07 August 2008

Bob the Builder poops in the potty.

Sorry if y'all thought we were dead. We're here, we're mostly healthy, and we've been busy. We had Andy and Vanessa's wedding two weeks ago tomorrow, and Sara & Melvin's wedding on Saturday. My friends Nancy and K.C. moved 50 miles away earlier this week, and I helped. Oh, and V is potty training. Yeah. So I'm kinda busy making sure my kid pees in the potty and not on the sofa.

I know, you're saying "But, Jen, why are you potty training all of a sudden? What's up? You and Shaun are so lazy we figured V wouldn't get potty trained until she was 6 or 7." And I don't blame you for saying that, so I will explain.


V will start preschool August 25th, provided she learns to use the potty with some reasonable frequency. We found out about this on Thursday (we were waiting for an opening. Very college-entrance-y, kinda) and had plans Friday and Saturday, so this past Sunday was our first day of Toilet-eese.


Honestly, she's taken to it quite well. We let her be naked the first day, and if you were 35 months old and had worn a diaper almost every waking second of your life, naked would be quite a reward, apparently. Enough so that the first three times, she leapt up, peed in the potty, and was rewarded with hoots and hollers of her parents, and phone calls to both sets of grandparents as well as an enthusiastic aunt. After the third time, Shaun and I kinda looked at each other and were like, "Dang, this potty training thing isn't so hard. What was all that fuss about?"


Anyone who has potty trained a child knows we were fools. Within twenty minutes of that thought, I was cleaning poop off the bathroom floor.

Frankly, we ARE lazy parents, and we were kinda used to the girl going about her day while we went about ours, with 4 or 5 diaper changes and some meals mixed in. I mean, we talk to her and stuff. Now, though, we have to watch her all the time, leap up when she heads to the bathroom/grabs herself/starts squatting in the toybox. It's exhausting.



More information than you wanted to know? Too bad.


In slightly related news, I was so inspired by this preschool news that I ran down to my basement studio (I have a studio! Aren't I cute?) and made her a backpack. She picked out the fabric and the lining and the zipper, chose the fabric for the large V I emblazoned on the front, and offered lots of moral support. Did you catch that? I MADE a backpack. By myself. Without a pattern. From fabric I already owned.



I'll try to get pictures of it. Of course, if you live near me you've probably already seen it and been told I MADE IT WITH OUT A PATTERN. Because I'm excited, and I want you to be too. In related crafty news, I've been making bonnets from this pattern (click on "shop," then "bonnet"). It's the same one as this bonnet, but in summery cottons.


I had to tinker with it a lot to make one that would fit Emmy, since she is still the tiniest human I've ever seen (This version is actually #2 of 3. #3 fits better, but Jess is still beleaguered by pregnancy brain and lost #3. Temporarily, we hope...).


The photos are from yesterday, when we piled four grown-ups and three kids into a Honda Odyssey and drove to a zoo an hour south of here. Because we're optimists, I guess. Anyway, the drive was lovely (I want someone to give me a honda odyssey. please), and the company divine, but V is still not too interested in animals, and is recovering from her summer cold, and so she screamed. A lot. I swear I saw a mountain lion roll her eyes at me over it, and not in a sympathetic way, either. That's the last thing I need, to be judged by caged animals.


To sum up, we've been learning to use the potty, I've been really crafty, we've been to two weddings in two weekends, and we went to the zoo. What's gnu with you?

3 comments:

Carla said...

Where is Ms. V attending school?

Megan said...

Yay! Nothing like blog posts to dig into after returning from a weekend of no internet access! Glad to hear your time away from your computer was so productive. You've been BUSY!

Oh yeah - YAY for V on the potty-training success too!

(I've tried a couple of times with Avery {he was 18 months Aug. 5}...the first time I put him on his little potty, we sat there reading for a few minutes, and VOILA! he peed! I wiped him off, stood him up, and turned my back to grab his replacement diaper. I turned back to face him just as he started to pee again -- all over my leg and our bathroom rug. Lovely. I still choose to view it as a success 'cause I'm stubborn like that.)

Dawn Mason said...

I thought potty training was going to kill one of us. I started Megan around 22 months. One incident that I think the Hendrum folks would like (and I have many)is one time Megan pooped her pants. It is very difficult to take a child's legs out of underpants with poop in them. So, while we were in the bathroom, some of it dropped on the floor, and I said with much passion, "Oh!", and Megan finished my thought with equal passion "Oh, for dumb!"

I've been greatly enjoying your blog.