Suddenly, she wanted to go to the bathroom and I was thrilled. Two weeks went by with me rushing her back and forth and with no promising results. Still, it took another couple of days before I realized she was playing me like a Mickey Mouse piano. Over and over again we went to the potty only to have her fiddle with the toilet paper, proclaim she was done and then happily run across the house.
I agonized over what to do and then while standing in the doorway on yet another visit to the porcelain room, I heard the unmistakable sound of success. I admit, I went way overboard that first time. I danced around yelling "hooray!" and "Abbey did it!" and she was only mildly amused.
I wish I could say that after that everything was a blazing triumph but it doesn't happen that way in my world. She makes it about ninety percent of the time and I'm grateful for that. She likes her Blue's Clue's underwear immensely and that only lets me know she's making strides in her own way. Diapers are for nighttime only and so far everyone's okay with that.
She's small, but she's incredibly determined and that has really served two purposes. She gets things done when she needs to, and she can really push all of mommy's buttons when she wants to. I can't help but wonder who's training who through all of this. But, slowly I'm beginning to learn that even though she has special needs, I don't need to get carried away on the details. She'll have countless other milestones whether I'm twisting myself in knots or not. She's getting it done one step at a time.
