Potty training or parent training?

So is potty training a toddler more potty training, or parent training? Cause I have to tell you that training myself to take her every 30 minutes, and having the patience to calm her down when she doesn't want to sit on the potty is very trying. I have to remember not to push her. I forget sometimes not to push. Today we had some terrible setbacks and then one HUGE success! 3 wet pair of panties and 2 dirty ones and I was feeling quite frustrated. she didn't want to sit on the potty at all. it was a struggle all day. When Brad got home I was drained and I went upstairs to take a shower. Brad got Cam to have some potty time as I was going upstairs. Near the end of my shower Brad busted into the bathroom like a football team through a run through and with his face all lit up said, "SHE DID IT! SHE DID IT ALL BY HERSELF!" "Crystal, get out of the shower and come look!" So out of the shower I climbed with a towel around me and dripped a path of water through the bedroom down the hall and stairs to where Cam was sitting on her potty in the living room. She had the LARGEST smile and a bowl full of tee tee! It was INCREDIBLE!

The most incredible thing about this is Brad said he was in the Kitchen cutting up the stuff for dinner and Cam was playing in the play room. He said he saw her dart across the play room into the living room and there she pulled down her panties and sat on her potty. He said he heard her completely unleash the floods. I cannot even express how AMAZING it is. One that she finally went potty in the potty, and two that she did it of her own volition without any prompting. Please pray she will continue to do this.

Other amazing things...she ate dinner that I made without complaint and without challenge, or as we like to say at our house, "right away, all the way, in the happy way." Huge deal! She usually freaks out about dinner if it isn't Mac & Cheese or Oatmeal. She started eating it all on her own. We stood there in awe. And finally she asked to be excused all on her own. Seriously!

So hopefully tomorrow will be less about a battle of the Will...iams, and more about her succeeding in potty training and first time obedience.

belly tattoos

i have to be very very honest and be so thankful that I never got a silly tattoo around my belly button. Goodness, the thought just makes me shiver. My alien is almost gone...but wow, the bruise I have is IMPRESSIVE. There is this 1/2 inch space that looks normal, but then there is this crazy bruise with a purple ring all around my belly button on a chartreuse canvas, with wisps of green and blue and red and magenta. It is truly a work of art my body has created. And there is this part under my belly button where it looks like I took a fork and pressed it into my belly and it left tong bruises. But nothing is quite as interesting as the scab that formed on the incision. WOW! Most impressive scar I think I've seen. I probably had a similar one in other areas after Cam was born....but yeah, not going there. *shivers* I also have this crazy scar tissue that tunnels down my belly button. I'm hoping and praying that it goes away. So back to the tattoo thought....due to the lovely bruise artwork on my belly...and how distorted and CRAZY it looks...i thank my stars I was never stupid enough to ink up my navel.

Random thought: I LOVE Will and Grace because it makes me laugh so hard with it's crass jokes.

Good news on the potty front. Cammi went tee tee in the potty THREE times at school today. We are so proud! Now if we could just get her to go here at home. I so badly want her to succeed for her. And I guess for me too, so I won't feel like such a failure as a mother. Why is it that this one area of parenting can make you feel like you are the worst parent in the world! Every time I hear of another child her age or younger that we know that has successfully mastered the potty, i get this feeling like I want to throw up. My child is SO SMART! Why is it that she can hold it for hours on end, but not actually cut loose in the potty? Please please pray for me to do and say the right things to really motivate her. I don't want to make her regress with my frustration. And the thing is that I'm not even frustrated with her, it's that I'm frustrated with myself. I just want her to have successes. Nothing is better than when she has successes for herself and her little face lights up.