We ARE Potty Trained!!!

Evelyn has been very, very good about using the potty since about the end of May. When she moved up to the next class at her day care center, she was the only one who moved up to the "potty training room" already potty trained. When she started showing interest at school, I took a week off from work and followed many of the tips in "Potty Boot Camp" and we had success. There was still the occasional accident, but the girl must be part camel because she can go hours and hours between potty breaks. To my friends out there still working on this, one tip I have that I didn't read anywhere (at least not specific to potty training) was to not ask a yes or no question like, "Do you have to go potty?" Rather, let your child chose, "Do you want to use the big potty or the little potty?" In our house we have a little potty in Evie's room and in the half bath on our first level.

For the last week, we've been brave enough to wear cotton panties at night time, too. I'm ecstatic that she has taken advantage of the potty in her bedroom when she has to go potty at night--even going so far as to take the bowl into the nearest bathroom in the middle of the night. (YIKES!!!) So far, I have not convinced her that it is okay to "let it mellow" overnight. Hopefully it will not take a middle of the night spill to make the case.

Most family and local friends know this, but I also wanted to share with my friends out there that less than a week after we said goodbye to my Zoey, I did a bad, bad thing and spent an afternoon at the Franklin County Animal Shelter. The next day, I dragged my husband and daughter there and came home with "Cleo" who we renames "Pickles." (Since I was the one who wanted the dog, I got no say in what to re-name her.) Justin narrowed it down to "Cairo" and "Pickles" and left it up to the two-year-old to chose.

When we adopted Pickles, we were told that she was a black lab mix, but after a few months with her, we are beginning to believe that she is part Pit Bull. No clue what else, but she weighs 36 pounds--which is about 14 pounds less than Zoey did. She is an exuberant tail-wagger to the point of having "Happy Tail Syndrome." What's that, you ask? It is when a dog wags their tail so hard against whatever surface that she damages the skin on her tail. If you've ever flicked water off a spoon, you can imagine what a bleeding tail can do to your walls, curtains, and furniture. A week ago, we had her at the vet to get her tail bandaged. Have you ever seen anything so pitiful?

A letter to a friend

Words cannot express the mixed bag of emotions that I'm feeling right now. First, I want to thank you for choosing me to be your companion; you made my life better in so many ways. You have been with me longer than some of my closest friends--longer than my husband. You saw me through heartache and joy.

You were with me when I broke my ankle--even if I did blame you for falling down those stairs. You were with me when Justin proposed. You were with me when we moved into the new house. You were with me when I learned I was pregnant. You were a constant, calming presence in my life for the last 10 years. Thank you for being so gentle with Evelyn even when she was not gentle with you.

You greeted those you loved with exuberant affection. Your bark was just enough to intimidate those that did not belong. You were the kind of dog that made a dog lover out of anyone. My seven-year-old neighbor said it best, "I don't like dogs, but if I ever got a dog, I would want it to be a Zoey puppy."



So, my sweet Zoey-bear, watch over Evelyn, Justin and I as we carry on without you. When it comes time for us to welcome another dog into our family, help guide the right pup to our door. I know you will wait for me at the Rainbow Bridge, but while you are there say hello to all of my fur-babies that have gone on before you.

I will always love you.

The beauty of bribery

So we aren't really working too hard on potty training at our house. We're just kind of letting Evie direct things for now. (What she doesn't know is that I have a week off in one month's time where I plan to concentrate on potty training.) More often than not, when Evie tells us that she wants to go potty, she really just wants to be naked. On Wednesday, Evie was dressed, but had no diaper on. When Justin was in the bathroom, Evie came in and spontaneously went pee-pee on the potty.

Tonight after dinner, Evie was asking for chocolate. I told her that if she went pee-pee on the potty, I would give her some chocolate. She told me "okay" and headed to the bathroom. She came back out and we explained that she actually had to make pee-pee in the potty to get the chocolate. She said, "Okay, I'll be right ba-aaaack!" and sure as I have 10 toes on my feet, she went pee-pee!

The Joy of Parenthood

Last night, I had one of those experiences as a parent where I wasn't sure what to do next.

Some background: when we tuck Evie in to bed at night, we do a diaper change, put on pajamas, take medicine, brush teeth, read two stories, look out the windows of the loft and tell the neighbors, trees, flowers, birds, cars, mailboxes, sun and moon "goodnight" and then we "rumpus" to her bedroom. (One of Evie's favorite books is Where the Wild Things Are and there's a part in there where Max says, "Let the wild rumpus begin!" and we have a rumpus as we turn the pages. I'm sure if you ever overhear us, you would think we were crazy.) We tuck her into bed, give and get hugs and kisses, and leave. When she started sleeping in her big girl bed, we started leaving a light on for her so the room wasn't so scary. I typically slip into her bedroom when Justin and I go up to bed (around 10ish) and turn the light off. I love seeing her sleeping peacefully in her bed.

Lately, Evie has been expressing interest in going pee-pee in the potty--often as an excuse to strip down and have some naked time. We're okay with naked time and we let her run around in the buff many evenings. When we tucked Evie into bed last night she told me she wanted a diaper change. I checked and she was dry and told her it was night-night time. We got hugs and kisses and left her room. Justin and I then went outside to wrap towels around my rose bushes to protect them from the frost, came back inside to clean up and put laundry away. All was quiet over the monitor, so before Justin and I headed down to the basement to watch TV, I went to slip into Evie's room to turn out the light. It was probably around 8:45 p.m.

I opened her door and what I saw before me almost made me laugh out loud. I called out in my best loud, urgent whisper, "Justin, come here!" He took a peek and I sent him downstairs for the camera. Just inside the door to Evie's room, she has a potty chair. At the base of the potty chair last night were her shucked pajamas (top and bottom) and diaper. One of the drawers of her dresser was open and disheveled. In her bed asleep, buck naked, was my daughter. She was curled up with a new pair of pajamas and a clean, still folded diaper.

Ah, parenthood. I hesitated to do anything for a moment because I didn't want to wake her up, but I knew she needed to be wearing a diaper. I unfolded the diaper and rolled her onto it. She woke up enough to tell me, "I went pee-pee potty mommy." I slipped her into the pair of pajamas she had picked out, kissed her and covered her up. Then, I turned off her light and counted my blessings that it wasn't already 10 o'clock--which probably would have meant changing the sheets, not just adding a diaper and jammies.

I hope this puts a smile on your faces.