Progress Report!

**Warning! Warning! This post is an update on Clara Anne's potty training progress. For those of you who aren't interested, (probably most of you!) I promise to post on a different topic next time! **

Day 4 of potty training is complete, and I'm happy to report that Clara Anne is making some good progress! The most encouraging aspect so far is that she is able to "hold it" for long periods of time. Now after four days, she has shown a fairly consistent pattern of going to the bathroom, followed by 3 or even 4 hours of total dryness, and then a period of dancing around before she finally sits down and lets go. She has had a few accidents each day but we are trying to see those as learning opportunities. Since she seems to stay dry for so long, our opportunities to practice are somewhat limited--but yesterday she was 2 for 3 on the potty and today she was 1 for 3. But she is making progress! Today she even stayed dry through her nap! Way to go, Clara Anne!

The next step will be to allow Clara Anne to do almost all of the initiating of going to the potty, to see if she can associate the feeling in her body with the coordination to get to the potty in time, and then release those muscles. The release seems more difficult for her than the getting there in time. Right now I am doing most of the initiating, though toward the end of each time period Clara Anne has also shown some clear signs that she knows she needs to sit on the potty. We shall see how it goes! The goal is to have her completely self-sufficient--she initiates going to the potty, takes herself there and uses it successfully, all without having to tell me. THAT might take awhile!

As you know, whatever Clara Anne does, Doll has to do too. Tonight after supper Clara Anne was diligently taking Doll to the potty to make sure that Doll used the potty like a big girl. Doll seems happy enough about it, though she needs to work on sitting back in the chair, just like Clara Anne. Good job Doll!

My favorite moment so far came last night after supper when Clara Anne (after sitting there a long while) finally released into the potty. First she looked down curiously and said, "Pee-pee?" Then when I cheered for her and offered her a treat, she said "Big girl! Big Girl!" Yay, Clara Anne! You truly are learning to be a big girl!

Thank You to all of you who have lifted us up in recent days. This process definitely has added some stress to our household, with me trying to focus on helping Clara Anne, John trying to study and do his work, and Chloe wondering who is going to take care of her! Thankfully John has pitched in a lot and so we have come as far as we have. We hope things will only get better as we keep helping Clara Anne adjust through this process. She seems cheerful about it (as evidenced by the above picture) and I am especially thankful for that.

I am also thankful that no detail of our lives is too petty to bring before our Father; what an amazing Father we have! He is so faithful to answer us when we call out to Him, even about potty training! PTL! He has provided some wonderful answers this week; here's two quick examples: on Day 3 (Wednesday) I was praying and hoping for at least one successful trip to the potty, if not I was considering stopping the process for now. Clara Anne was showing some signs of having to go, and was sitting on the potty just as we were ready to eat lunch. John offered to sit with her while I began eating with my house helper, Mimi. Just as I was using Asianese to ask a blessing on our food and on Clara Anne's learning process, John called to me from the other room with Clara Anne's very first success! What a great answer, and a great testimony to Mimi!

Secondly, tonight John is gone to a meeting and so I knew that the evening time was going to be a challenge--getting supper, helping Clara Anne, baths, dealing with Chloe who is usually awake from 4-7, all at the same time by myself. But our kind Father helped Chloe to take an extra-long afternoon nap (instead of getting up at 4 she slept until 5:30!) which allowed me to help Clara Anne have her first success of the day on the potty at 5:15, get her in the highchair for supper, and begin eating before I needed to go get Chloe. HE knew how that arrangement of circumstances would help me...and was kind enough to grant what I didn't even ask for. I am thankful for His tender mercies.

I hope you are experiencing those mercies tonight as well! Good night!