Perils in Potty Training

I have heard and read so many suggestions on potty-training that it is hard to filter through what will really work. Isn't that what we want as parents though, a manual to explain how our kid works? How to make them do exactly what we want them to do, and when they don't . . . we can just hit the power button. I digress. Anyway, I wanted this to be an easy thing to do. I didn't want it to be this long drawn out thing which takes months to accomplish. Oh, and I also had my rathers about it. I didn't really want Lucy Anne to learn on a little potty, I wanted her to sit on a smaller potty seat on the toilet, and so on and so forth. Well, when she turned two. The MiMi and the MeMaw bought her some panties and a little potty. Ugh, you some how feel the pressure . . . I thought she didn't seem ready. So, I delayed, until one day MiMi introduced the little potty to Lucy Anne. That weekend back in November, she did really well, mostly pooping in the potty. Overall, I think she enjoyed the freedom of running around without any clothes on (at least waist down). By the way, she must get that from her daddy. So, we came back to Dallas and tried at home but she seemed to have lost some motivation and honestly, I had to. To my defense, we did have a few things going on. So, when we moved here, I viewed it as my chance to really buckle down and try again. We did . . . and she could care less! Didn't even want a treat and told me that! Okay, I was right. She isn't ready. That is again what I thought until I talked to a friend here who has a little girl who is 3 months older than Lucy Anne and is potty trained. She said it wasn't something her little girl wanted to do but eventually gave in to the M & M's. Well, Lucy started wanting to go potty in public restrooms! What a whip! That made my mind up! We aren't going to pull down pantyhose, panties, and a diaper for her to sit on the potty for two seconds! Let the Bootcamp begin! We went and got some panties and now we potty in the potty! Let me also add that I done a lot of praying!

Some funny details about her learning to potty have been: when she goes to any potty (at home or out) she puts toilet paper on the seat for sanitary reasons (OCD, yes, she gets that from me) . . . also, one day I was trying to explain to her about the feeling you get before you go in your panties that tell you to go to the potty. I asked her if she ever felt that and she said, "maybe I do, maybe I don't!" She can't get enough of flushing the toilet and washing her hands. And . . . putting her panties back on herself is a lovely (but R-rated) sight!

Thank you for enduring all of my details. I know it is more than necessary, but I want to capture the thoughts for the next time we go through this . . . I know, it will be totally different!

So Much Has Changed Since I Last Blogged

It feels nice to be back in the blogging world again! I had forgotten how to do it!

Wow! So much has changed for us since my last entry! Where do I begin . . . Let me start with saying that all of our "life changes" over the past three months were carefully considered and prayed about before they started occurring. Here were the issues before us - a new car (one with low gas mileage and one within our budget), moving either to smaller towns out of state, or just somewhere else in the metroplex, and a baby. Obviously, these are not small potatoes, so we were carefully planning, in the Lord's time, when and how these might take place!

Starting in early December, we decided to just see what was on the lots of car dealerships. Believe me, I have worked with Justin Poe before on buying cars and know that spending a large amount of money (really even small amounts of money) can take centuries (at least in my world) to happen. So, I was not expecting anything to happen in the next year. However, much to my surprise, we found an SUV (one not with low gas mileage) on the second time we "looked". This was truly amazing to me. This event was quite counter to true Justin Poe fashion. However, I am not complaining!!! I like my new car!

We had a wonderful Christmas vacation, skiing in Colorado and spending time with family! We came home the day before New Year's Eve. And . . . that morning we found out Lucy Anne was going to have a new baby sister or brother. We have joked many times that it was buying the SUV that set this in motion!

Finally, our last item that had not been taken care of, was moving. We decided to put our house up for sale "just to see what happens" on January 12th. Our realtor told us the houses in our neighborhood were selling an avg. of 90 days. We expected that long for sure. Our house sold in TWO WEEKS!!!! Shocking! We made some quick provisions and moved out of state two weeks later!

I firmly believe all of this was God's timing! We couldn't have planned things this quick if we thought the world was ending tomorrow. Most of you know, Justin and I are NOT quick to do anything!!!!! God has totally taken care of every detail!

We miss our friends and the things we were used to doing back in Texas. There are so many conveniences there that we don't have here. But, we have family now, literally in the next room, and down I35, and many familiar and new friends to surround us. Have I mentioned the pace here is much more to our beat of the drum . . . SLOW! Just the way we like it! I even have time to BLOG!