Potty prowess

I bet that two of the toughest tests of whether a child is potty-trained come while taking long car rides or waiting in line with mom for the bathroom at a ballgame.

The real test, however, comes when that child gets a bout of the stomach flu.

I'll spare you the details, but some gut bug has been passed around this household for the past few weeks. Elise had her turn last week.
A bit of background: We are three months into potty training and, thanks largely to Anni and Elise's teacher, that young girl rarely has an accident anymore. (Elise and I struggled with potty training at first, but are getting along better now.) Not only that, we rarely buy diapers anymore. She only wears them when she naps or sleeps.

She does really well telling us when she needs to go -- and if we don't hear her she is so helpful that she will just pull her pants down while standing in the living room, kitchen or maybe even a store. Our bathroom may be mistaken for a children's library, the abundance of books that are in there to keep her entertained, but you do what works. And that works.

So, at 20 months old, her true potty training test came with the recent illness. She only had two "accidents" over the course of a week in which she was plagued with off-and-on flu symptoms. Not bad.

To show our appreciation for her potty prowess, maybe we'll take a long drive to a sporting event.