For the Love of the Nature Potty

Three year olds, man.  You can't live with them...

Luckily, our favorite three year old is becoming less and less of a tantrum-ing, stubborn, hot-headed being and slowly morphing into that glorious four-year-old we know he will be.

Just a quick funny story so I don't forget it and because it SO depicts what THREE is like in our household.

I picked Oliver up at preschool at 12:00 yesterday.  I always pack him a lunch on preschool days so he can eat it in the car on the way home.  My lunches have morphed from "ooooh, what shape can I cut your sandwich into today?" and "let's draw a cute face on that cheese using a food safe pen" to throwing cut up strawberries, a barely cut PB&J sandwich, and a handful of crackers into the lunchbox in the morning.  Best laid plans...

Three minutes into our 20 minute drive home Oliver declares he needs to go potty.  NOW.  I am driving on the freeway through the worst interchange ever (highway 16 to I-5, you get me?) and the thought of running into a disgusting gas station bathroom in Fife is not very appealing.  I tell him, through his near-tears, that I will find a place to pull over as soon as I can (this is a bold-faced lie, but he doesn't catch on).  I start talking and don't stop.  How was your day at school?  Who did you play with? Was everyone there today? What are you eating right now? How many crackers do you have left? Where is the moon?

If you've had to distract a three year old in a car before, I'm sure you're aware of how this conversation sounded.

He seems to forget that he has to go potty.  At least he hasn't mentioned it in 15 minutes.  We get to our house and I back into the garage and say "I'm going to un-do your seatbelt and you RUN into the house because I know you have to go to the bathroom.  I'll grab your backpack and coat, you just GO."

Well.  What a dumb idea mom.

Oliver: I'm going to go nature potty.
Me: The bathroom inside is closer.  When we are at our house we use the bathroom inside.  Quick, run in.
Oliver:...NO!
Me: It seems like you really had to go potty, please go inside quickly so you don't have an accident.  I will grab your stuff and take it in for you so you don't have to worry about it.  I'll meet you inside.
Oliver: NOOOOOOOOOO! (and proceeds to scream and cry and STAND NOT MOVING in the car)

I took everything inside and took my time setting it on the counter.  Then I came back out to the garage and said from the doorway "Oliver!  I'll stand right here and wait for you, hurry!".

More screaming.  I close the garage door (but leave the garage light on).

"I can't SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! I can't SEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!"

And then a pause.

And then "I PEED.  I PEED IN THE CAR IN MY PANTS!!!"

At which point I walk down to the car and reassure him that it's ok, let's get his pants and boots off.  He's still standing IN the car and distraught because he can't find the herbivore tooth he made out of clay at preschool.  In the dark of the car.  Still sobbing.

So I tell him to get out, I'll find the tooth.  We strip him down on the garage floor and I climb back into the car to find the tooth.  We talk about how it might have been a better idea to go inside when I asked him to when he has to go potty and then we go inside, get him into new undies, and he finishes his lunch.

So.  He was fine.  Mama had a little more laundry to do.  And we survived another tantrum.  Just another day with a three year old...not many days like this left.  I know I can make it and I will love these stories forever.

To Zoë Maxine On Her 6th Birthday

Dearest Zoë,


My how you have grown into a kid.  Like.  A big kid.  Not a toddling
toddler or adorable preschooler in pigtails, but a grade-school aged KID who has talents and opinions and ALL THE FEELINGS.

This year you:
-started taking piano lessons
-continued ballet and have started in the big kid class
-gotten back to gymnastics at The Little Gym
-almost nearly perfected a handstand and nailed a cartwheel
-finished your year in Nature Preschool
-started Kindergarten
-tried (and LOVED) soccer
-went camping twice
-rode your OWN bike around the River Loop in Sunriver for the first time
-went to Disneyland
-participated in your first kids triathlon


You are fiercely determined to do things well.  Like, really well.  You take after your Daddy in that regard.  You are a stellar gymnast, ballerina, and pianist.  We have watched you do probably 100 handstands a day for the last four months.  You are working on the splits to earn an ice cream party from your ballet teacher, and you are giddy with excitement when you nail a recently new song on the piano.  It makes my heart swell to see you enjoy so many of the things I enjoyed growing up and I am bursting with pride when one of your many teachers tells me how talented you are.  It is not because you are insanely gifted at so many things but your determination to do them well that has brought you to the level you are at.  One of my favorite compliments from a teacher came from Ms. Shannon at The Little Gym when she told me "Zoë really LISTENS when I give her a correction and can run away and the next time she comes back she REMEMBERS and can master the skill because she is so coachable.  That is unusual for her age."

The amount of things you have learned from Kindergarten is astounding.  You LOVE to practice your sight words from school, love to practice your reading, love to tell me about what you played at recess, who was the helper of the day, what you had for snack, and just how excited you are for the 100th day of school (although you can never seem to remember what day the current day is so we can figure out when that will be...).  You love your teachers.  All of them.  Ms. Keil is held on a pretty high pedestal in our household.  You have made friends quickly and often at school.  You love to play make believe on the playground and dinosaurs in the classroom.  We had a gaggle of little girls at our house this weekend to celebrate your birthday and it was so much fun.

You have become quite the emotional, feeling BEING since the start of school.  Not sure if it's really school and the routine and just how tired you are after a full day of working hard or if it just comes with the territory of being a grade-schooler but MAN! you have some big feelings every day.  Tears come fast.  If something is unfair we hear about it.  As your Dad says, you play well with Oliver until you don't.  The bickering with your brother has truly begun.  But on the other hand you are caring and kind and take care of him as a big sister should.

We are SO proud of you, Zoë Bowie.  We are proud of your brains, your strength, your tenacity and determination, your passion for the things you love (and don't love), your loyalty to friends and family, and your sense of self, which seems oh-so-developed for a little girl of 6.