Finally!

After months of struggling and more than a year of false alarms. . . we are pretty much diaper-free forever in the B household! (I'm not counting overnight yet.  Most mornings she wakes up about ten pounds heavier than the night before.  But we'll get there.)  Last Saturday out of the blue, she shocked me by saying she had to go--which she NEVER does.  She had a few accidents here and there over the weekend, and then went ALL week to daycare in big girl panties.  And every afternoon, she was wearing the same pants I dropped her off in!  No problems!  She's had one "oops" all week and that was only because she locked herself in Big Sis's room and couldn't get out.  Too bad that wasn't an easy one to clean up.  We'll leave it at that. . .  

We just got back from McDonald's to celebrate (Daddy tried to get her to pick a different place but no such luck.  Sorry, Daddy.  When you're a big girl you can pick the restaurant.)

And now I'm sitting here, feeling strangely sad.  Like so many other milestones, I couldn't wait.  I couldn't wait for that last box of diapers, and now almost literally overnight, she seems so big.  When I carry her, I love to pat her little bottom while I squeeze her.  I know this sounds crazy, but the other day, I missed patting that "diaper-bottom."  She quickly reassured me:  "It's o-tay, Mom.  It a panty-bottom now."  And I just smiled and squeezed her harder.  I've decided this is parenthood.  You wait impatiently for that next moment, just so you can mourn it passing and wonder why you were in such a hurry.  And why is it so hard?  Why is it so hard to see them change and grow and become these incredible people, when that's all we ever hope for?  

Being a big girl makes you hungry--this cup
was FULL of ice cream

Honestly, I'm thrilled that we're done with diapers.  I was getting tired of hearing from an almost three year old that I needed to change her.  Now.  Plus I had threatened to buy her diapers for her birthday so I guess I have just a few weeks to buy some toys instead.  :)  I'm still going to miss that diaper-bottom, but as I've said before, it would be far worse if she didn't get to grow up.  I need to spend lots of time appreciating that I can still hold her and squeeze her.  Before I know it, she'll be too big for my arms and I'll miss that cute little panty-bottom.