Hip-hip-horray for Potty Training!

I know I've posted about potty training before, and I would like to apologize in advance to those who don't have small children and are totally grossed out by potty training. You can just skip this post and go on to the next one.
I have discovered something surprising about myself. I absolutely love potty training! I was reading a post on my cousin's blog about how much she hates potty training and to my surprise as I thought about it I realized that not only do I not mind it, I am actually enjoying the process very much! We've been doing "preparation" for potty training for over a year. We bought a potty before Emery turned 1 and have been sitting her on it periodically in the months that followed. Whenever she came in the bathroom when one of us was sitting we would tell her that we were going potty and when we changed her diapers we would talk about "going potty." It was extremely minimal effort, almost to the point of laziness. But my the time we were ready to start training her we already had a head start because she was comfortable with the potty and she knew what it was for.
But the thing I love about potty training is watching her progress through each stage. I'm in no particular hurry for her to move quickly through the stages, I'm not pushing her to train quickly. We're just doing each thing slowly over a period of weeks. It was so exciting to see her teach herself to hold it in till she could get to the potty. She would be so excited and have such a feeling of satisfaction and pride when she managed to make it to the potty. Then we started putting her in panties and pants (instead of being naked) so she has to pull down the pants and panties in order to go. Then she started sleeping in the panties for her nap. Next we installed a special toddler toilet seat on the big toilet and she is so excited and proud when she can climb up there and go just like mommy and daddy.
And every step she takes toward independance from diapers is a small victory and immensely satisfying for me. I don't mind when she makes messes or has accidents. In fact, we don't even use the word accident here. We just say, "Did you go potty in your panties? Come on, lets get you changed." And I find myself greatly looking forward to the future steps we have ahead of us. We still get to have the small victory of going out of the house in panties (something we have not yet attempted) and then night training. Yay!
To me potty training is just like all the other steps that are so fun to experience with my daughter. I love watching her pick up new words and learn how to express herself with words. I love seeing her adjust to a big girl bed, learning how to control her emotions, learning how to make choices, learning to identify letters and numbers and animals... her learning is explosive and potty training is just part of that process. And I LOVE the process. My baby became a toddler and now she is becoming a child. Every day I marvel at her developing brain.
So yay for potty training!