Today I took both kids to the pediatrician for their six month and three year check-ups, respectively. Then I told Corin I would take him to lunch at Red Robin. The reason? My son is finally potty trained. No, let me restate: MY SON IS FINALLY POTTY TRAINED!*

It only took a year. Yes, you read that right. A year.

In retrospect, it probably would have been better just to wait. We had made some (very slow) progress, and then the baby came, and things backslid for months. I’ll spare you the ups and downs of our ordeal, but I will say that my dear friend, Lila, saved the day with the suggestion I try boxers instead of briefs. Parents in the boy potty training trenches, a word of advice: If your child is accident-free when running naked but has accidents as soon as you put him in underwear, get thee to the nearest Walmart for boxers, pronto!

You can understand, given this experience, why I physically cringed when I read that children with Down syndrome can be more difficult to potty train. But then, as my dad said: “More difficult than what?!”

In any case, Corin has been more than a week completely accident free. (I am still a little afraid to type it.) So we had our victory lunch today. That bleu ribbon veggie burger never tasted so good.

Clearly, the burger in the photo is the non-veggie variety, but you get the picture.

*Disclaimer: We are not in any state to tackle nighttime potty training. All references to potty training refer to the hours Corin is awake. We will be tackling sleep potty training when he seems ready or reaches the age of 17, whichever comes first.