Potty Training: Triumphs and Woes

Hello there! It's been quite a while since I've posted anything new. Sometimes I just run out of things to say, if you can believe that. :) I have been doing some things of note, however. The big news is that I've begun the dreaded potty training. Ugh! I must admit, I have NO IDEA what I'm doing! I started this past Thursday. Emma and I stayed home all day Thursday and Friday (we were driving each other crazy!). Not a whole lot of success those first two days, but on Saturday she really seemed to figure it out! I've discovered that Emma pees like every 30 minutes in the morning! I never really noticed before when she was in diapers, but now she just seems to constantly be needing to go to the potty. What a tiresome chore! Anyway, on Saturday she had one accident in the morning and then made it to the potty (on her own accord) the rest of the morning. She was getting lots of potty treats... she had quite a chocolate face. It is so rewarding to have her come tell me "potty, pee pee" and we go the bathroom, she pulls her underwear down all by herself, climbs up onto the big potty, and then wipes and flushes after doing her business with little assistance. She's quite good at washing her hands as well. What a joy to discover some independence in such a small little body. ;) In the picture to the right is Emma fashioning some classy big girl underwear. Well, Sunday we were out of the house much of the day between church and visiting Ben's parents house. I had her in a pull up during all of that and she rarely made it to the potty in time while we were out. In church, she kept saying she needed to go, but would never actually do anything once we got onto the potty... stage fright, maybe, from not being at home. The moral of the story is that this morning has been a challenge again, now that we're at home. It's hit and miss. I'm not sure if I just need to stay home for like a week until this really sinks in... will I have to 'start over' in a sense every time we get back home after being out for a while? I don't know. I'll just keep at it... we'll see where it goes. I suspect that once I have the baby, she'll regress anyway... but at least we'll have a foundation set.

Last week we went to the Zoo with lots of friends. Emma really loves the zoo. Her favorite has always been visiting the goats, an activity that I've mentioned before in a previous post. In the picture below are a couple of my many pregnant friends, Jodi and Jess. Anyway, we finally renewed our zoo pass, which had expired at the end of December. It will be nice to have this as an outing to take as much as possible. It's fun to visit the zoo in the summer time with the splash pad, so I look forward to the summer morning zoo adventures we'll be sure to take while toting around little baby Rebecca.