Maybe, maybe....

My sister has worked in the 2 year old room of a daycare in the distant past. Because my little Quint will only be 20 or 21 months old when his little brother/sister is born, they will likely both be in diapers at the same time. Sis recently recommended that I go ahead and buy a potty training seat JUST IN CASE my son happens to be part of the 10% who can be potty trained by age 2. I don't remember if she said that ever happens with little boys, but still, it's worth a shot. So we bought a potty seat a while back. Sis said not to push him or stress that it's too big of a deal to use the pottyseat because he is only 15 3/4 months old. Just make it available and talk about it whenever I'm going to the bathroom. Can do!

We have a baby gate that separates Quint's play rooms from the staircase for obvious reasons. Yesterday it dawned on me that because this baby gate also keeps him from the bathroom by the stairs, he is very seldom around his potty seat or me when I use the bathroom. So there's some key instruction time being missed here. So today I moved the babygate to include the bathroom but not the stairs.

When he woke up from his nap, he went and explored the bathroom over which he now has free reign. He found the potty seat. He patted it and looked at me. After a series of questions, I realized that of course he knew what it was and had seen other kids use one at Priscilla's! He wanted to sit on it. Well alrighty then!!! We put him on it and of course nothing happened which was completely expected. But we told him that we would do this anytime he wanted to. The look on his face might have just been disappointment - as in "why do bigger kids do this so often? This isn't fun. This is just....odd". But we bragged and clapped some.

The other reason I have three tiny glitter specks of hope about this is that lately, he has been requesting diaper changes! Once, in Texas, he even grabbed my hand and firmly drug me toward the changing table. So he's starting to be aware that his diapers aren't comfy sometimes.

Wouldn't it be great if by some miracle he potty trained early?! On the other hand, which is more time consuming when you have a brand new baby - changing 5 diapers a day that take 4 minutes each, or dropping everything to patiently put him on the potty for the 45th time that day with little or no results? Hmmm... I'm probably doomed to the later anyway...

Lately, since I'm nearly halfway through this pregnancy, and the baby is kicking a lot, the reality of exactly how un-fun the next couple of years will be is really hitting home. I watch Quint play and see how much he wants me to actively interact with him and imagine nursing every 90 minutes for 30 minutes with a newborn at the same time. And those first 3 months with Quint, who has turned out to be a wonderfully easy child, were pretty much hell. Until he got his days and nights straight AND stopped having such amazing gas AND we figured out what the schmo to do with an infant, it was really, really not fun. I don't know how many times I said to him, "it's a good thing you're cute" in those first 3 months. He was 4 months old before I could take a deep breath and realize, "hey, it's recently gotten easier!" Maybe I'll retain some of that knowledge for #2's first weeks. Basically, it's going to be a fun summer!

Pray for me. And pray for my sister.