I remember that when I started potty-training and set the precedence of rewarding Coco for doing her business I worried that I would have to give her M’n’M’s until kindergarten. I wasn’t sure when the process would cease to be a reward program and evolve into a private matter. I doubt that anybody really remembers the transition, and if you do, shame on your parents for keeping you in diapers for so long!
Anyways.
The other day I realized we had made serious headway.
Maybe too much.
I might have created an anal retentive child. Dear Lord.
This is the breakdown of our transition into “private matters”:
Coco: “I need to go potty!!!”
Me: “Ok, run, run, run!”
We both frantically ran to the bathroom and I plopped her on the toilet.
Coco: “Go away.”
Me: “Ok, let me know when I need to wipe you.”
Coco: “Go away.”
Since privacy is something she has recently instigated, I try to respect it and always go in the hallway ’til she calls me.
“Wipe me!”
I walk into the bathroom.
“I go poop. Don’t look at it!”
Me: “Ok, I’m not gonna look.”
Coco: “Don’t look at it!”
Me: “I’m not!”
Geez. When did she get so anal? She’s starting to resemble a certain uncle (who shall remain unnamed) who hasn’t seen his poop since he was like 9.
Wipe–wipe.
I pull up her miniature panties and jeans, and straighten her top. She looks at me with a dead-pan, sixteen-year-old expression.
Me: “Good job, Coco!”
Coco: “Don’t tell me that.”
Me: Duhhhhhh…?
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She wasn’t being disrespectful. She actually had a sweet voice when she uttered those words. She was growing up, that’s what she was doing. She made the transition.
Coco at about five months
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| Coco at two years and five months. |
Ok, so maybe she has a bit of an attitude too. I suppose what I’m trying to get across is that she has developed a sense of privacy–awareness. It’s an interesting thing to see that happen.