Smaller and Smaller

(I already posted this on Facebook, but the grandmas don't access that, so here it is for you guys).

When we built our house Ethan was just shy of 1 year and I was in my 1st trimester with Emmett. We were still all-consumed with diapers and sleeping habits with no thoughts of potty training. When it came time to pick out toilets and sinks we decided on the higher variety. Later, we realized a high sink may not be wise with children, so we changed the main bathroom to a normal-sized sink. Again, thoughts of kids using potties were far from our thought processes, so all original toilet choices stayed the same: higher.

My boys both learned to potty train standing. Ethan potty trained closer to age 3, so with his combined height advantage and mental reasoning to aim a bit better, we never experienced much trouble with Ethan. Emmett, however, potty trained much younger. Right around his 2nd birthday he was trained, and I cannot really say how it happened. He is a fast learner. But, until just recently, the Treu height genes were shining through. So, he was a shorter 2. We had a stool for while that he used and he did very well. But, as he hit 2 1/2 he hit a growth spurt. He was still too short to reach the higher toilet, but the stool made him too tall. His mental reasoning was not there to aim like Ethan did at 3. So, we had take him to the bathroom most of the time and let him stand on our feet--just enough height to make it without needing to aim too much. During this time I was quite irritated with our choice for higher toilets. When we went to anybody else's house he could go independently, but at home we always had to help him. (Aaron was more willing to let him continue to use the stool, but that is because he doesn't clean the toilets and the floors.)

Right around his 3rd birthday he hit a growth spurt. He actually surpassed Ethan's 3-year-old height. Suddenly he was fine to go by himself again. As well as being a fast learner, Emmett is quite independent. So, this regained toilet independence is a big deal to him. Because old habits die hard, we still try to help him when he first wakes up in the morning or when he wakes in the middle of the night which he usually resists. So, the other day as I was putting on make up and fixing my hair, he came in and went to the bathroom. While he was peeing he turned to me said, "This toilet is just getting smaller and smaller!"