Why we have a Dora potty hidden in our closet...

Naomi has pooped in the tub maybe six times in the past couple of weeks. Regardless of when I bathe her. Perhaps I do not need to go into all of the details of why this is not ideal on a daily basis--Suffice it to say, I thought it might be useful to have somewhere to put her when she decided she needed to go, rather than having her repeat (clearly to no avail) "Okay, don't poop" throughout the duration of the tub. So we bought a Dora potty.

This was a mistake.

To clarify, I had no intention when buying the potty to start toilet training Naomi. I just thought we would occasionally have her sit on the potty in the middle of her bathtime as an alternative to forcing a diaper on her smeared, flailing body, completely freaking her out by holding her over the real toilet, or trying to clean the tub with her in it.

Unfortunately, Naomi was instantaneously OBSESSED with the potty from the second we brought it home. It is DORA, after all. But oh, the passion. All day Friday and Saturday, she asked to sit on it over and over again. Saturday, she spent about forty-five minutes after dinner sitting naked on her little Dora seat, wiping herself repeatedly (another unfortunate new obsession that is not appreciated during messy diaper changes) and then trying to wipe my neck (presumably because *her* neck is always grimy and we do frequently clean it with diaper wipes) and face. She also wiped the entire tub, part of the wall, and the laundry bin, and was very upset that I would not let her put my watch and a variety of other items inside the potty while she sat. I could not get her off, could not convince her she was done...she really, REALLY wanted to use the toilet like a grown up, and was apparently content to wait as long as it took to see some success!

Finally, forty-five minutes later, Naomi stood up, said "Ok", and peed all over the bathroom carpet.

So last night we hid the potty in our closet. Naomi may be *emotionally* ready to start toilet training, but I'm not sure I'm convinced she's really in tune enough with her own body to be physically ready. Even if she is ready, I'm not! Hopefully she'll have just as much interest in it, though, six months (or more) down the road, because that certainly does seem like it will help. In the meantime, we have removed the temptation and will have to do without the potential convenience during bathtime.