Can we have a Spring Break do-over?

Spring BREAK? More like wake at the crack of dawn, take the child to the potty on one hour intervals, make her sit there long enough hoping something that makes the plop sound will come out, fake excitement when only tee tee arrives, and for your sake that will be the end of the -ake words!

Spring break is over and as you can tell it didn't feel like much of a break at all. Jerry took on a ceiling project at our house and a floor project at the rental house...why we chose to do all of this while trying to wrap up the poopoo phase of Lily's potty training? I'll never know. I guess we just thought...well, we aren't going anywhere, so let's....well it wasn't a good idea. We're whipped now and although the house projects are done (whew!), the princess still ain't pooping on the potty!

Here are some things I learned this week:

1. Lily is not motivated by rewards...not surprise ones, not known ones, not unwrapped staring you in the face ones, not wrapped ones, not food related ones, not party related ones, etc.

2. My daughter does not care about things being taken away either.

3. If my daughter does not have a pull up on...she will poop anyway...wherever she happens to be.

4. She is not shamed by peer pressure...ie other kids noticing a stinky bottom.

5. My daughter will run past 3 bathrooms to find a quiet place to do her business.

6. When watched like a hawk all morning, she will wait until nap time to do the deed.

7. When we took the nap away to be able to better train her, we ALL became grumpy.

8. Potty training without success makes Jerry and I snippy with one another.

9. Lily is obviously NOT ready to poo on the potty.

10. Jerry and I've decided this might be the best tactic yet for not allowing her to date until she is 30...how attractive will she be...still wearing diapers and all?!?

This break coming to a close without having success with Lily has really made me whiny. Can you tell? I know the Lord is trying to teach us through this process, and it has been hard. And to top it all off, Easter didn't even feel like Easter...mainly because we did not get to worship the Risen Saviour. We earnestly tried...TWICE! We go to The Village Church, which is unfortunately known for having to turn people away due to space limitations. There are six services, which helps, but there is one that is particularly hard to get into....the 11:00 AM on Sunday. Which one did we choose to go to? On Easter weekend? THE 11:00 AM Sunday. Stupid, I know. But we had a long day of celebrating ahead of us, and although we usually sacrifice Jade's nap schedule for church, we thought she needed her morning sleep on Easter, so we aimed for the 11:00. We got there 20 minutes early, got a parking spot (good sign), got both kids in nursery (good sign), got back to the lobby and saw line of over 50 people waiting to get in (not such a good sign)...they squeezed the first 10 or so in and the rest of us got turned away. Not on Easter! Worshipping on Easter is so special. Not a day I want to miss...especially not after I got two kiddos into their Easter best and out the door not just on time, but early! So, we thought quickly, grabbed the kids from nursery, trekked back to the car and decided to drive over to another church we had considered visiting whose service didn't start until 11:15. Well, I thought I knew exactly where we were going. Don't you hate it when roads change names through different towns, or are sometimes called by a number and other times a name? Well, I didn't recognize the numbered road to be the place where we needed to turn, so by the time we got there it was WAY too late to get two kids into nursery/Sunday School and settle into worship. So yesterday didn't feel like Easter to me at all. Sure, we had been talking to Lily about the true meaning of Easter for weeks, but when it all came to pass, the 5 egg hunts we participated in probably outweighed all of our talk when she didn't get to experience worship Sunday morning.

So last night I was really feeling sorry for myself. Disappointed. Tired. Defeated by a 3 year old. And then I went to one of the blogs I enjoy reading and saw this post. And watched this video. After many tears I realized I needed a new perspective. This couple had come through such a trying experience with their faith unshaken. Would I have remained positive through it? Would I have relied solely upon God, knowing He was with me during a time when no doubt you'd feel forsaken? My faith is tested by my three year old not pooping on the potty! Come on! I'm sure they would have loved to have even had that challenge with their little Eliot.

I am crazy not be so thankful for this week. So maybe it wasn't relaxing or restful. Maybe we didn't accomplish everything we set out to do. But we did have fun. We spent time with family. Went to the zoo. Dyed eggs. Hunted eggs. Ate. Ate some more. Lily even learned how to ride a bike (with training wheels, but hey...that is still a lot to learn!).

Wow this post is getting long. Sorry my thoughts are so scattered. I'll end with some pics.

I love this one of Lily riding the bike. She has the look of confidence all over her face.

It was a second hand one from a garage sale. Somehow in conversation it came out that it was a boy's bike. Shortly thereafter Paw bought her a new girl's bike complete with princess helmet, elbow and knee pads. Here is her expression when she saw her new bike.
We were shocked at how quickly she picked up her new skill...she's already doing stunts.
Here are my girls on Easter morning. If I hadn't taken these maybe we wouldn't have been turned away at church!Apparently my baby bunny has been eating too many carrots!She should stick to the purple eggs!The best family pic I got of us on Easter!

I feel myself wanting to add too many other pics of the week...and foresee myself getting frustrated with blogger...so I am resorting to the slide show. Enjoy this mix of Spring Break/Easter 2008! Just run your mouse over the pictures to read the captions!

If you haven't gotten a chance to watch Eliot's video, please do. It will change you.