I am so proud of my little girl. She's 3 years old now, and it's just a joy to watch her. Well, when she's not whining at me all the way through Wal-Mart. But it's fascinating to see her grow into a little girl from a toddler, and her latest achievements are very exciting. (Attention, new photos at end of post.)
The most recent was yesterday. Abigail, in all her sweetness, pushed over her milk at dinner. Mommy and Daddy had been in a rather involved conversation, and she'd had enough. Well, so have Mommy and Daddy of the milk being knocked over. This incident was met with much vociferous scolding and the revocation of ice cream for desert. This is a serious consequence, perhaps the most in her little life. Kid loves ice cream. So she started crying, screaming, giant crocodile tears streaming down her cheeks. Mommy and Daddy just kept repeating, "No. You know not to knock over your milk. No ice cream," and clearing the table, ignoring the tantrum as we've read in countless advice articles. And you know what, damned if it didn't work! Abigail calmed herself down and then came sniffling over to me and said, "I'm sorry, Mommy. I didn't mean to knock over my milk (which she pronounces adorably as 'nilk')." Regaining of self-control AND a spontaneous apology. And she never again asked for ice cream, quite contentedly getting back in her booster seat and eating a clementine. I was amazed. I almost wanted to reward her with ice cream ...
The much more monumentous accomplishment is often met with groans from my coworkers, but it is by far the most exciting thing to happen to me in year. Drum roll, please ...
My child is potty trained.
YES!!!! IT'S THRILLING!!!! Pretty soon I will no longer have to talk about pee-pee and poo-poo in everyday conversation! We will no longer go through Resolve like water!
This has been quite the process, largely because Mommy and Daddy have been very lazy and haven't pushed her. So finally, about four weeks ago, we just got rid of diapers during waking hours. Cold turkey -- and much cold pee on the carpet. She knew what to do and that she wasn't doing it, but she just didn't care. She'd be dancing around the room, crossing her legs, obviously in discomfort, but you'd put her on the potty and read three books and she'd never go. Very frustrating. But then, during her third birthday party, I coaxed her into the bathroom, away from the bustle of family. We didn't even get halfway through a book when I heard a beautiful tinkling sound. ... She looked up at me with wide-eyed wonder and said, "Mommy, I went pee-pee." I gave her a huge hug and told her how proud I was, and then we ran out into the living room where she anounced gleefully, at the top of her lungs, "Everybody, I WENT PEE-PEE!" And a huge cheer goes up from the crowd ...
Since then, about a week and a half, we got her to go about once every three days. Then something aparently clicked three days ago, and she's now been consistently going before naptime and bedtime for me. And today, she even told me she needed to go. I'm so happy I could cry.
And now the photos:
Abigial chose the theme for her party by herself, Winnie the Pooh. She wore this hat for at least an hour and had a line under her chin for the rest of the night to prove it. Mommy came up with a lovely honey pot shaped layer cake, which Abbey proclaimed was a square cake and would hear nothing of this honey pot business.
This kid made out like a bandit. Grandma was an especially generous sucker.
Just thought this was a funny face -- not unlike ones I made myself at her age, the "Expression of the day."
What a way to end a party, get a new set of wheels. And Nana and Pops chose a particularly cool retro Radio Flyer trike.
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Welcome to my odditorium, a collection of curiosities made up of snippets about my life and occasional machinations on deeper subjects.
4 comments:
Thank you, ayzair. Wonderful photos.
"I almost wanted to reward her with ice cream ..."
I would have. I think this means that, of the two of us, you (are/would be) the parent. But I think we all already knew as much.
"she anounced gleefully, at the top of her lungs, 'Everybody, I WENT PEE-PEE!'"
Ah, blogs. time was, you'd have to drag out a dusty, yellowed old photo album to get this kind of embarassment mileage on prom night. this blog will be an immense help to you starting in about ten more years.
Ahem. While it made sense in context anyway, what I had meant to say was "better parent," not merely "parent."
I would hope you are of the two of us the only parent. And as I'm quite easy to find I'm sure I'd know about it were that not the case. But, let's just not even go down that road.
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