A Whole New World

Do you remember these pictures?

Well here is her crazy sister doing the same thing (no, the dress is not a coincidence).

I use the word "crazy" to describe Harper because there is no better word to use. Harper is our wild child. While Hadley is independent (I dropped her off at preschool today and she told me not to walk on the sidewalk with her; she'd do it herself), Harper will only let me leave if Jesse is there. No one else will do. And she will let them know not only by crying at the top of her lungs, but body slamming her head into whoever is holding her, flailing her arms around like a mad woman, and of course, kicking her legs.

The other thing we are learning is that Harper loves to rough house. The other night, Hadley and I were playing while Harper was in the exersaucer. Hadley stumbled into it by accident and both of us were concerned Harper was going to start to cry. Harper looked at me, and then at Hadley and started laughing like I'd never heard before. I wish I had it on tape. I thought she was going to throw up she was laughing so hard. So of course, I encouraged Hadley to do it again so I could try and videotape it. This is what I got:

It doesn't come close to what happened earlier, but it's worth a chuckle or two. And yes, Hadley still has a pacifier. She gets pretty upset if we tell her she can't have it before bed (this video was taken right before bedtime).

So Harper gets to see the world from a different viewpoint now that she is sitting up, and Hadley now has her passport into the great country of toilets. I am nervous about saying Hadley is potty trained because I've heard about kids who "get it" and then decide to go back to diapers. I am sure it's a lot like saying, "Our kid is finally sleeping through the night," but it seems we have made a break through.

We didn't read any books on what to do. Instead, we used what I like to call "Jesse Feyen's Independence Method." About three weeks ago he suggested we use the July 4th weekend to potty train Hadley because, and I quote, "Nothing says independence like pee-pee and poo-poo."

I won't go into the details, and I am not posting any pictures of the process. I will, however, take a moment to jot down some of the conversations that have come about since Hadley's been using the potty:

• It seems that I need to talk about using the bathroom about every 15 minutes now. At one point, Hadley was sitting on our coffee table watching Dora and I said, "Hadley, do you have to use the bathroom?" "No." she said. "Will you tell me when you have to go?" "Yea." she said. "OK. Don't pee on my coffee table." I told her and marveled at a sentence I never thought I'd say.
• I've mentioned before that Hadley responds well (to put it mildly) when we talk in a different voice using an object such as a doll, stuffed animal, or more likely, a pen, couch, or shoe. Sunday night we were having a conversation with Oscar the Grouch about using the potty. Actually, it was an Oscar the Grouch hair elastic. This time Hadley was Oscar, and I asked Oscar if he would tell me when he had to use the potty. Hadley replied in Oscar's voice: "I'm not going to tell you because I might fall in. I'm really small."
• On Saturday night we were reading stories to Hadley before bed and one of the books was a Dora book. During the story, Hadley interrupted us to say, "Hey! None of these people are wearing diapers!" We told her that was right, and she is just like Dora and Diego now. "Yea, I am just like Dora and Diego. And Tico, and Isa, and Abuella, and Map!" That's right, Hadley, Map not only helps Dora find where she needs to go, but he also knows how to use the potty. Nevermind the fact that he has no arms or legs and is a piece of paper.
• I was in the living room with Harper while Hadley was in the bathroom reading books and doing puzzles to "pass the time" so to speak. At one point I said, "How ya doin', Hadley?" She said, "Good. I made a sidewalk for my buddies." I jumped up and ran down the hall to see what that could possibly entail and was relieved to find that Hadley had taken a rather large chunck of toilet paper and spread it out on the floor. A sidewalk. For her buddies. Phew!

So we'll see how it goes. We went out yesterday for about 3 hours and Hadley not only stayed dry, but told me when she had to use the bathoom, so that seems like a good sign. Who knows what will happen in the next few days, but I'm proud of her. And I'm proud of Harper, too. Even though she's crazy.