Potty-training Sophie (My Life Now)

Last week I decided to potty-train Sophie. She had all the readiness signs and I am all for having only one child in diapers. So we blocked out most of our week to be at home (something my big kids are not exceptionally good at--they tend to get cabin fever after a couple of days). I made a big deal out of wearing "big-girl panties" and we tried sitting on the potty lots of times. She wanted to sit on the potty, wipe, flush, and wash her hands, but nothing else was happening. ;) This went on all day Monday and Tuesday morning. She would tell me she needed to go potty right after she had...oops. So Tuesday after nap time I put her on the potty and gave her a cup of milk and told her we weren't getting up until she had gone tee-tee (all the potty-training pros say not to do this, but it is the only thing that has worked with my three potty-trained kids, so boo experts!). Meanwhile Nora wants to nurse, so I am sitting in the bathroom floor in front of Sophie, nursing the baby. Sophie is getting bored and Annie and Jacob want my attention. So I pull out Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things that Go and read it to them while I am sitting on the floor, feeding the baby. This is a long book. We read every word. We analyze every picture. We talk about how much fun it would be to drive a donut car or a bananamobile. It takes thirty minutes. Nora has finished nursing and is now sitting in her bouncy seat next to us. Sophie still hasn't gone but I know she needs to. I also need to start dinner. So I take all the kiddos downstairs, install Sophie on the potty (again), and ask Annie and Jacob to stay in the bathroom with her. I pull up "real people" Cinderella on my phone and give it to Jacob to hold. Nora and I start making dinner in the kitchen. I am wondering to myself, is this ever going to work? And about five minutes later Sophie comes running to tell me "I tee-tee, Mommy!" and pulling me by the hand to see her success. She is much praised by Mama, Annie, and Jacob. Fast forward twelve days and she is in panties full-time at home. She is still wearing a diaper (I haven't been using pull-ups this time, they feel so much like a diaper it was confusing for Annie and Jacob) for naps, bedtime, and when we go out. Because she still has the occasional accident and she doesn't give you much warning when she needs to go. If we're in the middle of the grocery store or at the zoo I may not have time to haul all four kids to the closest bathroom, which is sure to be at least a half mile away.

This is my life right now. And you may not believe me, but I love it.

Annie tells me when she grows up she wants to "be a mommy and bake." And drive an aqua van with green sparkles and have two boys and two girls and live across the street. :) And a little part of me has cringed at that and wondered do I need to be giving her pep talks about how she can do anything she wants and reach for the stars and all that? And then I realize that I've bought into the lie that motherhood and staying at home to be your family's full-time caregiver isn't "all that." Surely you've got to do more than change diapers and vacuum and make dinner to be fulfilled?

Of course Annie can't do anything she wants, but many opportunities will be in reach for her. She's one smart cookie and keeps us on our toes. And the Gent and I don't limit our kids or tell our girls they can only get married and have babies and stay at home with them. But if that is her dream I'm not going to steer her away from it. My girl friends from high school and college have pursued different dreams. Some have doctorates, some have become successful businesswomen, traveling all over the world. And some have put those just-begun careers away to stay at home and raise precious little ones.

But let me remind you of a big non-secret. You will never be fulfilled until you are in communion with God and fulfilling the calling that He has given you. And even then, there will always be a part of you longing for the new heavens and new earth where all really will be made right in Christ--no more suffering, no more death--true restoration of all things and all people who have trusted Jesus as their Savior.

Until then, I'm right where I want to be. Nursing babies, potty-training toddlers, answering my preschoolers 5,671st question of the morning. Washing dishes, reading books, making the 3,983rd peanut butter and jelly sandwich of my life. Singing lullabies, having a "dance party" to Need to Breathe or David Crowder, telling little hearts the Good News of the Gospel. Day in, day out, this is my life. And I really do love it.