Monday, August 24, 2009

So close!

Oshii!

(The following post is not to be read while eating, unless you are someone who has purchased or washed diapers within 12 months, or can vividly recall the time when you did.)

The Pumpkin Princess is, at 3 years and 8 months old, this close to being fully potty trained. This past Saturday, we went to Shinjuku, Tokyo, which was a 2 hour trip each way (not counting the walk to our final destination). We put her in pull ups, just in case, but she told us every time she needed to go and had a 100% success rate at getting to the toilet in time. Much to the dismay of the man in line behind us, she even insisted upon using the toilet in the train car which rocked at every single curve. She came home in the same pull ups she left the house in.

I say almost because she can only pee in the toilet. She won't poop. No matter what the threat or bribe, she won't sit on the toilet when she gets such an urge. She'll take off her floral print jersey trousers and her Hello Kitty big girl pants, open the closet door, grab a pair of Mickey Mouse pull ups, put them on, grab hold of a table or chair for support, bear down, and holler "Okaasan! Deta!" ("Mommy! It's out!")

At least she's figured out she needs to be wearing pull ups. When we first started big girl pants...um, yeah. Exactly.

The purpose of the Shinjuku trip was to pick out (or rather, finalize our choice of) a new dining table, the one that will seat us when the Pumpkin Prince and Princess bring their kids with them for the holidays. It's a white glass top table with stainless steel legs. It's apparently a special order, so it won't be here until Christmas, if then, but I'm in no hurry. I'd rather wait four months for a table I like well enough to use the rest of my life than make do with something I'll hate in a couple years.

Gotta find chairs I like, though. I'd originally thought of having the white table with brightly colored chairs in different colors like blue and orange and purple, but with the economic recession, the furniture company discontinued all but a few colors, so I'm back where I started. Suggestions welcome, but they have to ship to Japan.

3 comments:

Tia K said...

My boys were scared of Western Style toilets at first and we told them they could 'hug the tank'. Facing the tank and straddling the seat made them feel more secure. Or, one of us would go in with them and hang on to them so they didn't fall in.
Next time you see her heading for the pull-ups in the closet, take her to the toilet and explain how much cleaner and nicer it is to go there instead of having poop all over her backside. No smell either.

pumpkinmommy said...

Tia, we tried. It hasn't worked. She thinks the "Washlet" is cool, so we've tried using that as a bribe, er, positive reinforcement, but that hasn't worked either.

Tia K. said...

I guess you just have to wait for peer pressure then! I think once she sees one or more of her school friends going in the toilet, she may go too.