LILY'S GROWING UP: GYMNASTICS & POTTY TRAINING

The word on the street is that Lily is pretty much potty trained.  It sort of snuck up on me, and when I was talking to my sis the other day and mentioned it, she said, "Why haven't you blogged about this?"  I guess I have no great answer other than that it was this evolving thing that happened as I stood by and bore witness.  I briefly mentioned success in this post, but now I am here to say that Lily is potty trained.  I guess I should probably be yelling it from the mountaintops, seeing as it was not something I could ever imagine happening about 3 months ago.  All in God's timing, certainly not mine.

I've had friends ask how I did it, and I am not really sure that I did anything right to get us here.  Lily was finally ready, and after me making her change her own diapers, she decided that it was worth it to use the potty.  For the first couple of weeks, she would only use her little potty by herself in her room and bring me a potty full of pee.  (A gift every girl wants.)  I got her to poop by bribing her with Legos - she's obsessed.  She only gets to play with them on days when she goes poop, so it is a reward that I continue to have control over.

She is a smart girl and has figured out that I will reward her whenever she uses the potty, so often, during her nap times, she pees five or so times and poops at least twice, getting chocolate chips and marshmallows for her performance.  Since she is working the system, I am working on weaning her off the rewards, but honestly, I am just so thrilled at the progress, I don't really care.

In the last couple of weeks, she has been telling me that she needs to go when we are out and about and has been able to do it well.  She also started going on the big potty when we are at home, and yesterday we realized she can hop up on any toilet and use it, with or without a training seat or stool.  Good to know. Sneaky girl.  She is also dry at night, but is mostly unwilling to part with night diapers - I think they are a security blanket for her, and since she has been so good to progress through this at her pace now, I am going to wait til she's ready to wear undies to bed.

So, that's the scoop on my big girl.  Yesterday she had her first gymnastics class, which was the cutest thing of all time to watch.



We are going at the same time as one of my best friend's daughters, and though they are not in the same age group, they pass each other in rotations, which Lily loves.  They were excited to see each other and thrilled to be wearing the same leotard, which Lily refers to as her "tard."

I had one of those panicky mom moments when we put on her leotard and realized that it showed her little Tangled undies.  We didn't have time to change before going.  Her five year old friend immediately informed Lily that she didn't need to wear those at gymnastics, but Lily refused to take them off.  Next time I will convince her not to wear them, but it is funny how silly and out of it a little thing like that can make me feel - especially when noted by a five year old.

She had such a fun time, and I really enjoyed getting to watch her.  It is nice to see that she can follow direction well and listen and take turns.  Her teacher was so sweet, and the class is really small so they get a lot of instruction, which is nice, especially since they are so little.

I'm pretty sure I am raising the next Gabby Douglass.  

Okay, probably not, but I am glad to have a sweet, active little lady who loves gymnastics and wants to go back next week.