I remember sitting on my potty in various locations. At times, I would sit on it while I caught up on my shows (a mix of He-man and Rainbow). Other times I’d sit on it ‘reading’ the Beano as my dad sat on the real toilet reading the newspaper next to me.
I remember that my potty was red and had been my brother’s before me. I remember being pretty excited and proud of being big enough to use the potty. Over the years, I’ve lost most of my early enthusiasm for my daily ‘passings’. It’s become more functional and Faith doesn’t let me catch up on any shows while I’m at my business.
But my potty memories have been revived by our latest parenting challenge – potty training. We bought Adlai a potty quite a while ago but haven’t made much attempt to get the training started. But with the arrival of our second son just six weeks away, we feel now is the time.
Although Adlai is yet to pee or poo into his new potty, he does seem very keen on it. Currently he mostly uses it as a hat but I’m pretty sure we’re making slow but steady progress. The past couple of days have seen Adlai actively ask to go for a poo. We quickly whip out the potty and cheer him on. But as yet all our efforts have proved fruitless. Almost as soon as Adlai sits down he informs us ‘poo gone’. Quite where it had gone to we don’t know, but I expect to find it any day now.
My potty obsession has begun again. Adlai’s is green but it’s still something to be proud of. I’m not sure how much of the experience he will remember, but I’ll always be happy to remind him of all the episodes of Thomas the Tank Engine and Postman Pat he’s taken in on that thing. I might even pull out an old ‘Beano’ to flip through while I do my business next to him.
