As a father of the first baby, my friends subscribed me to a publication that advises me every month what to expect from the baby and what to watch for. Some of it is quite usefull.
I just got a "12 month" issue. It has a few pages specifically dedicated to a baby turning a year old and what it should be able to do by that time. It also has an article calles something like "the myths of potty training" which basically says that whatever wild stories you might hear, 1 year old baby is way too young for potty-training because he is missing facilities to grasp some concepts, etc, etc... Basically, wait a couple more years. That is pretty much in line with my co-workers' opinion. That american custom has been puzzling me very much because by russian standards one year is about eight months too late to start potty-training the baby.
Yesterday my 1 year and 1 week old baby boy interrupted his play and went (he's been is walking since he was 10 1/2 months old) to the shelf, took his potty, brought it to my wife and proceeded to tug his pants looking uncomfortably. We took off his pants/diaper put him on and he immediately did his business to the amazement of several guests.
Grandmother watching him during the day says he was doing just that for a few weeks when he was in the same room with the potty but it was the first time when we saw it - in the presence of several guests with video camera rolling and even a picture snapped by a still camera! Seing their reaction was absolutely precious!
miko
