Lots of Changes

Yesterday Jane told me she wanted to wear panties. The conversation went like this:
Me: Jane, let's change your bum.
Jane: I don't want to.
Me: We have to change your bum before we can eat breakfast. Do you want to eat breakfast?
Jane: Breakfast? Ummm, OK.
Me: Come here so I can change your bum.
Jane: No! No, No, No, No, No Mommy! Jane d-d-d-d-d-doesn't want to. (she's started stuttering lately)
Me: Jane, that sounds yucky! Talk nice please. (I say this a million times a day)
Jane: Pretty, pretty please!
Me: Say, "No thank you Mommy, I don't want to."
Jane: S-s-s-say no thank you Mommy, I don't want to change a bum.
Me: Oh that was very nice! Thank you Jane! Now I know you don't want to change your bum, but sometimes we have to do things we don't want to.
Jane: Mouse diaper? (Huggies have Micky Mouse. Emiline and Joey both have huggies right now, so Jane wants them to, she has Target brand or polka-dot diapers).
Me: We don't have mouse diapers for Jane.
Jane: Panties?

And in my brain I thought! Yay! Jane is wanting to potty train! Let's go for it! Woo Hoo! When, in actuality, she just wanted to NOT where a diaper.

But we took a whirl at potty training anyway and four wet pairs of elmo panties later with no successes, a missed nap (Jane's...and mine), and a tired, ornery mom I found myself dismantling Jane's crib. (She peed on her sheets, too, by the way). I didn't plan it and it wasn't like I didn't have other household jobs calling, nay SHOUTING, my name, but I just felt like I needed to push Jane along somehow into transitioning into being Big, that I needed to expect this of her. She's been going through this thing again where she wants me to carry her everywhere, but only when I'm holding the baby, I thought we had that licked. And the defiance and the whine were really ramping up again (although, she's ages better than she was pre-Zyrtec. Did I mention that the Doc put Jane on a nightly dose of Zyrtec for suspected allergies and she has been a different kid since?) And obviously potty training that day was a bust. And we need the crib for Emiline soon.

Then I went about finishing the bed rail that I had bought supplies for back in March. And, get this, Jane is scared of most loud appliance noises: blender, popcorn popper, hair dryer, vacuum (although we had a vacuum breakthrough the other day), but what does she do when she hears the jig saw or the drill power up? Comes running into the room and shouts "building!" She had a ball helping me unscrew the crib.

So yeah, Jane transitioned into the big girl bed with no fanfare and no problems so far (one full night and one full nap...) knock on wood! In the past when we have said Jane is a "big girl" she'd reply, "No. I Jane" or sometimes "no, I little." Tonight she told us she was "big Jane." So it seems like Jane is beginning to embrace this growing up phase of her life just a little bit more.

Cross your fingers.

Stay tuned for my next post: Now I understand why my mom cried when I cut my little sister's hair.