Panties

Yes it's true.  We officially have a pantie princess!  

Brinlee is a potty champion!

Round 2 was astronomically better than round one.  I think I might have mentioned that our first attempt back in September was a little unsuccessful (read: a total, tearful traumatic disaster!).  Neither Brinlee or I were real anxious to try again, for a long time!

But we chatted with an aunt via Skype who is awesome at... well, everything!  And she got me re-motivated.  Brinlee seemed more ready, and we had daddy home, homework-less, and able to help for two whole weeks.  So we decided to give it another shot.  And TA DA!  It worked like a charm!  We hung up a chart for her to put a sticker on every time she went in the potty.  It was full in no time! She has been accident free for 10 days now and is in love with her new sense of independence.  And as it turns out, we are in love with it too.  I don't miss changing those diapers.

On Saturday was her one-week-accident-free mark, so we had an UnBirthday party.  She's been watching Alice In Wonderland and loves the UnBirthday scene.  It was perfect incentive.  We decorated, and had cake, and we even served tea (apple juice) from her little purple pot and used her little plastic dishes.  She was in heaven!

What a darling, awesome big girl we have!  The little stinker is growing up way too fast  :(  

But she is totally the best!

And she's totally proud of that.

Goodbye Passie

I had been feeling a bit like a failure as a mom lately.  We attempted a round of potty training a few weeks ago and it was a disaster!  I won't go into details, but I will say neither Brinlee or I have been emotionally ready to give it another shot just yet...

BUT!
I decided I could feel a little bit better about myself when out of the blue we very smoothly and very successfully became a pacifier-free zone!  I'm still not sure quite what happened.  We were down to doing passie for only bedtime and nap.  Every so often I would put Brin down without offering it, but she always ended up realizing what happened and would holler until she got it.  What can I say, I'm weak.  Well, a few nights ago she went to bed super happy and distracted, so I decided to not offer passie...
She went down like a dream, slept all night, I gave her a treat in the morning for being such a big girl, and neither she or I have mentioned it since!

It's been a week now and she hasn't once looked back.  Success!  I am more optimistic now about the potty thing.  Perhaps one day she'll just do it and never look back.  Everything with toddlers is that smooth and effortless and easy... right?