The Last Few Weeks

I wish I had a ton of pictures to put up on the blog from Christmas, but since our camera broke a about a week before, I don't really have any.  However, I do have lots of video and I'm trying to figure out how to get it onto the computer the right way.  

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind.  December 19th was Joe's promotion ceremony.  It was just adorable.  Eden got to run up to the front and pin daddy's new badge onto his uniform.  You've never seen a more excited and joyous expression on her face.  I thought she might fall apart and get scared when she was called up there, but just the opposite happened: she laughed and ran up there all the while chanting, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!"  She and Joe practiced placing his old badge onto his shirt so she was able to do it perfectly.  It was such a sweet, memorable moment.  I will never forget it.  

After much reading, getting advice from friends, and buying extra waterproof bedding, training undies, and tons of yummy snacks and drinks, I decided December 22 would be "potty day".  NO MORE DIAPERS would be used after that day.  I spent the morning (before nap) training her.  She had a couple accidents that morning but by the time nap time hit, she was going by her own volition.  She knew when she needed to go and actually got upset when I tried to help her.  She does it "All by myfelf!"  The next day I took her to SeaWorld with Debbie, the boys, and Kellen and Kendra (our flower girl).  She did not have one accident the whole day while we were out.  I was so proud of her.  

She doesn't have accidents at nap time, but bedtime is a different story.  She pees in the potty right before she goes to bed and right when she wakes up, but she just doesn't seem to be able to hold it all night yet.  The kicker was her waking up all wet at midnight, getting out of bed crying hysterically while saying, "Mommy I went pee pee in my bed I'm sorry I didn't know!  I was sleeping.  I have itchy legs!  I have itchy legs!"  Well, that was a little too much, even for me.  I felt terribly for her.  She felt like a failure and was so sad.  I broke down and gave the poor girl a pull-up for the night.  I tried for a week after that without one and still wet every morning.  My thought is that her bladder just isn't big enough to hold everything all night long yet, so she gets a pull up every night.  I thought that might confuse her, but she seems to get the idea that she still isn't supposed to pee in that either since I introduced them as "Night night undies" and explained to her she isn't supposed to pee in them.  

She's only had a handful of accidents and almost all of them were because she was not able to get onto the toilet in time so it's not as if she was just ignoring the urge.  For example, she ran into the bathroom at Aunt Debbie's, pulled down her pants, and then realized there was no stool for her to climb up on to get onto the toilet (all of this was on her own...I didn't even know she was in the bathroom or needed to go) I became aware when she came down the hall with her pants around her ankles whining, "Mama there was no stoof (stool), there was no stoof"  Clearly not her fault.  

Ahhh, and then came Christmas Eve.  We packed up and went to the station to have dinner there with the other guys and their families and after that I took the kids to church.  It wasn't the easiest, but I managed (and Eden had no accidents so that was a bonus).  The extra fun thing for Eden was Daddy taking her for a ride in the engine before we left for church.  Her face was priceless.  How fun for her to have a larger-than-life daddy.  She absolutely adores him and the feelings are completely mutual.  

Christmas morning we woke up and I told Eden that Santa had come the night before.  She ran out into the living room and said, "Uh, no he didn't" After assuring her he did, she said to me, "I don't see a pink bike so he didn't come.  Well, maybe it could be behind the tree".  

Once Joe got home from work we started opening presents.  It was so fun with Eden.  She thoroughly enjoyed every moment and kept saying "thank you" to either Santa, Daddy, Mommy or Jonas.  Surprisingly she wanted to stop and play with all her presents as she opened them.  We couldn't allow that because we had to get to Joe's mom and dad's house and then to Brian and Debbie's by 2.  And yes, she did get a pink bike.  Joe had it with him at work so he could put it together.  When he got home he hid it in the pile of clean laundry that I just couldn't get done before Christmas.  Oh, well.  The only mess left in the house and that's where he had to put the bike.  I wasn't happy that that's what is on the video at the pinnacle moment of the day.