Where has the time gone?

Kylie is getting so big. I'm really loving the age she's at right now. At three, she's so imaginative, intelligent and inquisitive about life, but there's still a little part of her that's babyish, sweet and cuddly. I love watching her grow up, but sometimes wish she would stop doing it so fast. Yet, I keep loving every age and stage more than the last. Today, she went shopping with my sister and me for three hours and she loved every minute of it. I bought her the dress she is wearing in the picture and she was so excited to try it on in the store. She was singing and dancing in the dressing room and prancing around like a peacock in front of the mirror. She was absolutely no help picking out dresses because everyone Rachel and I showed her was "perfect" or "so beautiful" or "her favorite dress ever" in her very own enthusiastic words. She even enjoyed tagging along when my sister and I were looking at clothes and shoes for ourselves. She helped make lots of suggestions for us. She was a real trooper and she was cracking us up just how much she enjoyed shopping and looking at clothes and shoes, even though we didn't leave the mall for three whole hours. When we got home, she just had to wear her new dress the rest of the day. She even agreed to pose in it for a picture. As soon as I saw it, I just thought "Wow, she's so grown up." And she is. She might only be three years old, but it didn't seem like very long ago that she was only three months old. And I don't know what it's like to be the mother of anyone older than three, so she's always going to seem so big to me.

Speaking of her looking old, check out this picture Jason took of her a couple weeks ago:

He took it on his cell phone and texted it to me. The very first thing I noticed was that she looked just like Jason with long hair. Then I couldn't stop staring because she honestly looks like a big kid, maybe even a 12 year old big kid. This just confirms what I've always though all along: "Jason would make a very pretty girl."

Potty Training Everz

Look who's wearing big girl panties! And by big girl panties, I mean they are huge on her. Why don't they make underwear smaller than 2T? At least, they stay on her, even if they go halfway down to her knees.

Now that Jason is a stay at home dad and I'm working (That is an entirely different post, one I need to make, but that's also the reason this blog has been so neglected lately!), Jason has had the burden privilege of taking on the majority of the potty training responsibilities. The time is perfect for him: He has eight weeks off from taking classes. We weren't quite sure she was ready, but decided to just go for it. That's what we did with Kylie, we just went with it and knew she would eventually get it. We just went straight to panties and didn't look back. It didn't take too long with Kylie and there have been hardly any accidents day or night since it "clicked" with her about a month after we started, but I very vividly remember the feeling of hopelessness in the beginning. So I was very apprehensive about doing the whole thing over again. But then I remembered that I would be at work most of the day, so I encouraged Jason wholeheartedly to just go for it! :) At least I was nice enough to warn him that it was normal if he wanted to cry during the first week. I know I did with Kylie.

But guess what? Eve is doing so well and I'm so proud of her (and Jason too!) We started less than a week ago and I feel like she is catching on faster than I thought she would. Here are some cute and funny things that arose through this experience:

-The first day, Eve kept chanting "Potty Train! Potty Train!" We think that she thinks there is an actual train involved in this process. Poor girl, she is going to be very disappointed. I'm thinking of finding a train to let her go see, preferably one with a potty on it, just for it to make sense.

-When Eve has an accident, she says: "I spill! Oh no!" The first time it happened, we were outside in the backyard (what better place to potty train?) She had an accident, and started whining that she had spilled. I asked her where she spilled, and she looked very confused and finally pointed at a huge rain puddle. Then I realized that her panties were wet and she started pulling at them telling me again that she had spilled. Ever since then, she says the same thing every time she has an accident and we even use her terminology and ask her to "spill" in the potty. It still cracks me up :)

-She's been getting a little mint every time she goes potty. Yesterday, when I got home from work, she told me "I want candy!" and then put herself on the potty. She went in the potty and walked up to me with her hand extended. I've got to hand it to Eve, she has always been good at getting what she wants. And now we have just given her a tool to get candy when she wants. Oh boy. I'm just glad she's catching on.

-Without telling anyone today, she went and put herself on the potty. Only she didn't pull her panties down. And no one knew that she was going potty until it was too late. But still, that's progress. She's really starting to catch on when she has to go. I'm so proud of her!

Leave it to Eve to make me laugh about potty training. Or maybe I'm just glad that Jason's the one dealing with all the frustrating moments. He tells me, however, that it's been very productive, but that sounds almost too good to be true.