EC: 17 months

Belle is indicating more and more frequently when she needs to go to the bathroom. A couple of months ago, she would adamantly nod her head if you asked "Do you need to go potty?" when she did need to go. Then she transitioned to nodding every time you asked, regardless of real need. That was fun...

Now she will start to pull at her clothes, her diaper, point to her bottom, run to the bathroom or nod at the person closest to her. Sometimes she'll grab my finger and pull me towards to bathroom and other times, she'll look intently at me like I'm supposed to know exactly what she needs.

She's starting to vocalize what she needs and will say "Puh" when pointing to her bottom. That's when I know she needs to poop. I'm glad and I think she's glad she knows that having poop wiped off her bottom is unpleasant and unnecessary for us both.

After months of frustration with the little potty, we finally found one that works for her. The Bjorn Little Potty would slide on the linoleum floor and was often very cold so she refused to use it. She preferred the adult toilet with the child insert. This was fine, but it was often a challenge to get her all the way up the stairs to the toilet before she released. When I saw this design for a potty chair, I figured it was worth a try. It has rubber stoppers on the feet to prevent it from sliding and was of a more substantial weight and a better height for her to sit comfortably.

Now she will take herself over the her potty chair and sit down. Sometimes she forgets she has clothes on so I have to watch pretty closely. She's not able to get herself onto the adult toilet yet on her own but she can with her potty chair.

She is starting to keep herself dry most of the time. When visiting friends, she'll indicate that she needs to go to the bathroom. Out and about in the car or on walks doesn't work so well. She is mainly nonverbal when it comes to her communication so when she's sitting in her rear-facing car seat, I can hear or see if she's indicating her need.

There are times when its obvious she needs to pee or that its a normal time for her to pee (after waking up from a nap) and she will refuse. At those times, I won't push her and keep up asking her more frequently until she does go.

She is starting to communicate with others regarding her elimination needs and not just me. The other day when our neighbor cared for her, Belle kept her diaper dry all day. She let the neighbor take her to the toilet and indicated when she needed to go. I was very impressed.

Today, she stayed dry all day and this is becoming a more regular occurrence. I found some underwear for her to start wearing and I dress her in soft knit pants that are easy for her to pull down. She's starting to try to pull her pants up herself and put her underwear on too.

Some nights she will stay dry. For a few months, it was more reliable but these days its not so much. Belle isn't particularly a fan of undressing to go to the bathroom at night, and I don't blame her...

I don't know when I'll start dressing her in underwear full-time; probably when she has a verbal cue for needing to head to the potty. Right now I use diapers as insurance. I expect she'll keep it dry but if in case, she doesn't we don't have a puddle to clean up. And she will let you know if she's about to pee in her diaper. She gets really upset and will scream about it. This can be hard to understand the meaning of her screaming in the moment because there are so many other things she could be screaming about. I'm really looking forward to the day when I hear her yell "Potty!"