FREE AT LAST

From diapers, that is.

The other day I was sipping my tea, just thinking about everything and anything that normally runs through a woman's mind 24/7 and realized we have not purchased or put a single diaper on our son in over a month.

The entire process of potty training is long, and exhausting, and frustrating for parents and probably the toddler too. With all the accidents and floor scrubbing, wet pull up replacing, and racing to the potty, I was too consumed to see the actual progress my son has made.

He only wears a pull up to bed, and uses padded undies with character undies over them during the day, we are down to about 1 accident, 2 at most a day. And while as the adult sometimes you don't see that accomplishment as a huge hurdle they have jumped over for the 2 year old that honestly is quite monumental in my opinion.

This has also helped me open my eyes to the fact that he needs less frustration when accidents happen and a little more understanding from me. Of course when he is a big boy and uses the potty properly he gets tons of praise but it wouldn't hurt to give him just a smidge bit more either. The kid hasn't even been 2 for a month and he is just about fully potty trained, I find this to be quite impressive, personally.

Potty training does make me a little sad however, it shows me my baby is no longer a baby and turning into quite the independent little boy. He will always love me and from time to time in his adult life he will still need me, but why can't time just slow down a tiny tad? It is our own faults really, rush rush rush through the day and start the hustle and bustle all over the next morning. We get so stressed over things that when you take the time to think about it, they mean nothing at all in the bigger picture of life.

So potty training has taught me as a mother many things, the most important is to take a deep breath and let go of anything that doesn't heed importance at the end of the day, to enjoy my son (because being a mom is my biggest passion in life) To try and have more patience and understanding of the frustration and big changes my little man is going through. And to keep on keeping because after one hard stage comes another, no one said parenting was easy, but they certainly have never said it wasn't worth it in the end.