Potty Training Take Two

Today was our first diaper-less excursion to the park - this was entirely Valerie's idea, and while I wasn't 100% on board with it I decided we might as well give it a go. She lasted about an hour before wetting her pants (I kept telling her she could pee in the grass but she had to tell me so we could take her pants off first. I'm not sure she understood), so I just changed her into dry pants and we kept on playing. It was a gorgeous warm, sunny day and there were daisies and buttercups everywhere. So overall we enjoyed ourselves.

After we got home she had an accident in the living room and then wanted me to put her diaper back on which I did since it was getting close to nap time anyway.

That, however, is when the real drama began. She was tired, rubbing her eyes, and screaming at the tiniest provocation (and I mean TINY), but refused to go to bed, so I finally carried her kicking and screaming into her darkened room and rocked her in my arms standing up while she wailed and wailed. After about five minutes I sat down on the bed with her in my lap while she wailed some more. After some time (not sure how long) she was relaxed enough I could lie down with her. Then I had to wait about 15 minutes before I was able to really put her down and creep away, but by then she was so deeply asleep she didn't even flinch when I kicked a toy in the dark and it made a very loud bang.

This is the first time I can remember, other than the nightmare flight from the States to Europe, that she has really and truly thrown a tantrum. She's almost 3, so I'm actually expecting that they will become more frequent in the coming year. And I can't help but thinking that it's connected to the re-initiation of potty training. I've been very slow to start it up again after our disastrous first attempt in November (was it that long ago???) because it was so emotionally hard on both her and me. But it's time. She's started putting her baby doll on the potty again, and has shown interest in not wearing a diaper herself. I don't think she understands how to control her bladder yet, or how to anticipate the need to pee and all that. I think we're going to have a looooooot more accidents before it clicks for her. But we're heading in that direction, and even though there wasn't really any drama about it this morning - we just took it all in stride - oh yes, you wet your pants, let's get changed, no big deal but next time try to wait until you're sitting on the potty before you pee - but I think it was strange and new enough that it precipitated this afternoon's tantrum in some way.

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On a more fun note, last night when we were putting her to bed I said "good night, Mama loves you," and she said "Val-Val loves you" back! That was a first too, and very sweet.

At the park today she kept saying "so much fun!" which is her latest favorite new phrase. It's nice to see her identifying and verbalizing how she's feeling about things. She's also recently said "Val-Val sad" (I don't remember about what) and in recent months has also identified when she's scared.

She's even had some good moments with Gabriel, playing with his toes, or touching his hands and hair very gently. That's nice to see too.