Toddler toilets

I got a tour of the toddler room today, where Lyla will move in March. In the center of the room is another room with four-foot-high tiled walls and no ceiling. Inside the room-within-a-room are two miniature toilets. I have not yet shared this information with Lyla.

There's no rush, obviously, as a potty-trained 15-month-old is unheard of. Still, I'm a little afraid. Those toddlers will be sitting on the toilets reading the Wall Street Journal and doing sudoku puzzles, and Lyla will be in the corner cracking one off in her pants. It's not a pretty picture socially.

So we're buying her a potty. We'll put it in the nursery by the changing table, and Lyla can explore it at her leisure. Maybe we'll plop (the wrong word, I know) her down on it just before putting a new diaper on, get her used to the feeling. It'll be a game. "The potty!" we'll say when she sits down on it fully clothed to read an Elmo book. And the next steps will come eventually. I think it'll be an excellent opportunity for mother-daughter bonding.