The End Is Near

 This week has been exciting. A has been potty training with a vengeance. It is almost as if something has clicked in her brain, "If I go potty then I don't have to have a diaper change or sit in a wet/poopy diaper." She hasn't ever really been one to let us know she wet/pooped her diaper, preferring to go with the flow (no pun intended, but it works well). Because of this we were sure we were going to be changing diapers until she started Kindergarten. For the month of January we have been having a horrid time with our diapers. She has been growing, the water has been weird (we don't live in a city big enough to have consistent water), it is winter, the stars aren't aligned properly -- or some combination of those and other unforeseen or imagined reasons. Whatever the reason, we've been pulling our hair out trying to get diapers to work for us. We've adjusted them down and she goes through three pairs of pants a day. We adjust them up and she goes through three pairs of pants a day. We make the waist tighter and she goes through three pairs of pants a day. We make the waist loose and she leaves puddles under her bed during nap time at dayschool and still goes through three pairs of pants a day. So as opposed to really pulling our hair out, we started pushing the potty training. For several months if you catch her bearing down to poop, or wondering into a corner while she thinks no one is looking, she would poop on the potty. Last weekend since Chris was staying home an extra day for MLK, we decided to work on the potty training thing hardcore. This week she did quite well at dayschool -- so much so that the teacher was impressed at how quickly she's done it. She will line up with the other kids, do her business, and get on with her life. She came home two days this week in the same diaper she wore to school. The other two days she was with strange teachers so she probably wasn't as comfortable asking to go potty. She even used the toilet at church this morning, a totally different environment than either home or school. She kind of surprised them since she just got in line. She is quite insistent when she has to go, and likes to look at her accomplishments. She also likes tissue and washing her hands. We have stared using cloth trainers occasionally. She likes to go through as many pants as we have trainers a day, but she'll get more reliable with time. Here she is modeling a set after a bath.

Everyone should be proud of me -- I managed to get clearance trainers that perfectly matched the bee towel she got for Christmas! I mean, how often do I put together a matching outfit?

Weather wise we have had a rough couple of weeks as well. Everyone keeps hoping that winter is ending, but I like this weather and hope it is just getting started. We have gotten snow/ice the past two weeks. They have cancelled two Fridays in a row of school for the K-12s in the area. It was actually bad enough on Friday that they called work for me. Snow days working for a company that doesn't give many vacation days in a year are simply cool. I managed to get a lot of laundry done and do enough that this weekend we were able to relax some. :)  The new car has done wonderfully. It regularly makes it up the drive while the Focus has to be parked by the basement door. I haven't had any issues with ice or piled up snow that got in the way. The biggest issue is the wiper blades, but that will be fixed the next trip to Costco. 

Work wise Chris has started his new term. He checked students in this past week, so now the fun really begins for him. He will be doing a lot of prep and Tuesday nights promise to be eventful. Chris has also really started working with the media team at church. He likes it and is working with some people to get stuff done on both Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. A regularly goes with him and is a huge help. (Yes, an almost-two-year old can help do things -- she will help him with cables and packing things in boxes and such.) Everyone on the set-up and media crews watch out for her and give her little things to do. He has also really started researching some projects, more to come on those in the future as they pan out.

Work for me has been hectic and it doesn't show any sign of letting up any time soon. We have a few products that are highly stable, so highly sought. Busy is good, I just pray they don't kill us in the process of trying to go highly commercial. There are so many hours in a day and so fast that machines can run. I have started helping take down the church set-up so A helps out there a lot.

It is hard to believe that we've been in NC a year now. Sometime this past week was our anniversary of being here. Not quite sure if we like it, but we are definitely recovering from our trials in Chicagoland. We not quite sure if this will be home indefinitely or not, we will have to see.

Anyway, A is asleep so Chris and I can do something like snuggle on the couch, so I'm going to go. I hope you all have a good week. Maybe next week I'll get to put up another good blog post. :)