There are teachable moments, when you can use a situation to convey a lesson or idea to a child. Then there are pee-able moments, which just seem to result in pee all over the bed that has to be cleaned up in the middle of the night.
After a late evening at work, I sneaked into N’s room to kiss her good night as she slept. I noticed something on the floor beside her bed—it was her diaper, which apparently she had taken off and cast unceremoniously aside. She was sleeping soundly, so I wondered—could this be a teachable moment? If we leave the diaper off, could it reinforce our daytime potty training (or “potty learning,” if you prefer)?
It’s been slow going with the big potty so far. We haven’t pushed, figuring N would do it when she’s ready. I just hoped she would be ready by now. So I thought—maybe N will feel herself peeing in the bed and realize she needs to go to the potty.
Sure enough, at 1:45 am, I heard the wail. I found N standing up on the side of the bed, upset that she had wet the sheets. As I calmly changed her and the sheets, I explained that it’s okay not to wear a diaper to bed, it just means we have to go pee-pee on the potty.
She seemed to be taking it all in, but the jury’s still out on whether the “teachable” moment succeeded, or whether it’s just another load of smelly laundry I need to do today.
A Mom In Brooklyn 
The sleeping through the night without a diaper is the last stage of diaper training. It took us months to get to that point. BTW, my daughter started successfully potting training 2 months prior to turning 3. Your better off experimenting during the day when she is cognizant of her bodies clues. If she’s sleeping, she won’t realize the urge is setting in.
GPBuckeyeMama—thanks for the comment! I think you’re right. We are ‘experimenting’ a little with potty training to find out what works for N and it is so helpful to hear the experiences of other moms.
In the past few days, N has started showing more interest in the potty. It’s still one step forward and two steps back, but that’s got to get us somewhere, right??
Thanks for reading!! 🙂