It's Potty Time!

Just when I thought I couldn't stand the sight -- or smell -- of another dirty diaper, Hendrick used the potty.

It was a momentous occasion in my house. We cheered. We sang. We embraced. We told Daddy the minute he walked in the door.

I fully realize that just because Hendrick peed in his little blue potty doesn't mean I can toss out his changing table. But I have something I didn't have before -- hope!

I had been talking up the potty for months. I kept telling my son how great life would be if he didn't have to wear those silly diapers. After all, they are for babies and he's a big boy now. So big that we had to buy him a bed. No more crib. No more diapers. That's the way it works, I explained.

"Just sit there for a minute," I would plead. But he wasn't interested. "That's OK, Mommy," he would reply, then run off to play with his trains.

My friend Ronna, who raised three boys, said that I shouldn't fret about Hendrick's lack of interest in toilet training. "Nobody ever went to high school in diapers," she said.

I was starting to wonder if my child would be the first.

Toilet training is a delicate matter, something that cannot be rushed. Children, particularly boys, will let you know when they are ready, and we cannot let our own anxiety over exactly where they poop to become a -- ahem -- load on their minds.

So until they tell you it's time to go, you'll just have to cross your legs and hold it in.