This picture of Clara just makes me laugh, but it just about sums up our summer so far. I have been joking that clothes are optional on our property lines. For some reason, the kids think its fun to take off their shirts. I guess it must feel refreshing. Clara also thinks she needs to wear Luke's shoes. Clara just absolutely idolizes Luke. She is observing everything Luke does and follows him to a T. She is quite good at mimicking. She catches on quickly. I think Luke loves that she just follows him around and does whatever he does.
Clara has been showing signs of readiness for potty training for quite some time. She has been using the potty regularly, so I decided that maybe I should just give it a go. I read a book on how to potty train your child in one day when I potty trained Luke, and the method worked pretty well on Luke once I modified the rewards, so I decided to try the same method. On the first day we were doing well. In fact, I was really quite shocked at how well we were doing. It was almost too good to be true. We had no accidents. Clara just seemed to go right along with it all. By day two, she seemed annoyed. But I kept on with the method, and I could tell that Clara seemed like she was started to be "over" this potty training thing, and that's when the accidents started happening. By day 4 she was an emotional wreck! I'm not kidding when I say an emotional wreck. You wouldn't think that an almost 2 year old girl would have such emotions, but this little girl is full of feelings. The stress of making it to the potty on time was just too much for her. If she had an accident, she was taking it personally. She just wasn't taking it too well. So I'm thinking she just wasn't ready emotionally. Mid-morning on the fourth day, she walked into her room and asked for a diaper. Immediately after, her attitude changed. She was back to her happy self. The pressure was off!
HOWEVER- this girl still wants to be a big girl. She still watches Luke and wants to do everything he does. He uses the potty, so she wants to use the potty, but only when she feels like it. We are back to those feelings again. So now we are in this awkward phase that I have no idea what to do with. Clara uses the potty on her own, when she feels like it. She is pretty good at getting all her clothes off and using the potty like a big girl. She even exclaims "I did it!" and is so proud of herself. So we are in this weird in-between phase. Until she decides to fully potty train, I guess she will just use the potty sometimes.
Luke is loving summer, and friends, and is like a motor that never stops. He is constantly saying the funniest things. I wish I could remember them all to write them all down. Currently he wears his back pack everywhere. It's full of his most favorite things. He tries to show its contents to anyone who will show interest. He is like a little hoarder! He is always asking "mommy, my backpack, it can come?" He wears it through the grocery store. He will tell random people about it, and if they acknowledge him, he will stop, take off his backpack, and open it up to show them whats inside. Right now there is a flute/recorder in there. So if you were to really show interest, he would even play a little tune for you! Generally people are nice, and just tell me how cute he it. Of course, he's the cutest kid ever!
We let Luke wear his new shoes to church for the first time last Sunday. I didn't realize he was so excited to have new shoes. I guess you never really know what your kids are saying when you aren't around. As I was walking into to senior primary, the secretary was kind enough to tell me that Luke was parading up front before primary began telling his classmates "check it out, these are my new shoes!" Of course, that sounds just like Luke! I just had to laugh when she told me that! I sure love me cute little guy! Not a day goes by that he doesn't make me laugh. He brightens my day, every day! Just the other day I looked at him and realized that he is just looking older and older. I can't believe he is turning 4 in just a couple of months.
After Clara had an accident and was crying and upset, she came into the bathroom with me while I was getting ready to go. She looked at the poster with stickers on it for going to the bathroom and then took it off the wall and put it over in the corner by the toilet. I think she was through with the list. It made me think at the time, she was upset with herself and she didn't want to keep trying.
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