The Toilet

Last week, Lisa, our babysitter, called me at work to tell me that Hannah had fallen into the toilet....only my daughter. Here's the whole story:

Hannah had a really dirty diaper in the morning and as Lisa was changing her, she told Hannah "stinky diaper," "yucky," etc. The other kids chimed in and started dancing around Hannah saying "stinky baby" and the like. Lisa asked Hannah when she was going to go poopy on the potty like a big girl and get big girl pants like Emma. Well, faster than you could blink, Emma (6) and Brandon (4) (Hannah's partners in crime) dropped their drawers to show off their big-kid pants to Hannah. Lisa had to change Hannah into her spare outfit and the big kids told Hannah all about their big kid pants and the potty.

Lisa told me she figured that Hannah would be ready to start potty-training soon - especially since Hannah is a very consistent pooper - almost the same time every single day. In addition to that, Hannah is constantly telling us she needs "change please" when her diaper is wet....or she tells us "Hannah pee pee" or "Hannah potty" and she goes to sit on the potty. The problem with Hannah's approach is that she likes to sit on the potty fully clothed -- sit her down with her clothes on and she is as happy as a clam. Undress her and she wants nothing to do with it. But, Hannah loves to talk all things poop and pee and potty related, including any time someone leaves the room she asks if they are going to the potty. It's pretty funny.

So during lunchtime the same day as the diaper blow-out, Brandon got up to go to the bathroom while Hannah was still eating. When Brandon finished with the potty, Hannah was done with her lunch, so Lisa put her down. Hannah usually just goes to the playroom and plays. Today, however, was different. A few minutes after Hannah left the kitchen Lisa heard a blood-curdling scream. She ran to find Hannah and didn't see her...she checked the stairs...no Hannah. Then she noticed the bathroom door was cracked about 3 inches. Lisa found Hannah -- fully clothed -- stuck inside the toilet. Arms and feet sticking out flailing about...butt down in the water.

Hannah was not happy about the situation....and was out of clean clothes. Lisa figured she needed to make sure Hannah wasn't scared of the potty, so Emma and Brandon both sat on the potty in front of Hannah to show her it wasn't scary. Lisa put Hannah down and although Hannah did sit, she had a death grip around Lisa's neck. Lisa put Hannah's clothes in the dryer and put her down for her afternoon nap in her diaper and wrapped in a warm blanket.

When Lisa called me to tell me about this, she apologized if Hannah was set back 6 months in potty-training. I doubt that is the case. We have the little toilet inserts here (and now Lisa has one too) and Hannah does climb up on the toilet before her bath.....and she also sits on the little separate potty seat toilet thing that we have downstairs. She still seems interested (in fact, Lisa reported yesterday that Hannah sat on her Elmo potty seat reading books and having fun for 30 minutes).

This new adventure is certainly on its way! Wow is she growing up fast.