The Diaper Man

Eli has been showing all the signs that he's ready for potty training. His mother, on the other hand, has been avoiding it like the plague. :) I just can't seem to get myself psyched up for days of accidents on the rugs!

Anyway, I was talking to a friend about how we were going to potty-train our toddlers (she has a daughter Eli's age), and she suggested talking it up for a while and then using a similar tactic to the familiar "pacifier fairy." You know- the fairy comes and takes all the pacifiers away from a child and leaves a surprise in return? Well, this January, the Diaper Man is coming to the Wilson house. :)

It's adorable to hear Eli talk about it...

Me: Who's coming after Christmas?
Eli: Diaper Man!
Me: And what is he going to do?
Eli: Take all the diapers away!
Me: And what do you get?
Eli: Under-woo! (underwear)
Me: And then what happens?
Eli: Go pee-pee and poo-poo in potty!

We have this conversation about ten times a day. :) He's pretty excited about it, and I'm gearing myself up for it, too. The only problem is that he's confused the Diaper Man with everything that happens at Christmas. He knows all about Baby Jesus being born and what we do on Christmas Day, and he's heard a little about Santa (we're trying to downplay him, though), but he's thrown the Diaper Man in the mix, too. We'll pull a link off of the Christmas chain, and I'll comment on how close to Christmas we are. Eli will then say, "Diaper Man coming!" It's amusing. We're trying hard to take emphasis away from the Diaper Man now, though, but he's still lodged in Eli's brain as part of Christmas.

So, this year, we have Baby Jesus, Santa, and the Diaper Man. :)