The Daddy Difference

Two nights ago, the fan on our computer stopped functioning. An urgent message appeared on the screen saying it must be shut down immediately. We've been expecting something like this to happen with our relatively old laptop; it was just a matter of time. Thankfully we're here in Hong Kong where we could get it fixed easily.

John took it to a friend to look at before taking it in to a repair shop, and then by the time he got out to where the repair shop was, waited for it to be fixed, and got home again he was basically gone the whole day. (Notice a theme with some of my other recent posts?)

During the time he was gone, several discipline issues occured, including Chloe peeing on the floor while being punished for something else (intentional? or not? who can say? argh!), her pooping in her pull-up, me despairing of her ever being fully potty trained, Clara Anne playing instead of napping and the two of them fighting over some toys. I was very ready to see him walk in the door at 5pm!

Contrast that with today. Today, I had several doctor's appointments, leaving him at home with the girls. I came home this afternoon to discover: he had easily gotten Chloe to poop on the potty (a miracle in itself!), had been playing games with Clara Anne, and got a bunch of his work done as well! Amazing! (Of course, the dishes were not done and the girls were still wearing their pajamas, but hey, who cares about that?!)

So I think it must be the Daddy difference. I will be forever grateful if his progress with Chloe sticks. She has had issues with her bowel control ever since we moved to our new house, and we have tried every trick in the book to motivate her to use the potty. But John's method today was just to frequently make her sit there at the times when we suspect she has to go, and wait until she has some success. She was so proud when I got home to tell me what she had done: "Mommy, I poo-poo'd on potty!!!"

Excellent work, Daddy! I think the moral of this story is that I need to leave the girls with him more often! Maybe the next time I come home he'll have them speaking perfect Asianese, never again playing with their food and showing off their best manners . . . anything is possible when Daddy's in charge!