Oh Mom...

When we last saw O's developmental pediatrician, she gave us some great advice on potty training. This was back in May of 2011. Olivia was four and a half at the time and was struggling with potty training. She'd gone through a good stage but then lost steam for awhile.

Her doctor suggested that anytime Olivia said she had to pee, we come up with a phrase that would keep O from peeing in her pants.

We decided to say, "Don't come out, Livie's peepee, don't come out."

Then, once she was on the toilet, we'd tell her, "Come on out, Livie's peepee, come on out."

And what do you know? It worked.

We're to the point where we're shopping for a new couch because we've gone a year without anyone in our house peeing on the furniture. We celebrate the small things, don't you know?

Anyway, while I don't usually tell O's peepee not to come out when she announces she has to pee, I can still be heard saying, "Come on out, Livie's peepee."

And these days, she looks at me from her perch on the toilet, rolls her eyes and says, "Oh Mom."

I think she's over needing the prompts we learned from her doctor. Her muscles have been trained when to hold in the pee (and poop!! Wheee!) and when to let it go.

What an amazing thing.

I know children are potty trained every day all over the world but my kid, she's special, you know. She didn't always the control, the awareness.

We got really, really lucky when we were matched to her developmental pediatrician when O was two years old. I'll be sure and tell the doctor that when we see her again in May 2013.