Rockin' the Potty

I must say my experience with potty training hasn't been bad at all.  A couple of months ago I thought it was for the birds, though.  I tried a few different times over the past year with Bailey, but she just wasn't ready.  Since turning 3 a few weeks ago, though, it's been like a switch in her system.  I guess she just knows she's a "big girl" now and needs to do "big girl" things.  I'm super proud of her.  I had no doubts that when she was ready she'd do it pretty quickly.  She's just that kind of kid.  She can be super stubborn (I know most people probably wouldn't believe that) and likes control, so I knew as soon as she was ready it would happen.  At first we bribed her with Starbursts, which she called Squares.  She'd always be victorious on the potty and thrust her arms in the air and yell, "horray", after completing her potty duties (ha, get it?) and then look up at me with those big, blue eyes and say, "Can I have a square now?".  Well, my mom was watching her the other day and after my mother went to the bathroom Bailey told her, "Good job, Nana.  You get a square!".  She's such a little encourager!
Along with the lovely potty training experience, I'm also experiencing the frequent stops at bathrooms all over Austin, even gas stations on our way to Midland.  The other day at Target we had just started shopping and of course Bailey says, "Mommy, I have to go potty."  So, I left the cart there.  I didn't think we'd be that long and who's gonna take anything from our cart (Dora book, Dora panties, and jeggings), plus we weren't gonna be long.  Wrong!  Of course, Bailey had to go Number 2 and while we were in the bathroom she was basically narrating what was going on while a mom and her son were doing their own version of potty training in the stall next to us.  Needless to say, the other mommy thought it was quite funny and it was...until it was my turn to potty and Bailey had to narrate my potty session.  Well, after what seemed like 30 minutes in the Target bano we finally returned to our cart, which was now empty.  I'm assuming it was a Target employee putting the stuff back and not someone taking it from our cart.  Seriously, who would want Dora panties?  Those were for Bailey, by the way.  Well, Bailey started to cry because she thought someone had stolen her Dora book.
It really has been a pretty easy transition and I'm pretty grateful to not have to deal with diapers in the near future.  She even stays dry over night!  It's a little bit sad, though, because it means she really is growing up and I'm not just imagining it.  Sigh...