On Graduating From Diapers (mostly), and Other Quick Takes

Making New Year’s Resolutions Stick Sunday Snippets

On Graduating From Diapers (mostly), and Other Quick Takes

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Equal excitement for another gift

Michael is in underwear! I admit, when I picked Christmas break to push him over the hump from “toilet trained while naked” to “toilet trained while clothed,” I was more than half expecting it to be a very messy, unhappy two weeks. And it started off that way. I started off with him in diapers, knowing there would be a learning curve. But Christmas Eve when he opened the package of dinosaur-and-Pixar briefs, he went insane with excitement. It was cracking me up. Alex, flummoxed, said, “He’s excited by underwear?”

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The underwear didn’t seem to be doing the trick, though. We were setting the timer for thirty minutes between bathroom breaks, and Michael did not like that schedule. Then we left for my in-laws’ house. We decided not to mess with toileting on the road (it’s a 4-hour drive, not counting stops). We just put him in a disposable and took off. And when we arrived, he was dry. And he hasn’t wet his underwear since. Can you believe that? He’s still not convinced of the need to do his other business in the toilet, but I’m crossing my fingers to clear that hurdle soon.

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Christian says Michael’s so focused on the physical, he just doesn’t have the attention to spare for learning to talk. But I think a 25-month-old who can be toilet trained is clearly cognitively ready to be pushed toward speech. I’ve decided it’s time to go ahead and see about some speech therapy. I’m guessing it won’t take very many sessions to get him talking.

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Christmas break is long this year, a full two school weeks off, but so far it’s been good. New playthings help, of course, but they still bicker plenty. Yet I’ve been taking time to really be with them–focused on Trivial Pursuit, or the threading of a wooden rosary, or whatever, not allowing half my heart & mind to drift to the writing not getting done. It is truly amazing how that has shifted the way I see my children. I am feeling these constant shivers of awe and gratitude and, well, presence. So much of these early years I’ve felt overwhelmed by the demands of physical caring for multiple littles (especially because Julianna still needs help with so much), and guilty for how quickly the frustration built. People were always telling me to enjoy it because it’s so fleeting, but there was just so much weight to bear, all those admonitions only made me feel worse for feeling the burden to be so heavy. For the first time, I’m feeling that weight lifting, allowing me to enjoy the kids and live in the moment. I’m going to have to write a full post on this one, there’s so much to say on the topic.