Adventures in Potty-Training: Prologue

I know that potty-training should be the furthest thing from my mind. My son isn't even a year-and-a-half yet. But I've seen others' struggles with potty-training, and I know that boys can be even more difficult. So I'm not taking any chances.

We've gone ahead and introduced the little man to the potty. We've heard horror stories of kids so afraid of the potty that they'll just scream uncontrollably the whole time they're sitting on it. So we're trying to acclimatize him to the toilet early. Here's what we do:

Step One: We let him come in with us when we use the potty. This way, we figure he can get a very basic idea of what it's for. (You sit on it and the stuff that, in his case, would normally come out your behind onto a diaper instead comes out into a bowl.)

Step Two: We get off the potty.

Step Three: Close the lid. THIS STEP IS VERY IMPORTANT.

Step Four: Sit baby on the potty.

Step Five: Let baby flush the toilet.

Step Six: Enthusiastic applause.

Basically, I've got my kid conditioned that he receives praise for sitting on, and flushing the toilet (what is generally considered by kids to be the two scariest parts of toilet training). Of course, in a few months when we start toilet training for real, and he absolutely refuses to actually use the thing, I'm sure I won't be feeling so smug about all this early preparation. But for the moment, at least his exuberant flushing ensures I won't ever lift the lid to pee and get greeted by a moldy floater.

There's some unnecessarily visual food for thought.