Poop

luckily she's cute

Kylie started going pee in the potty at about 19 months.  Not reliably, but at least once a day.  By 25 months she was in underwear and maybe only peed her pants once a week.  Now, not at all.  She even stays dry at nap time and throughout the night.

Poop is an entirely different matter.  Kylie is a little girl with an iron will.  An amazingly stubborn iron will.  With pee she allowed us to bribe her with stickers and treats and praise.  For the last 9 months she has refused to poop in the potty. Once in a blue moon she would go in the potty, but would get uncomfortable when we showered her with praise and preferred to go about her business as usual without any fuss.  When it was time to poop she would go and hide.  At home, in her room, and at daycare, behind the small hill (more like dirt mound that the slides are sunken into) on the playground.  So I knew that she knew that she needed to go.

We tried bribing her with stickers, candy, and special outings.  Nothing.  We tried having her sit out after going in her pants.  Nope. We constantly explained how big girls go poop in the potty and only babies poop in their pants.  Nada.

To make matters worse (to me at least), one of the little girls in my daycare class basically potty trained herself and was in underwear by 22 months.  Peeing and pooping in the potty.  And here I am with my 2 1/2 old who hides behind things to poop in her pants.  Insert sad face here.

A couple weeks ago, I finally gave up.  I was tired of constantly worrying and fretting over my child's bowel movements.  When she had an accident we didn't make a big deal about it.  We'd tell her that it was okay and to make sure she told us next time she had to go and we would sit on they potty.

And lo and behold on Saturday she told me she had to go potty and I took her to the bathroom and sat her down on the toilet.  And she pooped.  Today at daycare she told her teacher she had to go, and even waited for one of the helpers to come get her to take her to the bathroom.  And then she pooped in the potty again.  I think she's finally getting it.  Hallelujah.

It's times like this that I feel horribly inadequate at being a parent.  I got too caught up in the whole "mommy race" and comparing my kid with others.  And she's not like the others.  Not at all.  She's wonderfully unique and stubbornly independent.  I learned that I have to let her do things in her own way and on her own time.  And she will grow and learn and poop in the potty.  Because in the end, all of our kids do.

Gardening is Good for My Soul

One of my favorite things about living in South Texas is having a garden.  I was born and raised in the California desert, so a big garden was never in the cards for me.  Sure, my dad and I planted some peppers and eggplants in pots, but even those we had to completely enclose in chicken wire to keep the ground squirrels from eating them.

But out here, where it actually rains and the dirt is actually dirt and not sand, I am able to have a garden.  I started off fairly small, I think it's about 10' x 12', and planted watermelons, pumpkins, lettuce, spinach, corn, potatoes, strawberries, squash, green beans, cucumbers, carrots, and onions.  They're a mix of seeds and seedlings that I bought and that my dad gave me.  I've already had some failures, the carrots, strawberries, and watermelon seeds have yet to sprout after being planted a month.  I might try to find some seedlings or plants to replace them or just move some of my other seedlings to their spots when I thin them.

I love the fact that I am going to be able to feed my family with food that I grew myself.  That I put a lot of hard work and worry into.  I love going out there in the morning and seeing another little leave poking out of the damp earth.  Kylie and I water the garden together every afternoon when we get home from the daycare.  I use the hose and Ky uses her green hippopotamus watering can.  At least once a week we try to go though the garden and weed out all of the darn crab grass that just refuses to give up its hold on the area.  Ky needs careful supervision with the weeding as she does not yet discern between seedlings and weeds. 

So we spend our evenings out under the warm Texas sun with the earth on our hands and bugs buzzing lazily around our heads.  And we are happy.

Heirloom tomatoes, romaine lettuce, and spinach

pumpkin spouts at my feet