Lorelei, Lorelei...

For those of you who know her, Lorelei is totally irresistible.  Am I'm not even exactly sure why.  She's an adorable, disheveled, chubby (but not really), smart, coordinated, borderline-hoarder ball of love.  She's talking so well these days, and says things that Sydney would have never said when she was the same age (not bad things, just surprising things).  I suppose it comes with the territory of being the little sister; Lorelei gains "wisdom" (ha!) from her older sister, making her more knowledgeable and street smart at an earlier age.

Anyway, Lorelei is potty training.  Actually, I kind of think she's potty trained.  I started potty training Sydney at exactly the same time of year, two years ago.  Sydney turned two in late January (2012), we went on a trip to TX, and I declared that I would start the potty training process as soon as we returned home from the trip.  We did, and she did fine.  By the end of March she was potty trained, with very few scars for life.  Something I learned though was that the younger you potty train them, the more you have to be involved (physically putting them on the potty, helping them pull up their pants, etc.).  I already knew I would wait until Lorelei was older than Sydney was when it was her turn, because I didn't want to be quite so "involved."

Lorelei turned two in October, and I knew I would not attempt potty training before we moved.  She was probably ready to start training in January, but in January Ford was born, Chet returned home from deployment, and in February we moved 1,000 miles away.  Potty training took a back seat to all of that; no sense in putting ourselves in a situation that would send us to the funny farm.  Even after we "moved" (as in, physically arrived in the area where we would be living), potty training was still not feasible; first we needed to unload the moving truck, then we needed to get the house livable, then we needed to continue to unpack, then, then...  You get the idea.  But last week, I knew it was "time" when we had two little neighborhood girls here at the house (in addition to my three) and I found Lorelei in the upstairs bathroom, sitting on the potty after removing her diaper (#2, mind you).  I slapped some panties on her, pulled out the portable princess potty, and informed her, "Lorelei, from now on you potty in the big potty.  Like Sydney."

Fun fact: I used jelly beans to potty train Sydney.  If she even sat on the potty she got a jelly bean.  If she went potty, she got two.  I didn't want to do that this time around.  I wanted to be super awesome (read: ridiculous) and not bribe/reward her (other than words of encouragement and hugs).  But the morning after we started potty training when I told her, "Let's take off your (nighttime) diaper, go potty, and put on some panties!" she said, "Um, no thank you."  And she refused to potty for the next two hours (I made her try every five minutes).  So I caved, pulled out the jelly beans, and said, "Lorelei, if you potty on the princess potty you get a jelly bean."

Those jelly beans are magic, I tell you.

We've had a few accidents, but very few.  The catalytic incident occurred last Tuesday, and today I say with tentative confidence that she is trained.  She certainly wasn't so quick to learn because of anything I did (remember, I tried to potty train her the cold, heartless way, sans candy).  I really think it happened so quickly because she was older, and because she has a big sister to set the example.

Good job, Lorelei!

Here is Sydney sitting on said princess potty, Christmas Day 2011 (not actually going potty, of course):

And here is the potty trainee, January 2012, the same age Ford is now (I think they look alike, but I also think he looks like Sydney):