How could I have missed posting about this until now?
The night of Sunday, August 12, 2007, Ava slept all night in her big girl underpants for the first time and woke up the next morning dry as a bone (same as the sheets). It was quite a milestone, and Ava was thrilled as we fussed over her.
Truth be told, she could’ve done this a couple weeks ago. But, what with the move and vacation, we didn’t want to risk an accident in someone else’s bed.
After the glow of the achievement faded a bit, Leah and I looked at each other and realized we really hadn’t done much to facilitate Ava’s potty training. Yeah, we put out a little seat for her, and Merlin knows she’s had more than enough chances to watch us sitting on the commode over the last couple years, but our earnest efforts to get her to use the toilet were short lived. We realized pretty quickly that Ava was going to do what she wanted to (Note: If there is a Creator, what kind of sick sense of humor must s/he have to make potty training run concurrently with the Terrible Twos?). What’s more, she quickly developed a very strong will to do things for herself. She’ll often mount the stool and then ask us to close the bathroom door behind us — “tight” — as we leave. We have to make certain we time our reentry correctly, or Ava will have flushed an entire roll of TP down the pipes (or at least part way down the pipes).
I now find myself asking, “What’s next?” Ava’s gotten pretty good at dressing herself, particularly as she doesn’t mind being seen in public with her shorts on backwards. She’s too small yet to reach everything she needs to reach to be able to cook for herself. Maybe riding a bike without training wheels? She doesn’t even have a bike, let alone training wheels. She’s too young to start losing teeth, I think. Dare I hope for a quiet period?