Every morning before her bath, I ask Mia to sit on the potty. She appeases me and sits for about five seconds. She eagerly hops off and heads for the tub. I put my thumb between my fore and middle finger and shake my hand side to side. "Mia please try to go potty". She whines and sits down again but no pottying. We've been doing that routine for about a year now. I haven't come up with any better ideas and complacency sets in so she still is in diapers at four years old.

Last Thursday I decided I was gonna push the potty training issue. I let Mia walk around naked within the confines of the bathroom and prepared for a long wait for her to have to go potty. She was excited to get to be naked for a while. She loves to not have her diaper on (a point which I try to push when explaning potty training to her). An hour and a half later she failed to find inspiration and we had to move on with the day.

Friday night, Mia came down with a fever. Saturday, I took her into urgent care. When the doctor pushed on her tummy she squirmed a little. He asked if we could get a urine sample. "I dont know how we're gonna do that" I said. She isn't potty trained and has yet to go to the bathroom upon request. We fitted her with a bag and were instructed to return when she had a sample.

Four hours, two apple juices and one gatorade later we were back at the dr's and she still hadn't given her sample. It was about time to call it quits when she started giggling. I could hear the plastic inside her diaper re-adjusting. Thank God, she peed. It turns out she had a UTI. Ugh. This poor kid, it seems to be one thing after another. Today, she has been on her antibiotics for two days and is in a great mood. Maybe she'll be more receptive to the toilet now that she has been introduced to the bag.