Month 34: Look Mommy, No Seat!

Hangin’ at the hotel on the way home.

At the end of last month, when we were out and about I forgot to bring our Primo Travel Potty Seat.    Our outing trips are usually pretty avereage or short length and Itty Bitty had an epic capacity, so if we made a pitstop before leaving it is rare that she needs a potty stop on an average errand.   We’d gone out to eat and I had diapers for Mini Moose, and was so used to not needing a travel seat for a 2 hour outing that I was taken by surprise when Itty Bitty announced her urgent need!     No big deal really, we’ve had to do the balancing act a couple of times before.   Off we went to the bathroom and we discovered that she had grown big enough to balance herself on the seat without needing me to offer support(the bathroom was very clean)!   When did that happen!?

After that discovery, Itty Bitty didn’t began to experiment with not using the insert on the toilet at home right away until after we returned from our annual Ohio trip (Read about it here at Brothet’s Blog — June 28 to July 9).   Once she did, however, she quickly disvcovered that without the insert she could hoist herself backwards easily without the aid of a stool and was able to balance with little effort.   She has been very keen to use the toilet this way, though if she desires more tush comfort she still will choose the insert from time to time, and if in an extraordinary rush will use the little potty though she looks ridiculous on it with such long legs!      She is no longer adamant about emptying her own potty and is more ambivalent if it is messy leaving it for me without argument.      She’s gotten quite good at self wiping and only asks for help if she notices if it is especially difficult.

We had a couple of notable toileting matters:

 Jul 10:

When I got home from work  Daddy Man said they played outside for a while and that, “I was busy with Mini Moose and when I looked up I got an eye full of Itty Bitty dropping trou to squat and pee outside the sandbox.”

Oh dear, I knew peeing the baby outside was going to come back to bite me in the butt!  I’ll need to have a conversation with Itty Bitty.   It’s a proud thing that she didn’t pee in the sandbox and took initiative, but she’s not an in arms baby and just taking a whiz outside whenever she feels like it is not necessary unless it is an emergency or where facilities aren’t available.

Jul 12:

Itty Bitty decided to play in the toy corner and got herself stuck.   As she tried to extricate herself and was almost out, her bladder let go.  I heard the waterfall and she was standing there like a deer in headlights.     It got cleaned up easily and I made a mental note to remind her occasionally to assess bathroom needs–only after it has been a couple of hours.    She’d gone to the bathroom successfully several times today and even had a big poop, so it was just a situational accident.

I came home to a too quiet house.   Turns out that Itty Bitty went back to attention seeking behavior.  Had a tantrum when they got home because she wanted to stay outside but the baby was wanting to eat and was hot.  Daddy Man let her stay in the jeep for 15 minutes to try to diffuse the situation but the baby was too hot and was really wanting mommy milk.    He said it spiraled from there because he couldn’t give her attention.     G-Ma stopped by and not even that changed things because Itty Bitty wanted Daddy Man.    I guess, now that the Mommy situation was corrected she was seeking to fix the Daddy situation.   After G-Ma left and Mini Moose was on his second bottle and was just about asleep Itty Bitty apparently had had enough.     I am told she stood by him on the couch, lifted her leg, and peed.

She’s done that once before with him (“War and Pees” from Cause and Effect Month 21).

He cleaned it up calmly and ignored the behavior (he held it together — he wanted to spank but knows that’s a big no no with me–that’s a big loss of control and he’s a strong dude who can hurt you when he’s just playing around even when he’s being careful ).   Daddy Man put some water in the tub and left her to it.   She cleaned herself up and that was that.  She was mellowed after, he said.    Perhaps she felt mortified with herself or realized it was an impulse move that had the opposite effect of what she really wanted.    Too bad toddlers don’t come with sim thought bubbles.

There were no other errant pee incidences or acting out this month.   Funny how two incidents were unrelated to the situational pee, but had the common thread of wanting to be acknowledged.      Another attention seeking moment unrelated to pottying did happen another day: Itty Bitty’s Trip to the ER Jul 18.  and the Aftermath.

Sorry that this post was late and backdated nearly a month, I totally forgot about it!

Visit Brother Blog:  Pottytunities for Two

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Quotes and favorites of the Month:

“Come on Mom, Let’s go!”

Itty Bitty enjoys watch a math centered cartoon called Cyberchase (Sigh-chase!), enjoys My Little Pony:  Friendship is Magic  (Po-nee!).   Wild Kratts, Dinosaur Train, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse have fallen out of favor.