Tinkle Tweets

Yesterday, we brought home a toddler bed and put it together. It is sitting in Mikayla's room, waiting for the night when we will move her mattress and trust her not to tear her room apart the first time she sleeps without the restraint of crib bars.

The other day, I also brought home a second potty for her, so that we have one downstairs where we are most of the day, and one upstairs that is easier to get to before and after sleeps. (The second one was free; it's not that I parted with any actual commodity in order to have more potties for my 21-month-old daughter than her father and I enjoyed in our first six years of marriage.)

We talk to Mikayla every now and then about being a "big girl". We told her that the new bed is for when she is a "big girl", and that she will sleep there someday. I sometimes tell her during diaper changes that when she is a "big girl", she will put her "business" into the potty instead of her diaper.

I think she is taking all these pep talks to heart.

Today, she woke up from her nap with a bone-dry diaper. The first thing she said to me when I walked into her room was, "Potty?" I wasn't sure if this was because her new potty 1) faces the window and 2) plays music when she flushes and unrolls fake toilet paper (seriously I would live on that thing if I were a toddler), or if she truly needed to use it. Since we are indeed entering the very non-aggressive toilet training months, I humored her.

Didn't that big girl sit on her potty and promptly tinkle.

And didn't I have to offer her a spoonful of honey as a "tweet" afterward because we are plumb out of candy and desserts and stickers and anything else fun/appealing/fitting to the occasion. She refused it, of course, so thankfully daddy arrived home from grocery shopping right that minute with an impulse package of peanut butter Oreos. Mikayla and I "shared" one so that she still has a prayer of falling asleep at bedtime tonight. But she was so delighted that she got a tweet for going potty. I have no idea how she made it through her nap without getting wet, but I am not opposed. It has been a few weeks since her last interest in using the potty on command, so I am quite happy about the intrigue of the new musical throne.

Speaking of how advanced my daughter is, she is sitting on the floor with "The Great Waldo Escape" eagerly perusing the pages for "Wah-doh!" She can usually find him if I narrow the search down to a one-inch radius by pointing with my finger....sheer brilliance I tell you...

I'm so grateful for these children of ours, on loan from the Most High. Each little milestone becomes an opportunity for absolute joy as we watch them learn about and slowly master the world around them. It really is an amazing place when we see it through their eyes. I believe that little ones are one way that God encourages wonder and gratitude in the hearts of His own children. Just try feeling ungrateful as a little girl squeals in laughter. Glory to Him for these gifts, of which we are so unworthy.