When did Hannah grow up? Obviously she’s been learning new words and skills slowly over the past 2 years, but in the last week I feel like we’ve hit 2 HUGE milestones in her little life that graduate her from toddler to big girl. It is so fun for me to watch this transformation so obviously take place but at the same time I want to freeze time and continue to enjoy Hannah right now because I don’t know if I’m ready for her to be such a big, *independent (kind of) girl.
Last Thursday, Jonathan and I decided that maybe it was time to potty train Hannah. We didn’t necessarily desire to do this nor were we ready but she was showing signs of being ready. I won’t go into all the details but basically she knew when she had business to do and was starting to request using the bathroom. I was still hesitant because she had never requested a trip to the bathroom for #1. We decided we would start Saturday, when Jonathan would be around to help. Well, Friday morning she asked to go to the bathroom 4 times – each time was productive and her diaper didn’t get wet or messy the whole morning. Before her nap we went to get pull-ups, treats, underwear, and a “big” prize. I started officially potty training her after nap.
Hannah has always been pretty easy (and now with Jackson we are really appreciating how easy she was). She’s never liked “yuckies” and I figured potty training her would be easy, but I didn’t think it would be this easy. She’s doing AWESOME. It’s now been 3 ½ days and she has only had 1 accident (which was my fault – she told me she needed to go, she ran to the bathroom and was waiting for me to get there and couldn’t wait any longer). Not only is she comfortable going at home, but she’s gone at Café Rio, Walmart, my parent’s, church, and her Aunt’s house. I put her in a pull-up when we when out on errands on Saturday and to church on Sunday, but it stayed dry the whole time. She tells me when she needs to go and I don’t remind her anymore. She’s super motivated by the skittles and the Rapunzel doll (which she’ll get when she fills up her chart)…but that is actually starting to fizzle and I have to remind her that we get to put a sticker on the chart. Don’t get me wrong – I’m so grateful this has been so easy, but part of me feels like last week I had a baby in diapers, and this week she’s running around in Rapunzel underwear. Where did my baby go?
Don't worry - it's not a video of her going to the bathroom
Then, on top of that – all the sudden Hannah has friends. She’s always had nursery friends, and cousin friends, and random kids at the grocery store that are “friends” but now she has real friends that come over and play. I’ve set up play dates before, but that’s different. That’s an arranged time where I’m babysitting another kid or she’s being babysat and we call it a play date.
It started about a week ago. There is a neighbor girl that lives 2 houses down and is 2 years older than Hannah. She’s always playing outside and has started coming over and asking if Hannah could play. Well yesterday, she rang the doorbell and asked to play. She and Hannah set up a blanket outside and played with babies.
I then fed them lunch. Hannah did everything Addie did. She wanted a pink plate like Addie, 5 carrots (which she ate – that’s NEVER happens) with ranch dip and spun her fork on the table like Addie. While Hannah was napping Addie came over 3 more times wanting to play.
After her nap, not only did Addie come over but so did 4 other kids – all older than Hannah which I think it a little weird. She spent the whole day playing with friends. A few days ago I was upstairs feeding Jackson and before I knew it there were 3 kids over helping themselves to drinks and fruit snacks. When did my baby grow up and start running around with friends and wearing underwear?
*The down side to all of this is it takes Hannah a while to warm up to the idea of playing. When kids ring to doorbell to see if she can play, she always wants to but she wants me to go with her. She can’t ride a bike (she’s close to riding her tricycle by herself). Other kids are willing to push her on her trike but she wants “just mommy”. She wants me to hold her and it takes about 20 minutes for her to warm up. I’m hoping this will get better the more she plays with these kids. And let’s be honest, I really can’t send my 2 year old outside to “play” and have a 4 year old with a short attention span be her only supervision. Also, when the friends leave or it’s time to come inside, she MELTS. She doesn’t understand the concept of “later” or “tomorrow”.
