Maya turns 3

Today is Maya's third birthday. She is growing up so fast. I have to say that my main emotion today was one of sadness, for Maya's birth mother. I wonder what she is thinking today, if she remembers that today is Maya's birthday. If she is thinking about her. I know in my heart that she must be. And I am sad that we have not been allowed by our adoption agency to maintain contact with her because of what I believe is a horribly misguided policy. I wonder if Maya's birth mother has been able to see any of the pictures or the letter that we sent long ago before contact was stopped. I am sad for Maya that it has been so long without contact. It is a tragedy for us, really, but mainly a tragedy for Maya.

We didn't do anything to mark Maya's birthday today because she is having a big party at the club on Friday with a bouncy castle and face painting and a Dora the Explorer cake. I am not sure how exactly we wound up giving her such a big party, as I always vowed to follow the one-child-per-age-of-birthday-girl routine. But, alas, Maya is a social being and there was just no way we could limit her to three friends...

Maya is also much more conscious this year of her birthday and has very clear ideas of what she wants. As in: "I want a bouncy castle and face painting and party hats and goody bags and a happy birthday cake and my dance teacher to teach dancing." Well, she is not getting her dance teacher but the rest are all there... She was very specific.

She also has ideas on what she wants for her birthday. She hasn't gotten any significant new toys since last December, so we will be stocking up a bit as she has outgrown a lot of her old toys. She is getting (actually already has gotten) a trike. And she will get an easel. We were also planning to get her a couple puzzles because the ones she has are too young for her. But she has other ideas. She says she wants a computer. "A yellow one!" Yikes!! How did she go from being a little toddler to knowing exactly what she wants.

One step forward, two steps back...

Today was complete potty hell for us. Not sure exactly what was going on in Maya's head, but she completely refused to use the potty all day today. So, remember, yesterday we only had one accident. Today, we only didn't have an accident one time! Aaaaahhhhh!

I think Maya was upset from having an accident first thing in the morning and then decided that she just wasn't going to participate today. We will have to see what happens tomorrow. I don't want to go back to diapers because we did so well yesterday. But I don't want to torture Maya either (or anyone else).

Potty training progress!!!!!

We had a super day today in the potty training department! Not a single accident until about 10 minutes before bedtime. Wow!! I didn't expect that at all! Of course, we did spend an hour or so at the pool today. And you know what happens secretly with little kids in the pool...

We basically just put her on the potty every 45 minutes to an hour, although sometimes we waited longer. But every time, she was dry. I didn't even have to change her underwear for minor leakage. Nothing.

I think we helped start a new day because I apologised to her for getting mad about the revenge pee from the other day. That helped. Now, I am not saying that she was right and I was wrong, but I guess sometimes it is good to take one for the team and all...

We spent the day at our new club. Ohhhh! Our new club is so awesome. I love it so much!! All our friends are also members. Well, except for Maya's pal S. and family, but they can come as our guests! Plus there is an awesome playground and a great pool, with a lifeguard even. And they serve meals at a cafe overlooking the playground. Terrific!

We had breakfast there this morning. I had a spanish omelet and a bagel with cream cheese!! Seriously great! Mike had scrambled eggs and toast and pork bacon! And Maya had blueberry pancakes with ketchup. Ewwwwww! Obviously, that was her choice, not ours. She also wore one purple croc and one sparkly red Moroccan slipper, and pink sweats and a blue-green tank top!! Can you guess who chose the outfit?

Still potty training...

We are not exactly potty trained yet after three days, but we also have not used a diaper in 72 hours (with the exception of nighttime and nap). We have gone through a lot of panties though, and we have liberally given out a lot of potty treats, ie stickers and bangle bracelets.

We have also encountered what will henceforth be known as the "revenge pee". The revenge pee happens when a parent is telling a certain child to stop doing something they should not be doing (like playing with the plunger in the toilet), and the child gives the parent a cold stare and pees on the floor. Or worse, pees on the parent.

We have also learned, however, not to get too upset about the revenge pee, because it upsets the potty training child when the parent gets upset over pee. And the last thing a parent needs is an upset child during the potty training process. Grrrrrrr.

Maya is actually doing pretty well. For the first two days she was excited to be wearing panties and very proud that she had no diapers. On the third day (or the morning after the revenge pee), she said she didn't want to potty train anymore and wanted to wear a diaper. But then when T. came she relented and was OK about it for the rest of the day.

We will have to see what tomorrow brings. We are planning to go out to breakfast in our soon to be new neighbourhood of Little Amreeka and then go swimming at the club.

Potty training ... for real!

Yes, we have finally decided to potty train. Maya has been getting a bit resistant aboout wearing diapers recently, since her same-age friend S. is now out of diapers as are (obviously) Bug and Giggle of egypt4 fame. Maya is clearly feeling the peer pressure.

For me it is a bit of a relief because lately she has been insisting that I change EVERY diaper. She seems to have adopted a no boys alloyed policy in the diaper department, and I am not a real big fan of that idea. Plus she is just so squirmy.

So today we ditched diapers. She only wore a diaper at naptime, and now of course at bedtime. All the rest of the day she wore panties. And every time she went in her potty she got to pick a "potty treat" (read: sticker) from a special potty training grab bag. The results were mixed. She was accident-free all morning until T. arrived. But then she apparently had a lot of accidents during the day, which apparently prompted some crying on her end. We might ask T. tomorrow to be more forceful about having her sit on the potty every 30-40 minutes or so, even if Maya claims she doesn't need to go. Anyway, Maya also did pretty well again in the evening, with only one accident (and that was when she was in time-out and mad at us -- so clearly it was a "revenge" accident).

When I asked her at the end of the day how potty training went, she said it was "nice". She also got a little upset about putting a diaper on to go to bed. She wanted to wear panties. So I think she is pretty ready for potty training, but it will take a little time.

P.S. -- I very rarely put Maya in dresses, but they are super for potty training because I don't have to change her clothes every time she has an accident. Just a tip for anyone else going through this now.