Take it From Me, Parents Just Don’t Understand
We've been working semi-casually towards potty training Margaret. It's really been us that have been dropping the ball by not being consistent. Still, every time we have to drop $20-$30 for a new package of pullups, our motivation gets renewed. We have progressed to the point where M will gladly perform her duties on the potty, providing that you prompt her to do so by taking her there. She's not yet to the point of telling you that she needs to go. So unless we diligently take her every 30 minutes or so, we end up changing wet diapers. For the last few days, every time we change a wet diaper, we ask her "Why didn't you tell us you needed to go potty? We would have taken you to the potty and you could have gotten an M&M!"
Last night, while Liz was cooking, M came into the kitchen, clad only in a diaper, and said "Want diaper! Want diaper!" She then took off her diaper, and peed on the floor right in front of Liz. Liz wasn't 100% sure what to think of it. 30 minutes later, Margaret does the same thing, coming into the kitchen saying "Want diaper! Want diaper!". I was there this time, and I replied "You already have a diaper." She ripped it off, and peed right on the floor in front of me.
We discussed it a bit, and determined that, considering our recent requests for her to tell us when she needed to go, and the fact that she did the same thing twice in a row, that she was saying "Want diaper" as short for "I want this diaper off of me so I can go pee pee in the potty and get an M&M."