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I had the privilege of meeting my dear friend Maria for dinner tonight. Jim watched the kids and even bathed them and put them all to bed. It was so nice to eat my meal uninterrupted and in the company of such a good friend, and come home to clean, sleeping children! I thought Maria’s fortune cookie from tonight summed it up well! Last Friday was the girls’ last day of preschool. It wasn’t an official preschool; they only had about ten classes over a two-month period, and it was taught by high-schoolers as part of their childhood education curriculum. But for the girls’ first taste of formal schooling, it was a great success! They looked forward to it every time, and always greeted me afterwards with jubilant smiles and arms stuffed with art projects. I usually sent the girls with only a small snack, but on the last day of class, their teachers had requested that we send them with sack lunches to go along with their picnic theme. So I obliged, getting ready a little early to give myself time in the morning to make them each a brown bag lunch. Boy, did that bring back memories of watching my mom prepare my lunches growing up! I even made the girls the same thing my mom would make me – a bagel with cream cheese. However, I didn’t go the extra mile and enclose a little encouraging note like she always would. I met my creative limit just writing the girls’ names on the bags!
When Jim, Jimmy and I got to the class for the “graduation” ceremony, the kids and teachers treated us to a taste of what their days had been like.
They gathered in a circle and sang songs:
They showed us how they practiced writing their names with marker:
And in the sand:
Then they lined up to receive their certificates:
I was so proud of my little (squirmy) graduates!
And of course, I had to treat them to some sort of celebratory lunch. So off we went to McDonald’s! Nothing says “congratulations” like French Fries and Chocolate Shakes!
Here’s a video of the girls getting their certificates: I don’t think I’ve blogged about our potty training efforts lately. Part of that is because I didn’t want to jinx any forward progress for one child, and part of that is because I was too frustrated by the lack of progress in the other child! But, thanks to a very successful day today, I can happily announce we’re getting there! Becky has now been diaper-free (except for bedtimes) since early April, and today was Susie’s first day with no diapers other than naptime and bedtime! And she didn’t even have any accidents! I have to admit that I was getting rather discouraged by Susie’s resistance to training. She had had zero successful trips to the bathroom after a week of intense training back when Becky kicked the diaper habit, and then every attempt thereafter failed miserably. I tried stickers, toys, candy, big potties, little potties, pull-ups, bare tushies…nothing worked. But then, this past week, Susie’s diapers haven’t been fitting her properly. I don’t know whether she needs to go up another size, or whether I wasn’t changing them frequently enough, but they fell off several times, including out in public. Susie started asking to wear panties instead, but I told her she couldn’t unless she was willing to at least try to go on the potty (previously, she would happily wear panties but still essentially used them as diapers). So, she voluntarily sat on the potty a few times for my mother-in-law while she was watching the kids this weekend, and then last night I told her when she woke up today we were going to go on the potty first thing. I held my breath this morning, assuming she’d resist, but she didn’t! She would only go on a little potty chair, but that was just fine by me! I set a timer for every 30-60 minutes to remind her (and me) to have her sit and try, and I gave her all the juice she wanted (and this child can really put away the fruit juice!). I also rewarded her first two successes with prizes, and every success after with a lollipop. Becky offered to use the other potty chair as well to keep Susie company, and so I frequently had them both sitting down side-by-side, giggling away as they did their business. And Becky discovered that she loves to empty the potty into the toilet, so she volunteered for that task every time. I’m so proud of them both! I don’t know what spills or successes tomorrow will bring, but I feel like I have to celebrate the fact that I used fewer diapers today than I have in the past almost-four years! P.S. I’m still having technical difficulties and can’t post any pictures, but I’m working on it! I’m having some technical difficulties with the blog, so please bear with me! I’ll post as soon as can. I can’t wait to show you all pictures of the girls’ last day of “preschool.” They looked so grown-up! My mom recently sent me these pictures from her last visit with us. I’m so glad she did – they made me smile!
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