Coming Naturally

I've been getting a lot of flak for keeping Laila in diapers up to now. Well, she's not in diapers all the time. Just when we go out and during the night.

Nonetheless there's been a deluge of people telling me that we--meaning I--should begin sending Laila to bed diaperless and just wake her up in the middle of the night to pee.

My sister is very proud that she got her kids out of diapers at age 1 with this technique. A neighbor and Daddy's officemates have given similar testimonials to effectiveness of this method.

The problem is I'm not too keen in getting up in the middle of the night just to drag my little heavy sleeper to the bathroom. Laila is really difficult to rouse. And, once she wakes prematurely, very difficult to put to bed.

Another problem is that I don't wake up too easily myself. So chances are Laila would be having an 'accident' in bed and I'd get awakened--she'd still be asleep--by a puddle of pee slowly soaking me. I'd have t change her clothes, spray the bed with alcohol, change the sheets.

I'd be cranky, Laila would be cranky, Daddy would get the brunt of our crankiness and we'd all lose sleep. Nobody wins.

So I keep her in diapers at night.

I sternly believe that she'll toilet train herself when the time comes that she's physically ready. I don't think she'll willingly wet or poop on herself when she understands that she needs to go.

I think that time has come or is dawning at least.

For the last two days she's gone to class without her diapers. Laila hasn't had an accident so far. And this morning I saw that the diaper she used last night hadn't been soiled, the second time in a couple of days.

I've also noticed that, recently, Laila looked serously uncomfortable when she pees or poops in her diaper. When she pees, she'd sit down wherever she was and pee as if she had no diaper on. When she poops, Laila would do a cowboy walk as if she didn't want the soiled diaper to touch any part of her.

I don't think we'll be retiring the diapers tonight or tomorrow night. Laila will be toilet-trained when her bladder's good and ready even if I don't push her. I know that's just around the corner.