I have to talk about the ‘p’ word today, because it is a momentous occasion. She was looking at the potty, and I asked her if she wanted to sit on it. She clearly said yes. Now, when a toddler actually says the word “yes,” it is imperative to act immediately. I put her down on the potty and read her a story. Then I read her another story. She got up, pulled out the seat, sat down again, got up, moved the seat somewhere else, sat down again, did that three more times. Nothing much coming out. Then a little bit did and I praised her a lot and was pretty excited. I sat with her a bit more, and then went and got a wipe. When I came back, she had peed on the seat. Not actually in it, but pretty close. I’m happy. I went to get something to wipe up, which took, maybe one minute. I came back to a huge puddle right next to the step and another smaller puddle in the corner. At least Ella had been courteous enough to stick with one puddle per hour during her potty training. So I clean everything up, put a diaper on quickly – thinking the whole while that maybe we should just stick with diapers. We could always say in high school that she just has a medical problem, couldn’t we? Then I notice Ella nosing Sam’s push toy. Yep, that other smaller puddle turned out to be her missing her push toy that she obviously felt was just an unusually shaped potty. I highly recommend having a dog at your side during potty training. They not only will point out spots you miss on the floor, but they will get very upset if there is a spot you miss on the child. Everything must be clean! Anyway, all is back to normal in the household, except for a drift of eau de floor cleaner.