potty party

I bought a potty training potty for V a week ago (she had been asking to use the toilet, so I figured it was time) and she's used it a couple of times since. I'm not sure that I'm really prepared for potty training again, but she's ready, so here we go. Yay. This is when I'm thankful we don't have any carpet.

She's running a little late, according to Czech schedules -- I've known more than one mother here who potty trained her kid well before she weaned him/her. (Of course, due not only to early potty training, but also to prolonged breastfeeding.) Early potty training causes some unusual social habits. Children urinate in the open all the time, often held uncomfortably over grates on the sidewalk or street. (I have to say that this is actually liberating when your kid is still learning -- saves the scramble for the public restroom. Although we usually use a tree, not a grate.) Of course, adult men are also sometimes spotted urinating in the odd corner. There are a couple of spots at the National Theater that reek something awful, but that is neither here nor there. The other thing is the "nocnik", the kid potty. They are ubiquitous. Our church building has one or two. Czech families often have lots of them, all over the place. Baby dolls have their own small potties, available at every toy store. Many families have a kid potty in every room, which makes a lot of sense when the kid is very small and can't give you much warning. On the other hand, it's also a little gross. Especially in the dining room. I would add an appropriate potty joke here, but I can't think of one right now except for this family inside joke: "Can you teapot in the bathroom?"

The pictures are from August of last year. (I think we'll have a working camera again next week.) I thought V with M's underwear on her head was appropriate. And they've been on the balcony a lot lately, so there she is hiding between the two doors.