Seven Quick Takes

On what I am doing right now...

1.

I am procrastinating writing my sermon for Sunday by writing this post.  I was really excited about it while I was working on it on Monday, but I hit a wall, and I'm having a hard time getting started again. 

2. 

I am beginning to think that my little one will no longer be potty trained.  She has been taking off her big girl underwear in order to diaper herself.  For a while she was proud of the panties, now apparently she takes them off for diapers.  Of course, she always prefers to run around bare-bottomed when she can get away with it.  Izzy isn't a fan of her being bare-bottomed.

3.

I don't understand the recent weather.  It seems that most of the country is enduring unbearable heat while here, it has been unseasonably cool here.  In general, this is a great thing except that my garden is still not producing summer fruits and vegetables.  I am still waiting for tomatoes, squash, and peppers.  It needs to be at least 90 degrees for more than a few days in order for my vegetables to ripen.  In the meantime, I am enjoying cucumbers, eggplant, and the spring vegetables that are still hanging on in the cool weather. 

4.  

We have been super-busy lately.  I have hoped that we could landscape our backyard by the end of the summer, but unless I take a lot of time off work, that isn't going to happen.  I might do so, because I am super-impatient to have a backyard to enjoy and for Bee to run around in.

5. 

Tonight I took Bee out front to play in the grass with her ball.  Two of the neighborhood kids about her age came over and started playing with her.  It the girl next door darts over every time she sees us come outside to play.  Her mother doesn't play with her, and it seems that she craves positive attention from grownups.  I don't always know what to do with her.  She tries as hard as she can to come in the house all the time.  I'd let her in, but I don't know how her mother will feel about it.  She isn't a particularly kind or rational woman.  I know she resents the neighbors showing kindness to her son, so I suspect she won't look kindly on our bringing her daughter into our home. 

6.  

With respect to the neighbor kids, I don't know what to do about letting Bee play with them.  We have been watching the children for three years.  With one exception, they all have habits and manners I don't want my child to learn.  I don't want to isolate her or over-shield her, but I am really concerned about what she will learn from them. I don't think I will let her be around them unsupervised for quite a while.

7. 

 Bee hasn't been going to sleep this week.  Not at nap time, or at bedtime.  It has been exhausting.  Here's hoping that she gets over that soon.  

Off to water the garden now that the sun goes down. . . 

You can find more quick takes here.  

Potty Training

A few months ago Izzy and I started trying to potty train our daughter.  We have been eagerly waiting for her to be ready, and when we saw the signs, we started teaching her about the potty.  Most of this teaching is left to my husband since he is the one who is home with her all day, but I have done as much as I can when I am around.

At this point, I can say that Bee likes sitting on the potty (for about 15 seconds at a time), loves toilet paper, and loves the routine of flushing the potty, and washing her hands.  She also enjoys that when she says "pee-pee" or "poo-poo," everything stops so we can go find a toilet.  She uses this knowledge liberally whenever she wants to change locations or circumstances.  However, Bee only has intermittent interest in actually going in the potty. 

I have read countless articles on potty training, forwarded many of them to Izzy, and attempted every "potty train in only a day or two" method myself.  None of those methods have worked. (Since every proponent of these methods has multiple kids, and did not use them on their first child, I have decided that they don't work with first children.  Feel free to prove me wrong.)  Meanwhile, everyone who watches Bee has made an effort to honor her requests to use the toilet and make a big deal every time she actually does use the toilet for it's intended purpose. 

I have come to realize that two of the three members of my household are not committed to make any effort to potty training Bee that interferes with other immediate interests.  The problem for me lies in the fact that one of these two is the subject herself, the other is the one who is around for the bulk of her waking hours, and neither of these individuals is me.

It was this realization that caused me to try every one of the three "one-day" potty training methods, since that is exactly the amount of time I have to commit to this effort myself.  I have since realized that my child requires a different kind of training; one that I can't provide.

I find myself having to relax and wait for Izzy to decide to potty train in something resembling a purposeful manner, or for Bee to decide for herself that she would rather use the toilet than go in her diapers.  Knowing my family as I do, my money is on Bee deciding to train herself.  Either way, I am up for a long wait. 

In the meantime, I continually remind myself that no one is really hurt because Bee is still in diapers.

It Happens So Soon

My mom bought my daughter a beautiful dress.  It is a brown halter dress with pink flowers embroidered on the bodice and waist.

Last Sunday I wanted to dress her in it, but when I pulled it out of the closet in the morning, she said "no" and pointed at a different dress.  I put her in the dress she chose.  Later that afternoon, when she had dirtied the dress she picked out, I took the brown dress and put it on her.  She protested but I prevailed and got it on her. 

All day she had been telling me how pretty my dress was.  After I got the brown dress on her, she told me again that my dress was pretty.  We had quite the conversation about how her dress was pretty too, and eventually she reluctantly agreed.

That evening, when we took the dress off, she looked at the dress, pointed, and said "no".  I got the picture that she doesn't like the dress.  She looks beautiful in it, but she doesn't think it is pretty.  She has started favoring certain colors, and brown isn't one of them.  Have I mentioned she isn't even two yet? 

I told my mom about the incident and she said that Bee did the same thing in the store when she bought the dress.  My mom knew Bee didn't like the dress, but she bought it anyway because it was so pretty.  I knew Bee didn't like the dress, but I made her wear it because I knew she would be beautiful in it. 

I didn't think it was a big deal to put her in the dress.  However, today I remembered how much I hated it when my mom made me wear dresses I didn't like.  I was a lot older than Bee is now, but as I thought about it, I decided that it is important to respect her opinions and allow her some autonomy, particularly when it concerns something so unimportant as what she wears.  She is her own little person with her own opinions and it is in her best interest if I respect them, especially when it concerns something insignificant like what color clothes she wears. 

I was always prepared that some day she would start having opinions about her clothes, but I thought it would be a little longer before this happened.  I am even more confused because she doesn't protest against the crazy mismatched outfits her daddy puts her in on the regular. 

I love that dress and I will probably continue to try to convince her that it is pretty and she ought to wear it, but I probably won't make her wear it against her will.  Maybe she will change her mind. 

If I can get a picture of Bee in the dress, I'll post it just to show how pretty she is in it.