It's Official....

Totally unrelated to this story, but the other day I got Livi out of bed and went and lie back down thinking that she would just follow me in there and sit on the bed. I was in between sleep and consciousness and could hear her saying, "mommy come." Livi likes her breakfast pronto so I figured she wanted me to come and make her something. I got up a few minutes later and walked into the dining room and found Livi sitting at the table eating out of the cheerios box. This girl is no dummy, if she's hungry she is not waiting around for someone else to make her breakfast, she is perfectly capable of getting it herself.

Livi is potty trained! I really hope I'm not jinxing myself by saying that. It's so funny how things work out. Sunday, I decided, was the day to try potty training again. I tried to get her to go in the potty all day, she did a few times, but we also had a few accidents when she told me she had to go pee as she was peeing. That day, after talking with my mom and dad, I decided to just back off completely (again) and let Livi do it when she was totally ready. My mom had 8 kids and she said she never actually potty trained any of us, she just waited until we wanted to go in the toilet and we kind of trained ourselves. Granted, some of us were a little older than others. So Sunday night after feeling totally inadequate as a parent, I decided (once again) that I would just let the potty training go and Livi would let me know when she was ready. Monday morning, first thing she wakes up and tells me "more pee!" So I take her into the bathroom and sure enough she goes. I scream and clap and give her her reward: 2 fruit snacks (she LOVES those things). Against my previous determination I put her undies on instead of a diaper to see what would happen. A little while later, she came to me with wet undies and I almost gave up, but decided what the heck. And I am pleased as peaches to announce that she hasn't had an accident since! She tells me every time she has to go to the bathroom and we have left the house and played at a friends house and at the park all without incident. She doesn't even expect a reward anymore. Whenever she goes she screams really loud, "YEAH!!!" and claps her hands. It's so adorable. I wish I had a video of it. She is even a little more gung ho than I anticipated. Yesterday she told me she had to go the bathroom at least every 5 minutes. I think it was because she got a new Dora toilet seat and she loves to sit on it and point at everyone, "map, boots, batpat" (backpack). Needless to say, I am so proud of her and fully realize that it has nothing to do with me. I think most kids would be permanently screwed up by my inconsistency. Everyday I'm learning more and more that the answer to many parenting dilemmas is simply: be patient.