The Easeful Life: February 2011

It has been quite a week for change here in the Shinn household. Lots of excitement and the promise of spring in the air to wrap it all up in a big, beautiful bow!

After a failed attempt at potty training back in November, we decided to let it go and just mention it to her from time to time, rather than frustrate her to the point of creating a negative feeling towards the whole process – we always try to keep the poop conversation fun around this house and we certainly didn’t want to ruin that! So, a few weeks ago when the big snow blizzard hit, we were happily trapped at home together for the week. I don’t really remember what spurred it, but Cecilia mentioned her potty and decided to go in it. So we jumped into full potty training mode, once again. We managed to find a package of M&Ms left over from Christmas and gathered up the random pull ups that were left from the first effort and hadn’t made it on baby doll bottoms yet. The entire blizzard we spent talking about poop and pee (which if you know us well, you know this isn’t really all that different from a normal day) and dispensing “prizes” when the deed was done. We had one really good day in there, but for the most part it was more accidents than not. When we finally shoveled our way out and Cecilia started going back to Memaw’s house and Nana’s, she seemed to really lose interest in it. She was just too busy to stop and go potty. So we kept at it, but didn’t make a big deal of it. This past Thursday Mom sent her home wearing panties and four days later she has only had a total of three or four accidents! It suddenly has just seemed to click for her and she can now tell me she needs to go and hold it if she needs to. She has even gone in a public restroom; while I was holding her about a foot above the toilet...I’m not sure I could have even done that! She is now a fulltime panty wearer, with the exception of night time. I am so proud of her, obviously this is what you expect to happen...but I still can’t believe it has! Her achievement has been more exciting to me than any achievement I have ever had personally...it is amazing how your child’s emotions and triumphs and failures somehow feel like your own. Tomorrow she will go to my Mom’s, so we’ll see if she can continue her good streak when she’s not at home...I hope, I hope, I hope!!

The next change is really just a continuation of the potty training story. Yesterday while Cecilia was in her crib for naptime she felt the urge – I am ashamed to say that she did try to call me and told me she needed to go potty and I ignored her thinking it was a ploy to get out of napping. It wasn’t. When her call became a whimper and then a cry, I went in to find that she had stripped down and tossed her clothes over the edge and used a corner of her crib as a toilet and then used the sheet as her toilet paper. There she sat, completely humiliated and upset that she was sitting in the middle of quite a mess with poop on her feet and a few other places. I felt so bad, I had never thought about how confusing it might be to tell her not to potty in her panties and then slap a pull up or diaper on her for naptime. So, we decided we would bring in her toddler bed and give it a shot. We haven’t taken her crib apart yet...just in case this doesn’t work out. I had to lay down with her last night, but once she was asleep she slept the night through. Today, she laid right down for her nap and hasn’t got up from it once. It is amazing to me that I am the mother of a child in a toddler bed. I realized that we have never taken pictures of her nursery. So I am going to document her sweet, little nursery today...before we disassemble the crib and pack away her changing pad and it becomes a toddler room. I’ve decided to celebrate all her success over the past few days by ordering her some over priced Curious George panties I saw online...I could think of nothing that would make her happier!

The other excitement for our family is a recent change in my job. I am still with the Corps, but have transferred to the Power House side. What this means, is that Ryan and I are now working in the same building and can even ride to work together. I am now able to work four ten hour days a week and take Mondays off. So, after almost two years of my whining about how Ryan gets to stay home every Friday with Cecilia...I get my day, too! I can’t tell you how exciting this is to me. Cecilia is now only away from home three days a week and Ryan and I being able to drop her off and pick her up together has been so fun! It is such a nice start to the day (although Ryan is concerned that I’m talking a little too much for that early in the morning) and such a fun start to our evening. Once again, I feel overwhelmed with gratefulness at how blessed my little family has been over the years. Sometimes I can’t wrap my head around the blessings I’ve been given and the love and happiness that fills my life. I don’t know why I have been blessed this way, but I do know that I live every day reminding myself to never take these things for granted...these blessings are exactly why I feel I am able to enjoy such a blissful and easeful life.

I know I may seem a little over the top to some people – these are just small, daily parts of life that I’m getting so excited about. But truly, this is how I want to live - taking each moment and holding it in the palm of my hand, realizing how sacred and momentous they all really are...if we choose to let them be. Bad things happen to me, too – but I try to throw those out with everything else not worth holding on to. So now I’m dreaming of more amazing events to come...the planting of our garden, the sound of a lawn mower on a sunny day, Cecilia zooming around endlessly on her four-wheeler (outside where I don’t have to help her turn around every ten seconds), bike riding, Ryan saddling up Ozzie for Cecilia, blowing up her pool, cookouts with friends and family, and noticing what new bushes have blossomed as we drive down the lane.