Her very first

Three years and three days, it took, for the LGBB's first WEE ON THE TOILET!!!!! What is it with the three's?

"Just wait for the child," they all say. Which is hella easy for them to say when they don't have Miss I SHAN'T in their house. She has refused to even look at the potty or a toilet. There is an open-door "Toily Policy" here in this house. We seem to have learnt to go with her coming and going from the bathroom as she pleases. Makes for some interesting natural flight or fight responses on the old sphinctoral reflexes sometimes, I can assure you (as many of you could also relate to, I'm sure).

No, the LGBB has flatly refused to even consider the prospect of sitting on anything toilet-related. Then, every so often over the past few months, she's thrown me a bone. She'd sit on that throne and demand allsorts. Which she didn't get. So she'd get back down. And that'd be that, for weeks on end.

Today I was at my wits' end, I tell youse all. WITS. END. Just with everything in general. It's been very difficult finding that fifth hour every weekday that I've been asked to work. The straw today was the LGBB blatantly pooing in front of me in her nappy while shaking her head that she wasn't, while INSISTING on helping me with hanging out washing and then cracking the shites when she "can't do it" like Mummy and throwing it on the dirty, dusty decking!!!

Yes, today was the first time ever that I have gone away and cried like a howling Jazz on my bed. The LGBB came and found me, said, "I'm here, Mama. Don't worry. Look, Scrapsy's here. It's ok...." with an arm pat and a wipe away of my hair from my face. GOD. More tears.

And then in a moment of sort of nutty-calm Shirley Valentine-esque clarity, I did it. I just serenely went and got a bag, told her she was going to throw out all her nappies using it and marched her confidently around the house collecting nappies to put them in the bag and then garbage bin outside.

OMG. It bloody WORKED.

I set a timer for every 10 mins and made it fun. She did nothing all afternoon. She went for two hours (her record is a kidney-fearing SEVEN.......... when she flatly refused last time to either use the toilet OR put a nappy on and ended up flooding her carseat on the way home from child care that long, arduous day - I am TELLING you she is Miss I Shan't) and then as Stoive and I were chatting, we put her on the toily before the bath and there it was.

The sweetest, tinkly sound ever to hit my ears. The look on her face was priceless. Stunned, horrified, proud and ridiculously excited all rolled into one.

When you've gone so long with your child not even willing to be compliant about taking a pew on the poe, this is HUGE.