I am really impressed with how fast Reagan has caught on to the potty training, once we got around to working with her full time. We had been dragging our feet on that. The thought of taking her to sit on the potty every 20 minutes, while three other kids get into who knows what, and the inevitable messes seemed just too much to deal with at the time. We started the training in earnest the day we ran out of pull-ups. We had forgotten to pick some up and she would have nothing to do with wearing a diaper. I reasoned that they were essentially the same thing, just the pull-ups don't have the Velcro straps. When I tried to strap a diaper on her she LOST IT.
"BABIES, BABIES, BABIES!!! NO! BABIES!" She screamed with tears running down her face. I did finally get one affixed around her waist despite her verbal and physical protests. As soon as I let her up she took off like a shot, wailing at the top of her lungs, tearing at the offending garment, looking for Mama.
Kari came out of the bedroom, paused in the doorway, looked at Reagan and then gave me one of her "looks." Not quite a withering stare, but definitely not good look. It was a cross between pity and minor annoyance. That "You are such a man and just don't get it" look or maybe it was a "How could you do such a thing to your daughter?" look.
Reagan plead her case to Mama.
"BABIES, BABIES, BABIES!" she said pulling at the adhesive straps.
Kari looked back at me "You can't make her where that." she said in a persuading tone, maybe slightly exasperated. "She doesn't want to be like the babies, it is humiliating for her."
"I know, but what do you want to do? Its too late to go to the store." I reasoned. I was not feeling ready to start the process. It is hard enough to keep up with laundry and dishes.
"You can't make her wear the diaper..." Kari continued, obviously full of sympathy for our clearly distraught daughter.
So we started the potty training and she is doing great. She was ready.
They are all growing up so fast. Rylee is really maturing and her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. The twins especially are amazing to me. They are changing so fast that it boggles the mind. Just a few months ago they were wobbling around on unsteady legs, taking a few furtive steps here and there. Now they are climbing on furniture like a couple of monkeys.
Kari was emptying Reagan's potty the other day. She had spent several minutes encouraging and praising her and, after emptying it, was returning the waste bowl back to the potty, which happened to be in the dinning room at the time. As she rounded the corner and looked up she stopped dead in her tracks. At the dinning room table, perched atop the chairs, were Madison and Jordan. It doesn't sound all that extraordinary, unless you have seen our dinning table and chairs. They are enormous, the chairs are at least as tall as any bar stool. I would never have thought the twins would be able to scale them. They can barley reach the seats with their arms stretched way over their heads. But, there they were, playing with some blocks that the big girls had left on the table (where the babies couldn't topple them.)
"No, No, No!" Kari said. They glanced over their shoulders at her, grinned, and returned their attention to the blocks. Kari was torn between the urge to get the camera and her motherly instinct to protect her young. She got them down. They cried.
We celebrated Rylee's 4th birthday today. Reagan and Ry both helped Mama bake the cake and of course they enjoyed licking the bowl. Rylee showed amazing restraint when Reagan insisted on helping her unwrap the gifts, but a little less restraint when Reagan wanted to help her play with her new toy train. There is only so much a big sister of four years can take. I wasn't a huge party but I count it as a success.
Now its one in the morning and Kari and I are still trying to do a few things that just can't be done with all the kids awake.