Ladies Room

Has it been a week since I last posted?  Wow, time flies when you’re having fun. 

Last Friday we announced to Clare that it was the last day she was going to wear diapers, that starting on Saturday she was a big girl and would start using the real potty.  I was fine with this idea, partly because I was going to be at work all day Saturday leaving Jeff to be the one to clean up any accidents and handle any meltdowns.

Friday afternoon I went to Target to load up on potty training supplies.  I loaded the car with princess panties, Minnie Mouse panties, two potty seats and a second step stool, carpet cleaner, Smarties candy, DumDum lollipops and a new Rapunzel doll with long long hair and hair brush.   I figured this would get us thru the weekend, if we needed more than this than maybe this wasn’t our weekend. 

Saturday morning I left for work and wished everyone luck.  Apparently Clare slept in a bit but was ready to go the moment she woke up.  I desperately wanted to call and check in, but figured no news was good news.  Around 9am I received the first text message, which read ‘we’re almost out of carpet cleaner’.   By this point in the morning she had had some success with the potty, but didn’t have the hang of it just yet.   At 9:30 I received another text indicated she’d had success, peepee was in the potty!   I didn’t hear anymore until I arrived home around 2 when Clare was up from her nap and happily playing in the living room.  When Jeff’s phone started making noise Clare announced it was Potty Time and ran off to the bathroom where she was successful.  I could hardly believe it! 

Sunday was another successful day; we used the timer for part of the day but soon realized that Clare was announcing her need to use the potty and actually being successful.  By the end of the day Sunday we were no longer setting a timer, she may have sat on the potty 75 times but had no accidents and had gone in the potty every time.  Going to bed Sunday night I told her how proud of her I was, I could tell she was proud of herself also. 

Monday Jeff stayed home; it was such a treat!   We decided that we’d give leaving the house a try, she’d been accident free since Saturday morning and we needed to go to the grocery.  So, with spare princess panties in my purse we headed off to Walmart, but not before lining her car seat with a cloth diaper.  Clare did a great job while we were shopping.  As we got in line to pay I asked her if she needed to go to the ladies room before getting in the car, of course she did!  Surprisingly the Walmart bathroom wasn’t too bad, it was her first experience sitting on a public toilet but she did well after her initial freak out and pulling on my shirt.  After a few minutes she told me to go, so I stepped back and checked the time on my phone, what did I hear while doing so?  Yay!!!  Clare was so excited and proud of herself.  Having the toilet automatically flush was pretty exciting also.  To nobody surprise after we washed our hands she announced she needed to go again, not wanting to take the risk we went back in and tried again, this time just for fun.  Jeff was patiently waiting for us outside and congratulated Clare on her amazing potty skills.  We made it home from our 2hour adventure with no accidents and public potty success. 

I had told Karen on Friday what our plan was for the weekend, I think she was just as excited as we were, I’m sure one less diaper to change was a welcome thought for her.  She told me to just bring extra clothes and she’d continue working with Clare as best she could.  Typically Clare takes her ‘packpack’ with her but it has a few toys and a cup in it, Tuesday it had two pairs of shorts and four pairs of panties.  As soon as we walked in the door on Tuesday Clare announced she needed to use the potty, we were all pretty excited.  I was even more excited when I went to pick her up and found that she hadn’t had any accidents all day!!!  The rest of the week went pretty smoothly, she only had two accidents at Karen’s the entire week, both of which we think were because she was busy playing.

A little side note, because I’m so proud, Clare has also not wet a diaper at night or during her nap since last Saturday.  I hadn’t planned to night time train her just yet, she’s still happily sleeping in her crib, and frankly I figured one thing at a time was the best approach.  But, she’s just that awesome.  Jeff even went as far as not putting a diaper on her for her nap the other day; she did great and stayed dry for her entire 2.5hr nap. 

I think it’s safe to say Clare is officially a big girl and has conquered using the toilet.   I am happily searching for the receipt for the three unopened boxes of diapers I bought last month so I can return them.  

Purple Saturday

I love getting pictures of Clare on Saturday's when I'm at work.  This weekend she was dressed in one of her favorite colors from head to toe. 

I'm Proud Of You

Clare reached another milestone this week, one I wasn’t anticipating so soon but am thrilled she has mastered.  It wasn’t necessarily something we were working on, but we saw a widow of opportunity and ran with it. 

Clare loves her sucker, or paci (both Jeff and I can’t stand that word), and would have it in her mouth at all times if permitted.  We had gotten to the point where she was only allowed to have Bunny, which has her sucker attached, when she was in the car, sleeping or when life was just rough and she needed a little extra love.  She wasn’t dependent on her sucker, but she sure loved it.  I wasn’t overly worried about quitting the sucker habit, but did want to conquer it before too long.

Sunday evening while eating dinner we were talking to Clare about what a big girl she was and how big girls did things like sleep in big girl beds, use the potty, wear ‘underwears’ and don’t need suckers.  She made the comment that Abby (baby at daycare) was a baby and needed suckers and wore diapers.  We saw this as our chance, and ran with it.  I explained that yes, she was a big girl and that it would be very nice if she gave her suckers to Abby, and asked her if she wanted to do that.  She seemed pretty excited about it and then helped me find all the suckers and put them in a bag for Abby.  The rest of the evening she talked about how she was going to give her suckers to Abby. 

I was nervous for bedtime, wondering if she would cry and ask for a sucker, it broke my heart to think she was going to be upset and not understand why.  Our bedtime routine did take longer than usual, but I didn’t push it.  We read a number of books, we rocked, we sang songs, I told her I was proud of her, we talked about how she was a big girl and big girls didn’t need suckers, we talked about how she was a big girl for giving her suckers to Abby.  She held onto Bunny and Baby and finally said she was ready for bed.  I put her in her bed and covered her up, that’s when she asked for a sucker.  I reminded her that she was a big girl and that I was so proud of her.  She kept repeating, ‘I’m proud of you’ and said night-night.  It broke my heart.

When I walked out of the room I told Jeff I hoped it wouldn’t be a rough night and there was no way it was going to be that easy.  Sure enough a few minutes later she was crying and calling my name.  I walked in her room and she said she wanted to rock, so we rocked.  While we rocked we talked about how proud I was of her and how she was such a big girl.  Again, she repeated ‘I’m proud of you’ which of course melted my heart.  After a few minutes she said she was ready to go back to bed and I kissed her goodnight again and put her in her bed. 

She seemed to have fallen asleep, but we heard her talking so Jeff took a turn going in.  He said they rocked a bit and talked about how she was a big girl and didn’t need her sucker.  She asked to take her new pink hairbrush to bed with her this time; so back to bed she went.  She stayed up for another half hour talking about brushing her hair and brushing her Baby’s hair.  I think she finally fell asleep around 9:30pm.

It was smooth sailing until 2am when she woke up crying.  I went in and she was upset and wanted to rock, when I picked her up she was soaking, it was the first time I’ve ever had to change her sheets in the middle of the night.  After a bed changed, new jammies and a few minutes of rocking she was ready to go back to sleep, but not without telling me I was proud of her.

I’m not sure if her middle of the night wake up was because of her being wet or because she wanted a sucker, either way it wasn’t too bad.  She did wake up earlier than normal, but was happy so I didn’t mind.  I set her up with breakfast while I took a shower and Jeff caught a few more z’s.  When I got out of the shower I found her in the living room with nothing else but the bag of suckers!  She’d reached up on the counter to get my purse, put it on the floor and taken the bag out.  I reminded her that she as a big girl and asked her if we were going to give them to Abby, she tried to convince me that she should keep just one, but then agreed to put them back in the bag. 

Our drive down the hill was filled with singing and talking about how she was going to give her suckers to Abby.  I’d texted Karen ahead of time telling her of our plan, to which Karen replied that she was excited for Clare but Abby wasn’t going to be there!!!  Ack, my plan was almost busted!!  So, I told Clare that if Abby wasn’t there that Karen would keep them safe for her when she did come.  Fortunately Clare didn’t inquire about the suckers once we got to Karen’s, she was too excited to see Karen after being gone for so long.

So, we are officially sucker free in this house.  She has asked a few times for a sucker, but once we remind her that she’s a big girl she’s ok.  Bedtime has been uneventful since then, although she did wake up again last night, but didn’t need more than a hug, kiss and reminder that she was a big girl before going back to sleep.  She continues to respond to my telling her that she’s a big girl with ‘I’m proud of you’ which will never lose it’s heart melting effect on me. 

I am so proud of my big girl. 

Playing With Dada

While GG and Pawpaw were by far the favorite this past week Jeff and I did get a few minutes of fun with Clare.  Gail has saved a number of Jeff’s old toys, I suppose she’s been hanging onto them for the last 30 years for a time just like this, when his little girl was over and wanted to play.  Among some of the toys are Lincoln Logs, cars, a few trucks, some books and ‘peoples’.  Clare had fun with all of them.

Jeff built a number of Lincoln Log houses, only for Clare to come in and take the roof off or try and put her doll inside. 

By the end of the week Clare was getting pretty tired so an impromptu nap with Dada seemed perfect.

 

Jeff has always loved books and never says no to reading a book to Clare.  We’d made a stop earlier in the week at Books A Million and Clare was thrilled with her new Lama Lama and ‘Cow’ books. 

It was a wonderful trip; everyone had fun.  Clare loved being the center of GG and Pawpaw’s attention, and Jeff and I enjoyed a bit of a break.  But, at the end of the day when Clare asked where her Mama and Dada were were probably my most favorite moments; it was nice to know that we were still important.  

Branson Butterflies and Bullfrogs

Clare LOVED riding the rides, unfortunately she was about an inch and a half too short to ride any other rides.  Hopefully the next time she'll be ready to ride the tea cups, Dumbo and kiddie coaster.

GG said that the hops made her stomach flip, Clare didn't mind a bit and ran to get in line again.

Jeff can't wait to have a roller coaster partner, Clare has no fear and loved the rides. 

Jolly Joplin in July

GG has been asking when Clare could come play at her house, so this past week we packed our bags with our coolest clothes, dropped Kai off at the Spa, and boarded an airplane headed for Tulsa.  GG and Pawpaw were pretty excited to see Clare, Clare was also excited, so excited that she ran straight for them as we walked past security.

Boarding the plane in Denver was a bit of an adventure, we had to go downstairs and out onto the runway to board, I wasn’t too fond of the wobbly ramp up to the plan was but thankfully it held our weight.  Once we wiggled our way back to row 18 (there were only 19 rows) we discovered people in our seats, the grandmother in the row in front of them insisted they were in the right seat, at which point the flight attendant instructed us to ‘just sit down, the plane is full anyway, just sit down!’  Needless to say I wasn’t fond of this idea, I insisted that I needed to sit with my child and this grandmother of two teenage girls was going to need to find another seat, she finally moved but not without a bit of drama.  I’m not sure where Jeff ended up sitting; he must have found a seat because he was there when the plan landed in Tulsa. 

Clare did a great job on the plane, her first flight with a seat of her own.  I’m sure it didn’t hurt that I had the iPad loaded with new apps and some new books, Bitty also enjoyed the flight but kept one eye open while napping on my lap the entire time.

After arriving in Tulsa and gathering our bags we loaded up the car and headed for Joplin.  One can fly into Joplin, but it involves a layover in Dallas and a small, old, scary propeller plane that makes me beyond nervous; so I opt for the direct flight to Tulsa and 1.5hr drive to Joplin in Pawpaw’s big truck.  If you’re lucky Pawpaw will stop at Arby’s on the way, it’s good mood food!

Bitty decided to take the wheel for a while and happily took us across the Missouri state line.

Another benefit to flying to Missouri is that it doesn’t take 12 hours; the fun can begin the very same day!  GG was ready to play, and so was Clare.  I’m not sure which new toy came out first, maybe it was the green pack-pack, or maybe the baby in her carrier, or maybe it was the Minnie Mouse Birthday play set.  GG and Clare had a wonderful afternoon playing together. 

One of the best parts of visiting GG is that Clare wakes up in the morning and wants GG, meaning Jeff and I can sleep in!  The first morning I woke up to Clare standing at the side of the bed saying ‘hi mama!’ she startled me out of my skin!  I suppose she just wanted us to know that she was awake because she quickly ran out of the room and we didn’t hear from her again until I got up at 9:30 and went upstairs.   Each morning this week she’s called for GG, it’s been absolutely wonderful to sleep in a bit.  Thank you GG!!!

Among the new babies, clothes, and toys that GG and Pawpaw got in preparation for Clare’s visit was a pool!  Clare was so excited to go swimming; she was in that pool no less than twice a day each day.  The water warms up much more quickly here than it does in Evergreen; it actually feels pretty good and almost makes you forget about the incredible heat and humidity in the afternoon. 

Clare enjoyed pretending to make mac-n-cheese in the microwave.  Something tells me it wasn't nearly as good as Dillion's Mac-n-Cheese.

There were plenty of rest periods spent swinging on the swing.  Pawpaw is a good at keeping the swing going, so much so that a certain someone may have fallen asleep.

GG let Clare play with her doll house, she asked repeatedly for a few days and finally got to play with it on the last day. 

Another fun addition to Pawpaw’s house is his new golf cart!!  Greg rescued the golf cart from his parent’s house after the tornado, it took some TLC to get it up and running again but now it’s good as new and ready to give a certain someone rides around the neighborhood.   Everyone got multiple rides; GG even drove a few times.

On Sunday everyone went down to Nana and Daddy Merrell’s house on Grand Lake, OK to enjoy some fishing and food.  Clare was looking forward to having Tommy help her catch a fish; she was a lucky girl in that both Tommy and Logan caught some fish.  Clare enjoyed watching them fish and looking at the fish but was having nothing to do with actually touching the fish.  For the record I did touch a fish, Jeff didn’t think I would. 

She wasn't much interested in actually touching the fish, not even the tiny minnow Logan was using as bait.

Logan caught a catfish, after Tommy got the hook out, she still didn't want to touch it.

While the men were sleeping on the other side of the room Clare was the center of the ladies attention.

It wouldn’t be a trip to Missouri in July without a trip to Branson.  Fortunately the weather was a degree or two cooler on Tuesday, so we headed down to Silver Dollar City, unfortunately we weren’t the only ones with this bright idea.  Clare loved riding the frog and butterfly rides; she rode both nearly a half dozen times each.  The carousal was another huge hit with about dozen turns between all of us.  Maybe the most exciting ride was on the Frisco steam train, thankfully we had our very own certified Freight Conductor on board with us just in case.  After a few more turns on the frog and butterfly we decided to head back to the car, which was parked in the last spot in the last row, Clare was getting tired and we were all hot and sweaty, except for July who didn’t think it was all that hot.  It was at this point that we divided up; GG, Pawpaw, Julie and Clare all headed back for Joplin in Pawpaw’s big truck while Jeff and I took GG’s car to Ozark for dinner with one of his High School friends, it was a date night for us!

Patiently waiting for the Conductor to say 'all abroad!'

There was a little skit halfway thru the train ride, I have to admit I didn't really watch so I can't say what it was about.   Look how curly her hair is from the sweat and humidity!

Hold onto your hat Pawpaw, these frogs jump really high!

Julie was happy to ride the Butterfly more than once.

Our last ride on the carousal with Dada and Mama!

One evening the Sweet’s came over for dinner, it was nice to see them and catch up.  Clare was very taken by Grandpa Sweet; he even played cars with her.  Cinda instantly became a new best friend, Clare excitedly announced that she wanted her to sit next to her at the dinner table, Cinda of course was happy to have the seat of honor.  Unfortunately Satina and her boys weren’t able to join us, I’m sure it would have been a lot of fun to see them but Satina had to work and Hayden and Nik were with their dad. 

Talking with Grandpa Sweet about another favorite toy of Clare's, trains!!

The final hurrah of the week was having dinner at Steve and Sally’s, not only because Clare enjoyed finding and counting all the bunnies Sally has but because Sally had a baby doll stroller and pack-n-play to play with!  Clare had so much fun pushing the dolls around on Steve’s new hardwood floors, that stroller got a real workout.  Clare also had the chance to perfect her Junkin’s family who’s who that evening, and she got everyone right. 

Logan was happy to answer the phone when Clare called.  I believe the conversation involved him asking her if her refrigerator was running; all part of being the youngest cousin.  

Outside of our trips to Branson and Grand Lake we spent the week relaxing at GG and Pawpaw’s playing with babies, GG’s dollhouse, coloring, riding in Pawpaw’s cart, swimming in the pool and swinging on the swing outside.  It was a very relaxing week for us, however I’m sure GG is exhausted.  I’m grateful for their cool AC and seemingly endless amount of energy when playing with Clare, Jeff and I tossed around the idea of going to Columbia for a day or two, we were pretty sure Clare wouldn’t even notice we were gone.