Big girl potty....here we come!

Today we bought Emma a potty, and three pairs of darling little girl panties.

As a first time mom, it is hard to know when is the right time to venture into the world of potty training. But, Emma has taken to removing her diaper herself once she is wet...so I think it might be time. I've heard from plenty of other people that their daughters were potty-trained at 18 months... Emma is almost 19 months.

As a working mom, I think that this may be especially difficult, because during the week she will be with different grandma's and will not have the consistency I think may be required for potty-training, although I am home with her during the day... I am not there for a night-time routine. Additionally, during my three day weekend there are always many errands to run, that I do not get to during the week.

I think the best plan of attack is to have all the grocery shopping done on a Wednesday, so that on Thursday when my weekend starts we can commit to being home for three days straight, and hopefully have it mastered (for the most part).

The other thing is that I think in order to truly master potty training, we have to convert the crib into a big girl bed, so that she can go potty during the night, should she need to. I am particularly concerned about this idea. I know that my parents had me in a big bed by 17 months (so that I wouldn't be jealous when the new baby moved into the crib), but that seems very early to me. I am wondering if it would be too confusing to her to use panties during the day but a pull up at night. The only problem with this idea is that she tends to remove her diaper either as soon as she wakes up or possibly during the night.

Any help or advise would be very much appreciated! Wish us luck!