Thanks, Potty, & Tears

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Addie potty trained herself Sunday. It only takes one day. Sorry if anyone out there is taking longer, but we are done. Next. Ha, well not quite but Addie did say "op-pa" which is what potty sounds like in Addie language. She did this a few days before, right before getting in the shower. I smiled and said, just a minute honey, you'll get in the shower when Daddy is ready for you, and she smiled at me and said "op-pa" while peeing on my bathroom floor. Oh, that's what "Op-pa" means...so when it happened again, right after a bath, she did the same worried face and I took the towel off and set her on the toilet. Yep. Peed. Yay Addie, I clapped. She repeated and clapped. "A-ee" clap and smile. Then plop, plop, you guessed it...WOW. YAY! Addie. Since then she has asked to get on the "op-pa" several times, but quite frankly, I'm too lazy to get her undressed, undiapered, only to have to wrestle her back in the full garb. Pee in your diaper dude!

We gave Thanks for lot of things this weekend. Our family, wonderful food, a loving God, Mom, Matt, great friends, smart/sweet kids, Matt, and did I mention Matt? Seriously Matt went so above and beyond, I can't even describe how great he is with our kids. Man, and there isn't a THING he won't do. Unco Matt, will you play play doh? Sure. Unco Matt will you go out side and do side walk chalk in the pouring rain? Let's go get your coat on, oh, Addie wants to come too, sure, I'll find her shoes and coat too! Unco Matt do you want to play school and you and I are the parents of my doll and we can drive her to school for two hours doing the same old thing? Yep. Unco Matt do you build a fort, put me to bed, play hide and seek, wrestle, movie date night in the hot, stuff, stinky closet? You got it!!! Seriously, I want that kind of energy and patience for my kids. Now granted, while at our house, Matt is fed well, plays fun games, plays on the computer, and in general seems to enjoy himself with no other care in the world than what the kids want to do. But still, he is really just the best with them. Lily cried so hard the night that he left. Quite a while after he left. And it was this sad, heartfelt cry that made me tear up, that deep, heart-wrenching cry that just hurts your heart to hear. Addie started saying "Maa" and lifting her arms to him. It was so sweet. It is the first person I have seen her reach for other than Lawrence or I. He did airplane with her, wrestled her, and her favorite, pretend to jump SUPER high on the trampoline. He was also a dancing fool with them both, long arms and legs -a-flying. He's not there to impress, just enjoy them. There are lots of times in my life that I wish I were closer to my brother, but when I see him love my children, there really isn't amount of closeness between he and I that could make me love him more.

Rewind a few days. Tuesday we went to Lily's school for her Thanksgiving program. 12 three and four year olds in bonnets and pilgrim hats made of paper. Addie thought Lily was the best and loved listening to the kids songs. We put her booster in one of the chairs and she sat near Lily with the kids. Something about it felt so big kid. These moments between toddler/preschool, and overall little girl occasionally give way to a school ager, it makes us happy and sad, and it's really weird to explain. I know it'll be happening more and more, and I'll continue to have weird mixed feelings. Probably up to the day that she goes to college, gets married, and has babies. I'll always be excited for her and then wonder how she got so old, feeling happy and sad in the same moment. Over and over. That's what motherhood is...being happy and sad about every moment over and over...? Hmm.

Addie looking up to her big sis. Very vocal. She put her self in timeout for something this weekend. It's not the first time it's happened. But it it definitely the funniest time it's happened. I told her not to pull hair or something, and she cried really hard, sensitivo that she is. She left, continuing to cry and when I looked to see where she was she was sitting in her timeout spot!

Today my friend Tanya took the kids because I had an Accounting Update for Privately Held Companies conference to go to, to learn all the new and exciting pronouncements in the world of accounting, as the FASB piles on my things to worry about at work. Luckily I got home in time for bedtime and I got to "do-do" both girls. Today was going to be Addie's last bottle. 17 months. But I broke down and bought one more can of formula. The dr said have her weaned by 18 months...so why rush it! Who cares if Lily was weaned by 13 months...Addie is um...smaller. Plus, it's the one time a day that she truly feels like a baby and not a shoe-crazy busy body whose potty trained and disciplining herself! Happy and sad, all in one moment. Over and Over. Until next time...