Potty training in bullet points:
- Wrenn’s 3-year-old (boy) cousin taught her how to use the potty. I’m hoping that’s not going to be something that lands both of them in therapy someday. But it worked!
- My child is crazy motivated by chocolate. Anytime she has “success” she runs out of her room yelling, “Mommy, I NEED CHOCOLATE!!!” Funny, that’s how her dad is motivated as well.
- I learned an important lesson: Immediately dump the potty after she goes or the DOG WILL DRINK ALL OF IT AND YOU WILL WANT TO THROW UP OR DIE.
- My mother-in-law had to tell me there’s an escape hatch on pull-ups for #2. I’m going to add that to the list of things people should warn new parents about, along with: don’t feed your kids too many bananas or they’ll never poo again (I learned that the VERY hard way).
- I have no idea how to go from “Yay, you peed in the potty four times today” to “Yay, you’re wearing big girl undies and mama doesn’t have to spend $50 a month on diapers anymore!” I actually let her pick out some undies (it was a tough choice between Little Mermaid and Frozen, but she went with the mermaid) thinking we would give them a go, and then I remmebered… POO. That has yet to happen in the potty. And this mama is NOT cleaning POO off of Arial’s head. So moms… feel free to tell me what the next step is, as long as that next step doesn’t involve me cleaning poo messes off my couch.
And our new housemate:
On a completely unrelated note but still something I want to remember forever – it turns out that an imaginary green giant has moved into our home. Wrenn points him out – filled with all the wonder and fantasy of a two-year-old – and we wave at him, hide from him, laugh with him, wake him up when he’s sleeping, pretend we’re scared of him, and draw pictures of him. His name is Jovie the Monkey and sometimes he’s a bald giant with glasses and sometimes he’s a snake, but he’s always big. Regardless, I love the wonder and imagination that this child brings to our home, and I hope this giant chooses to stick around for awhile.