The Joys of Potty Training

I was reminded this evening of how finding joy in life can be all about perspective. At 8:30pm, after playing around in her room for almost 30 minutes, I hear Jocelyn open her door and say, "Mommy, I have to go potty!" This of course, in the last few months since potty training began, enacts an instinctual response in me to drop whatever I'm doing and run as quickly as possible to the bathroom where I help Jocelyn pull down pants and sit on the potty. I then leave the room as quickly as possible (turns out Jocelyn is very serious about her privacy). Now, experience tells me that a potty run at this time of night can mean one of two things: either the reason she's been up for so long, or an excuse just to get out of bed and play a few seconds longer. Fortunately (for her) it was the former this evening. After a few minutes I hear her very excitedly exclaim, "Mommy, I pooped in the potty! Come see my poop!!!" For the record, we did have sort of a rough time getting the poop training down in the beginning, and I still deal with about one accident a week. But for the most part she is pooping in the potty all the time - this is not exactly a rare event. Not to mention I've seen enough of my children's poop to last a lifetime. Still, to walk into that bathroom and see my daughter gleaming with pride reminded me that joy can come from many sources, and while it may not be a high point of my day, I will continue to "get excited" and love on my daughter for pooping in the potty if it means putting that beautiful smile on her face :)