..."popsicles on the porch"...what a great afternoon treat and our favorite way to spend time together! These are simple and precious moments! Princess #1 and Princess #2 along with Little Man #1 and #2 are my inspiration for most of these writings.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Where Did My Baby Go??

Isabella is so excited about turning 4 in just a couple of months. In fact, that's all she talks about around the house. As Tim would say, that's all she's ever talked about since her 3yr old birthday last May! It is true! But lately she is becoming more and more aware that her birthday really is just around the corner. And in her mind, turning 4 is the marking of becoming a "big" girl,something she discovered all on her own.

So, using her words, we began talking with her a few months back about how part of being a "big" girl meant that she could now sleep without a diaper on. This definitely intrigued her so we began leisurely night training her.

I say leisurely because even though we've been night training her for some time now, we never actually took her out of her diapers. It wasn't something that we purposely set out to do, but for whatever reason, we just never took the time to go out and purchase a protective mattress cover. And being that we didn't want her to accidentally ruin her mattress, we just kept her diaper on. The other thing that attributed to this was that despite wearing her diaper to bed, she was actually doing very well. So, I guess in the back of our mind we didn't really feel the pressure of having to run out and get one. I mean, of course we had the occasional accident every now and then (all the more reason, we needed the mattress pad), but overall we were very surprised at how well she was doing.

Isa knew she was doing great too! She'd wake up beaming from ear to ear each morning as she'd proudly proclaim, "look mommy, I'm a big girl! I didn't pee-pee in my diaper!" As she continued to wake up successfully (and victoriously I might add), she began vocalizing earlier last week that she didn't want to wear her diapers to bed anymore.

By Friday evening we were in for a little surprise as she became insistent and refused to put her diaper on before bed. However, we were in the middle of putting the girls down and weren't able to run out and buy one right then and there. Also, knowing that with Tim's job we NEVER try anything new on the evening before church, we told her we'd pick up her mattress cover over the weekend. If she didn't have any accidents on Friday and Saturday night, then after church on Sunday, she wouldn't have to use a diaper any more! With that, she was so excited!

Sure enough Sunday evening came and Isa so cleverly reminded us that we had promised her that she didn't have to sleep with her diaper on (because she was a "big girl" now)! This time Mommy and Daddy were prepared and Isa watched with joy as we put her new mattress protector on! So, Monday night was the first "offical" night we took the plunge and let her sleep without her diaper. Sure enough, she woke up beaming from ear to ear this morning telling us that she didn't pee-pee in her pants because she was a "big girl" now!

We of course are thrilled to have one officially out of diapers and the timing couldn't be better with the next one on the way. However, I can't help but feel a little twinge of "where did my baby go" as we mark the official ending of her baby stage!

1 comment:

Erin said...

Happy and sad for you, I understand!! Luckily there are many more "firsts" yet to come!