Liebling, my boy wonder, was about 22m old when he wanted to wee on the potty. He did it twice on two consecutive days. Easy, I thought. He knows when he wants to go and he goes to the corner of the room to do it, potty or nappy. He tells me before he does things.

A year and a half later (the boy could sit on a potty for four hours in front of Thomas with food and drink given and refuse to wee age 2), he decided he wanted to wear pants and use the loo. Potty was outgrown after 2 weeks. We had 2-3 accidents a week the first month, and now he's got into his head that pooing is naughty, so I'm working on that. But he was dry at night within two months.

So he may be ready physically, but not psychologically. My mother did more harm than good trying to force the issue - he just announced that he was going to use the potty after his best mate came round for dinner and used our loo!