Violet and the Potty after 13 Months Together...a love story.

Violet has really turned a corner with her pottying. She is 13 months old. She's been using the potty since she was two weeks. We have used diapers her whole life. Yep. All 13 months of it. But we have consistently offered her the potty all those 13 months, as well.

We recently took a trip to Kansas to see family for Christmas. I bought Pampers Easy Ups to take along, rather than cloth. I debated between those and the new Huggies slip-ons. The slip-ons are a hair smaller. They come in a diaper size 3. But you get the same amount of diapers for the same price with each brand, so I decided I'd like the vanishing-when-wet flowers on the Easy Ups. They are a bit big on my 18 pound 13 month old, but they work pretty good. For night time, I brought along wipeable diaper covers so the pull ups wouldn't leak where they gape at her legs. It was a perfect combination! No leaking at night and no cloth to wash.

Violet was a champ! She used a total of four, maybe five, pull ups all weekend! She stayed dry while driving, with the exception of one little pee. She didn't poop in them until the morning after we got home. I woke up to nasties that morning, but she still finished up on the potty. I was really amazed.

She still doesn't tell us she needs to go. But she's evidently learning to hold it until we get her to a potty. We take her about every hour. Having the pull ups makes it so much easier! It doesn't seem like that big of a deal. But I swear I took her more often simply because all I have to do is pull up and pull down, without laying her down to change a diaper. Ryan still grumbles just a little, only a little, when I say Vi needs to go potty. It does take frequent trips to be successful. But when she's keeping her pants dry, it is so rewarding!

Grandma Nita always says, "Yessssssss!" when the girls use the potty for her. Accompanied by the elbow to the torso action. This weekend, I noticed Violet, after pottying, would put her hands in a little fist, smile, and make the sound, "sssssssss!"

It's cute to see her feel accomplished.

Christmas Time

Birthdays and Thanksgiving are over. Now onto Christmas! Nola asks pretty much everyday "Is it Christmas?" And I reply for the millionth time, "Well, it's not Christmas DAY, but it is Christmas TIME."



We went to our church's annual Carols & Cocoa event this past Sunday night. Our church is a small community, and it feels just like a huge family get together. It's like a talent show where everyone takes turns getting up and singing, or showing off some little known skill, or dusting off their old high school band instrument and cracking out jingle bells. This year we got up as a family to sing Little Drummer Boy. Violet held a maraca, Ryan played the ukulele, and Nola breathed into the microphone like Darth Vader. She was enamored with the sound it made. We gave her a few tries to actually sing, but eventually kept singing without her. At the end she finally let out a rum pum pum pum and a final on my drummmmm. I sang a song by the band Downhere called "How Many Kings" with my friend Liz. Ryan did a short stand up comedy routine and it was really funny! Do I sound surprised? I wasn't surprised. Ryan is hilarious. It's just that being a funny person is one thing, but really pulling off a stand up routine is another. He did awesome. I was quite impressed.

Lots of traveling in our future. Lots of partying. Lots of eating. Lots of presents. Lots of...lots.

Sigh.

Picture me now running to grab Nola's storybook Bible, and frantically searching for Baby Jesus in a manger so she understands WHY we have this holiday. I feel like I'm failing her in that area. BUT Christmas day is not here. I still have time. It hit me in church on Sunday that to explain how awesome it is that Jesus came, I have to start by explaining how badly we needed Him. It's not very much fun to talk to your kids about sin and separation from God.

But if she never sees the darkness, she'll never see how truly beautiful the Light.


P.S. This mom has a really great Christmas tradition for teaching her kids about the Light.

P.P.S. Are those two little girls in the picture up top not THE most beautiful girls you've ever seen?! They kill me with their beauty.