I had been meaning to write a post before our son arrives, and thought this goal was falling through since today is my due date. Well, he is not here yet, and a big milestone happened to happen at the Lin household last night, so I guess today is my chance to get to an update long overdue.
Potty training Zoey has been one of the top stressors in my life for the past 6-7 months, especially after she turned a year and a half. I bought two little potties long ago, and the idea was to let her get used to them being part of the house and they are “hers only.” She liked sitting on them for fun, and she was good at pretending she’s pooping, with proper facial expressions and sound effects. I tried letting her go diaper-less around the house – hoping her wet pants would be annoying enough that it’d motivate her to use her potty. The reality was, she was perfectly content with just acting it out. She cried on the top of her lungs when we made her sit on the potty that one time when she actually had to go. So I stepped back, put away the potties, and stopped trying since summer. Deep down I was really worried and feeling helpless while trying to calm myself by thinking “she isn’t even two yet”, and that stuff like this really just needs some time. My parents brought a cool children’s book about potty training this time they came to visit, and it has been one of Zoey’s favorites. She asks me to read it her to several times a day, and she enjoys reading it on her own, too. I give her some verbal encouragement about trying to do what guh guh (the big brother in the book) can do (which is to pee and poo in the potty) and bring the potties back to the scene – though I had yet had a chance ask her to “try and go in it.” With Nathan coming soon and everything, I was reluctant to start anything and get my hopes up. It’s true that little children are full of surprises, though. Just when you think they don’t understand/can’t/don’t want to do something, they go right ahead. Last night, being tired and excited, she ran off to her room in the middle of a diaper change and I heard her saying something about sitting on her potty. She then was off to something else and came back out to the living room, when I noticed a tiny wet spot on the bottom of her onesie. I smelled to confirm it was pee before we asked her whether or not she pee’d. Gary and I asked her where she did it and she led us to her room to see her green potty, where there were three drops of pee inside. I was so surprised, thrilled and just speechless. It really just happened out of the blue. Gary and I were SO proud of her and kissing her nonstop which I think really confused her :-) She had her first long, formal pee in her potty tonight and later, a poop!! (It was SO easy to wipe her afterwards!) Though the other two times this evening she missed and didn’t tell me when she had to go, it is still a great start and a HUGE improvement on her part. Praise the Lord…that it happened just in time, right before dee dee comes :)
This holiday season has really been an extra blessed one, filled with the Lord’s presence every moment. My parents are in town, and everyone in Seattle is doing well. Bei bei is growing healthy and strong – getting sassy, too. We’ve had LOTS (probably too much) fun shopping and finding good deals (gotta love this time of the year!) and thanks to our family, Gary and I have been getting lots of date nights and alone time together.
As eager as I can be about giving birth, it’s truly kinda nice that it’s still just the three of us, at least for now, at this exact moment.
:)
showered with love 