It came as quite a surprise. We were just starting to think about how and when to 'potty-train' Maia when she basically informed us, that she is 'a big girl already' and wants to do it like the other children in the nursery. Indeed, she has been able to tell about her needs for months already, but we never came to the point of actually trying to take her off the nappies.
One day after taking her to the nursery I asked Liz - Maia's favorite nanny what to do. Liz based on her decades of experience recommended that we should just take off the nappies for one weekend, and should then inform her on the following Monday so that she would keep taking Maia regularly to the loo. She was very negative about the pants-like nappies: "They would just confuse her", Liz said.
We then thought what would be a good time, perhaps Emese's planned trip to Horgos with the kids in May, and so on... Until one Friday, the last before the trip, Emese just took the nappies off Maia and asked her to tell us when she needs to use the WC. And she did!
Since then Maia has been very proud, telling how she is a 'big girl now'. And very reliable, telling us punctually and early enough when she is 'in need' so that one of us could take her to the loo.
She was not too fond of the pot and chose to use the toilet seat herself. A few weeks later she started insisting doing it without anyone's help.
Originally we kept the nappies on her during the night, but then I opened Armin Brott's book (admittedly I have barely opened it since Ivan was born) and somehow decided to stop that too. Now I am taking her for one WC session about midnight, just before I go to bed myself, and in 99% of the cases this keeps her dry till the morning session. The 1% cases have, in our observation, been a result of special circumstances: like coldness, flu etc.
So here we are, buying nappies for one child only again. And adding a new colourful set of tiny underwear on the drying ropes.