This bright-eyed little lady just turned three years old! 

The photo below was her two-year portrait so you can see how much she has changed!

Here are some highlights from the past year.

At the beginning of the year I decided to give potty training a try, but she just wasn’t ready. She was excited about her Minnie Mouse underwear. She would even request them but rather than wear them she would just carry them around with her. She would say “Mommy look, I’ve got big girl undies”. Which resulted in a facepalm from me. I decided we would hold off on this process until summer.

Then summer came and things got busy and we went camping a few times. The idea of having to get to an outhouse in time or to determine whether to toss soiled panties or wash them and keep them in a plastic bag for the remainder of the trip did not seem appealing. So I waited until the very end of summer. On August 1st 2018 Elle said bye bye to diapers and she’s had big girl undies ever since (and actually WORE them this time). The only problem was she refused to poop on the toilet. A couple of months went by with accident after accident. She would poop in her undies or on the floor but never in the toilet.

 

I could count only a handful of times from August to November that she actually went #2 in the toilet and it was because she was basically constipated and I forced her to sit there until she went. I felt like I tried everything, but she was really stubborn about it. She would actually poop ON THE FLOOR grab a huge wad of toilet paper to transport the turd to the toilet and flush. I said “Seriously girl!? I promise you there is a better way”. Then a little over two weeks ago a miracle happened. She pooped in the toilet. I didn’t ask her to or help her or remind her. She had to go, so she went and excitedly reported the occurrence to me. I rewarded her with M&Ms but I figured we still had a long road ahead of us. Then she went again the next day and it kept happening. A week went by with zero potty accidents of any kind. Now it’s been over two weeks so I think it’s safe to say she is potty trained!!! This means we are a diaper free home! After a decade of babies this is big news. Technically we were diaper free a couple other times when I was pregnant and Elle hasn’t worn a diaper since July but still, the fact that it feels officially over is just… WHOA! As I mentioned in the Instagram photo above I never had this poop aversion with my other kids so I wasn’t sure how it would play out. She went all or nothing with this thing. There was no gradually warming up to the poop on the toilet. Once it clicked it TOTALLY clicked. Anyway, that’s the latest news and that is what I am thankful for today.