Just a few weeks ago, I was having on about how Boolie, who turned 3 in August, is not potty trained and still uses a pacifier. I wasn’t going to push those issues at the time, because her brothers had just gone back to school and she was going through a rough time. Still, you get to thinking Christ, maybe she WILL start kindergarten in diapers.

For the past 7 years, Ben and I have had at least one kid in diapers, often two. Hell, Sam didn’t toilet train until a couple of months before Boolie was born, so we were in danger for a while of having three in diapers. We’re more than ready to have diapers gone from our lives forever: the expense, the stinkiness, the disposal issues. We’ve been saying for a couple of years now that when Boolie finally toilet trains, we’re going to buy a bottle of good champagne and have a proper celebration.

Well, I think we’ve cracked her code. She didn’t want to go to the toilet because she was afraid of falling in. We solved this issue with a toilet seat insert (with Disney princesses on it!) purchased at Target yesterday afternoon, and she’s been happily using the toilet since then. She even brings a book with her so she can read while sitting on the pot, like everyone else in the family. We’re not out of the woods yet, but her diaper days are numbered. (I’m secretly hoping she’ll train within the next few days, because we have about 10 Pampers left and I hate to buy another box if she’s not going to use them.) We even let her pick out a packet of panties, with the promise that she can start wearing them once she stays dry regularly.

So there is light at the end of the tunnel. And then what? Yesterday she went all day without her deedee. She wanted it when she was falling asleep, but she spent the entire day with no pacifier plugged into her mouth. The kid has, it seems, decided to grow up overnight. Isn’t that always the way? Erika, my oldest, got her first period the day she was asked on her first date. (I almost had a coronary.)