The Audacity

by Katherine Ryan

so as soon as she started on solid foods, I could tell by the look on her face if she needed the toilet and quickly whipped off her nappy to hold her over the potty. I thought it was probably easier to go that way than it would be strapped in a chair. Poos are the easiest at first because you get a warning via facial expression. If my instincts were right and she went then I’d praise her and leave the nappy off for a while as a comfort reward. We’d sit on the potty to read a story first thing every morning when she woke up and that usually resulted in a wee. We’d do the same maybe hourly or so and always before bed. I started taking the buggy with us to the park and keeping a small potty in the grocery basket underneath, so Violet always had somewhere to go. She wasn’t punished for ‘accidents’ or anything, we just incorporated the potty into our daily routine and it slowly took over nappies on its own. I’d stumbled across articles and YouTube videos of parents who’d taught sign language to their infants and decided to buy a book about it. I spoke to Violet all the time and couldn’t wait for her to talk back (she’s 12 now and yes, I’m frantically trying to derail this training), so I thought it would be a good idea to sign meaningful things to her during regular chit-chat. My mum had always told me that babies know exactly what you’re saying, they just lack the fine muscle dexterity in their mouths to form sounds and make words back. Mum hadn’t taught me any sign language a...