Isabel has shown a vague interest in the potty on and off for… oh, ages. We had a potty around the house from quite early on, both to normalise the whole peeing-in-a-pot thing and because when she was still actively stool withholding I needed something to squat her over. Anyway, as her interest increased I actually became more and more reliant on nappies. Backwards step, but the thought of trying to potty “train” a toddler during pregnancy was somewhat daunting.

Anyway, while we were on holiday last week, Izz obviously got fed up and decided to take matters into her own hands. I don’t know whether it was because we’d taken disposable nappies on holiday (the thought of a nappy bucket full of wet/pooey nappies for a week was a bit stomach churning) but she started taking herself off to the potty, pulling her trousers down/nappy off, and peeing. Can’t exactly avoid the issue if she requires no intervention from me!

Took the bull by the horns on Sunday and stuck her in some shiny new pants, and she had just the 1 accident when something spooked her in the garden. She went in to nursery yesterday with just pants and lots of spare trousers and didn’t have a single accident. Not only that, BUT — and this is huge, but probably only makes sense if you’re aware of the back-story with Isabel’s poo problems — while I was cooking yesterday evening, she shouted out to me “muuuuum, I need a BIIIIG POO” then took herself off to the potty with a book (wonder who she gets that from) and did just that. No fuss, no holding, no straining or tears. I couldn’t be more pleased :)