowers get far too much water to survive and the poor ruffles sag after just a little while in their attempts to help her grow up a bit. We've had tea parties with her babies, I've sat for long periods of time while she watches her babies use the potty chair, and I've sung "She's A Super Duper Pooper" until I am beginning to believe it myself. All to no avail.

I suppose this is just the first of many issues that have the potential to become a power struggle between her little self and her much bigger, holding-more-cards Mommy. So I'm learning to take it as it comes, to pray a lot, hope for the best, and keep the diapers and wipes well stocked. This, too, shall pass. I just wish it would pass in the potty more often than not.