Potty Training: Why My Daughter Is Trying To Pee Like A Boy

My daughter Eva won't be two until July and so we haven't officially started to potty train her yet. My son, now four, was trained in a hurry when he was two and a half because the pre-school we wanted him to attend required that he was out of nappies. We had a few challenges in getting him there (cue much peeing in the garden and depositing of Number Two's to the sitting room floor, gah!) but we got there eventually. I am hoping that Eva will go to this same pre-school for two mornings a week come September, and so had in mind that we would start introducing the potty training process during the summer. But, typically, Little Miss Eva has her own ideas. I've heard before of other second kids taking the lead of their older sibling and essentially kick-starting potty training themselves, so I was somewhat prepared for it but just not yet. While the pair of them were in the bath during the week, she announced 'Poo!' and we lifted her to the loo where she promptly did her business with the biggest, proudest smile on her face we have ever seen. Hilarious. The following afternoon, on the back of her personal triumph, she took my hand and led her to the loo. 'Do you want to use the toilet?' I asked her as we arrived. I kind of couldn't believe it because she's still a really just a baby. She nodded yes, and then proceeded to stand upright at the loo, pulled her t-shirt up and leaned in towards the toilet bowl. You know, as if she could pee in there standing up. As if she had a penis. As if she is a boy. You see, the thing is, our second child has her older brother to look up to so that's just the way she thinks the weeing goes. I'm still laughing. Join the conversation on Twitter @HerFamilyDotie