can't fool me, Amma

Ana likes to sit on her little potty every time we ask her about it. Or every time I need to use the toilet, she likes to follow me in and ape me.

She giggles excitedly when grabbing a long piece of toilet paper and throwing it in her little potty, which sits next to the big potty.

Then, she likes to pull the flush lever on the big potty when she is done pretending to do her business... she never has actually successfully deposited any droppings in her little potty so far.

All in good time.

What I find cute is, she now knows to pull her pants down and take off her diaper before sitting on her little potty. Hurray to elastic-waist pants. I am waiting for summer when i can let her run around in the buff so potty training will be even easier...

Of course, after declaring she is all done and jiggling the flush lever on the big potty, she wants "dye-po noudh" (diaper newdd, newdd=new in Welsh). She promptly opens the cabinet door under the sink, and throws her old diaper away clearly stating, "taash" (trash).

Perfect so far.

But, even if the diaper is quite unsoiled, and has just been put on her a few seconds before the potty visit, she wants to throw it away.

Being the penny-pinching (environmentally conscious) mom that i am, i tried to save the diaper before she threw it in the trash, in an attempt to use it again. (She does use cloth diapers on and off on weekends when we are at home...)

Anyway, so, I tried to sneak the few-seconds-old, barely-used, potentially-reusable diaper back into one of the closet shelves where we keep her diapering essentials. Well, seriously, it was bone dry, and i had just put it on her a few seconds before she decided to take it off... i wouldn't compromise hygiene, no way!

At diaper change time, I pulled out the barely-used diaper to put on her. She noticed that it was not quite brand new and started kicking up a fuss, repeating: "no, Amma, No. Ana ishio dye-po noudh" until i put on a spanking new one on her. (ishio=eisiau, Welsh for want)

Right after, she picked up the said barely-used one and took it to the diaper-trash-can and threw it in clearly stating, "Amma, ditty dye-po" (dirty diaper).

I laughed and let it go. But, made a mental note to fold and press the barely-used one next time so that it looked more like new. My mommy-brain reasoned that her main objection might have been to the fact that it was a little crumpled and didn't have the brand new look.

So, last evening, I tried the same trick again, when Ana took off her 2-second-old diaper... i folded it flat and brought it out to the changing-mat on the bed where i change her.

Of course, there is no fooling her!

Like she knew what I had been up to, Ana kicked and screamed, wouldn't let me put the barely-used one on, actually supervised me till i threw it away, and got on a brand new one!

She will be two in two months or so. And, I am trying as best as I can to encourage her to get potty trained... At this rate, we might be solely turning a profit for the diaper industry over the next few months...