On to lighter subjects of little import to anyone -- we've suddenly begun the long road to diaperlessness on the part of The Girl. The Boy was potty-trained at 26 months. He was also my only child and is a kid who will usually do what you tell him to do even if he doesn't like it much. The Girl is a completely different sort of person. She is not inclined to do anything she didn't think of for herself and wants to do everything by herself. Although she's been showing many signs of potty readiness since eighteen months, she hadn't mastered everything and therefore wouldn't do it. Plus, I have been in no state either while very pregnant nor with a newborn around to want to work on potty training.

Last weekend though, we bought some Feel and Learn pull-ups at Sam's Club. On Tuesday, The Girl would pee in them, announce what she'd done, strip down and put on another pair. The feeling part was there, but not the learning. In the afternoon, I started making fun of her. She does not want to be considered a baby any more, but I reminded her that babies wore diapers and big girls used the potty. Yesterday was a great improvement.

Although she made it to the potty only about 60% of the time, some of her accidents only involved a drop or two, before she went to the bathroom to finish up. She put all the solid stuff in the toilet and that is, of course, a great improvement. Perhaps, some day she actually will be wearing the real underpants I bought her in a fit of optimism some months ago.

Through all our attempts at potty training, we've been offering a few chocolate chips as a tasty reward for a job well done. The Boy is again acting as his sister's advocate in this regard. Every time she goes, he pipes up to remind us that she should get some chocolate. At first, I was a bit baffled as to why he would care, until I realized that I had been giving him a piece or two whenever she got some. He didn't care at all about her reward, just his own stomach.