Thursday, March 21, 2013

potty training... like this?

baby girl is growing up fast.  part of this is exciting because she just keeps getting better and better.  but part of this is so sad because i feel like i can't keep up and i'm once again experiencing the anxiety that comes with not being able to freeze time.  

i started potty training baby girl two months ago.  at first she used a little pink stand alone potty.  then she ditched that in favor of the thomas seat.  then a week ago, when elle came over to play, she saw elle use the potty without anything else, so lately that's what she's been doing 95% of the time.  it's all always changing.  like how she went from being okay with underwear to hating it to loving it.  and how she'll go from loving to go potty and wanting to try all the time to hating it and throwing a tantrum every time to just getting it done like it's no big deal and accepting it as a normal part of life.  or how she went from just doing her thing to NEEDING me to watch her to going to the bathroom by herself and shutting the door.  or how she went from having me place her on the big potty to climbing on by herself to using a step stool to stand on so she could sit on the potty and now just standing on her tip toes to scoot her little bum up there.  always always always changing.  it happens so fast and it's hard to know when it will be the last time

one part of it that i don't want to forget is actually something from the days of throw a fit about it/climb on the potty/need mommy to watch/take forever to get things done.  those days were sooo frustrating sometimes.  when it was nap time and i just wanted baby girl to be in bed but i was, instead, standing in the doorway of the bathroom for 30 minutes watching her climb ever so slowly on the potty, sit for two seconds, say "i did it!" when nothing happened, hop off, and do it all over again.  i'd tell her to get back on and she'd say "i did it!" in this voice that i wish had it's own font.  and i'd say "no you didn't!  try again!" and she'd say "i did it!  i tried!  i triiiiieeedddd!" it was funny and hard not to laugh but it was also annoying and hard not to pull my hair out.  one thing that almost always got me what when she came up with "like this?"  my christopher and mom and emmy know what i'm talking about.  i'd tell baby girl to sit on the potty so she could wait for the pee pee to come out.  and then she'd prop herself to one side and say "like this?", and i'd quickly say no and she'd prop to the other side and say "like this?" and i'd say no, and then she'd cross one leg over the other like she's just hanging out, drinking a soda at a diner in a norman rockwell photo and say "like this?" and then i'd normally just lose it and bust out laughing.  

and then it became a game that she'd do when she was eating or getting dressed or cleaning up.  like this? like this? like this?  it makes me almost cry right now just thinking about it because two weeks ago she was doing it all the time... and now she doesn't do it anymore.  it might not be lost forever quite yet but i couldn't chance not writing it down.  

 
 
 
if you come to our house and find the soap sitting directly over the drain with just a small stream of water pouring over it... you'll know baby girl was there.  it's her trademark.
never before did i anticipate that this bathroom could become one of my favorite and happiest rooms of my house.  just "like this."

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