No more diapers!

"No more diapers!"  Wow....it seems unbelieveable to say that!  I guess it's not entirely true, as we still diaper at night...but, my little Duckling, is as she says "all done with diapers!" 

When she turned 3, I must admit, I kind of struggled with the thought of a 3 year old still being in diapers.  Afterall, all of my kids have been potty trained sometime between the ages of 14-27 months.  Not my precious Duckling though, nope, not my BABY!  Not by my choice (although, part of me hates to let go of one of the last signs of "babyhood")...this was completely her choice and whether we like it or not, this is definately one of those first choices we have less control on in their lives.  I'm not one to force my kids to potty train.  I feel it is a natural process, similar to natural weaning (and yes, my baby girl is still nursing, those days too, will soon be gone).  When my kids show signs of readiness for potty training, I bust out the little potty, the potty chart, the potty books, etc.  I don't push any of these ideas, but gently introduce them, just so my little ones know what they have available to them. 

Duckling has showed signs for about the last 5 months or so and at one point or another during those 5 months, she got pretty darn close to being trained, but quickly decided it was much more convenient for her to come to me with a new diaper and politely ask to be changed. 

Recently, our family has spent the last nearly 2 months with someone being ill.  We've had at least 3 different stomach bugs passing around here.  Duckling was lucky enough to be a contestant all 3 times around.  With this last virus she had, she came to me one morning as I was preparing for our school day and she grabbed my hand and tried to pull me along as she said "Mommy, I have to go poop".  Sigh.....sometimes, that girl can sit on that potty for what seems like an eternity, only to produce nothing...and I was really busy.  I didn't want to say no, but I really didn't have time to sit in the bathroom with her either.  So, as a compromise, I said "how about we bring your little potty down here".  She was thrilled with the idea...so, she sat on the potty next to me, while I continued my work.  Now, not long before, Cardinal had made her a nice little potty chart, so she was actually getting pretty good at this potty thing and I must give Cardinal most/all of the credit because she actually worked with Duckling on this whole potty thing.  Duckling was so proud of herself when she successfully used the potty.  This particular day Friday March 18, Ducking used the potty all day!  Somehow, even with having severe diarrhea, she made it each and every time, having NO accidents the entire day.  I was so happy, because her poor little bottom would have been a mess by the end of the day, had she been wearing diapers. 

The next day, Duckling still had diarrhea (of course, when doesn't she)...but, she wore panties the entire day then too.  Again, she had no accidents.  Hmmmm....it sure seemed to me like we weren't going back in diapers.  Wow...for the past 12 1/2 years I have had at least one and sometimes as many as three kids in diapers and now, my baby is "all done" with diapers.  I'm thrilled to see her thriving and developing, but I must say it is a little hard to bid diapers farewell.  I won't miss the expense or all the laundry...but this is sure proof that my baby is growing up.  My little caboose.  My little Duckling is turning into a swan right before my very own eyes.

I'll cherish the last bit of babyhood we have left and continue to meet the developing needs of Duckling in a natural way...she is still actively nursing, lol.  Those days too, will soon be gone...but, in her own time of course because I have always practiced "extended nursing" and "natural weaning" methods and well, I won't stop now :)

...and those diapers.  Well, during the day, they are gone...at night, we still need them, as she hasn't quite gotten rid of them completely.