the teeny tiny mommy.: The Change A Day Makes...

I say this all the time, it's my mantra almost. And I need to say it again, boy the difference a good nights sleep makes. Yesterday I was in the most miserable mood and this morning I woke up on the perfect sunny side of the bed.

It was Derek's day off from work today and we all hunkered down on the couch for morning cartoons and breakfast. There were no appointments, no places we needed to rush to, we took our time and we savored the sweetness of family time. Later in the day we headed to Target to get some shopping done. A few weeks ago we took a trip to a pre-school down the road from our home and decided it would be the perfect time to enroll Trace in the September classes. The only issue with this idea was the fact he is not yet potty trained and they require every child to be able to use the bathroom on their own. Potty training has been a huge struggle for us, so I have not really pushed it. But now with the opportunity for him to make new friends, learn amazing things, and get out and experience something fun I think I need to push a little. So while we were at Target I let him pick out some big boy underwear, talked up a big game, and hoped for the best once we returned home.

By the time we got back the kids were exhausted and I let Trace know he was about to don his last diaper ever. I decided on going the cold turkey route and sticking him in underwear and never looking back. He obliged (surprisingly) and once nap time was over he took his diaper off and asked to wear his new big boy undies. You better believe I had to hide the dance of happiness I was doing inside, I had to play it cool, if I acted excited I knew he would instantly change his mind.

He put his new undies on and we headed out on the patio to play with the water table.

I relaxed with my feet up and enjoyed some snacks while the kids played happily with each other. They soaked themselves head to toe and I plunked them in towels and headed inside to start dinner. While dinner was cooking (can I call pasta boiling on the stove top cooking?) the kids and I tried out some potty time. I figured if Trace was going to try why not let Phoenix in on the game too! This actually worked wonderfully. We read stories together and I sneakily turned on the tap water as background noise to see if that would help either of them go. I fed them mini marshmallows here and there to keep them from getting up. No one whined, no one screamed, no one complained. We were laughing and smiling together while both kids sat on their respective potties!

We waited a bit with no action and decided to give up and try later. I nonchalantly brought the potty into the living room, tossed a towel on the couch and let the kids go about their business. Phoenix refused to put a diaper back on and wanted to instantly sit back on the seat. She picked herself up and plopped her squishy cute butt back in her seat and every once in a while would get up to look into the potty and declare, "no pee pee".

Trace ended up running around the house and then peeing on the dining room floor, we made no big deal of it. He grabbed a towel, cleaned up his mess and decided he really didn't like the way it felt on his feet and told me he wanted to make it to the potty next time for sure. I high-fived him and moved on. Again, if I took my excitement too far he would surely want to give up. My silly little guy.

Daddy was so excited that our little ones were trying so hard that he went out and got them little "potty presents", the kids faces beamed with joy as they saw what they got.

Trace received some sort of singing creature.

And Phoenix, a new baby doll of course.

We ate our dinner and ended the night with one last hoorah!

Today was perfect, the smaller moments were the ones that filled my heart with the brightest of light. I told myself last night I would not have another day like the one I had just experienced.

And I promised myself this morning that I would make today amazing- and it was.

Some extra snippits of my beautiful simplistic day:

(for more pictures of my days feel free to follow me on Instagram- ohhikelly)