Little Baby T: Baptism & Potty Training

Baby John, Pat and Pop Pop outside the church

Here we all are listening to Reverend Cobb

John being baptized

Ella being baptized

Me, John, Jen and Ella. John was sweating and had already changed!

Today we had John and Ella baptized. It was a bittersweet day for the family; a day of mixed feelings for me. I felt so much joy and happiness that the kids were being baptized in the same church I was. But I couldn’t help but feel the pain of my mom'sabsence. She was there in spirit but it’s just not the same. Nothing is the same.

The babies behaved during the church service and even little Gracie (with the help of her Goldfish) was quiet. After the ceremony, we headed to brunch. Dave and I weren’t sure about this brunch because Gracie was on Day 2 of potty training. This was the first time we had been away from the house and came equip with the potty chair, M&M’s, stickers, and the Thomas the Train noise makers. But we were still nervous about her peeing in the middle of a restaurant. If any of you know Clarendon, parking is a pain. We parked several blocks from the restaurant and therefore decided to leave the potty-chair behind. Halfway through lunch, Gracie said she had to go potty. Jen and I took her back there where it was my job to hold her on top of this seemingly huge toilet. Grace is very independent lately and I am not her favorite person. Those two don’t mix and I was told, “I do it Mama, go away!” So I did and she fell in. An obvious unsuccessful potty attempt. (By the way, I didn’t just let her go. I did hold on ever so lightly but she still fell in. Oh well!)

Gracie hadn’t peed since 9 o’clock that morning and it was after 2. Now we had to make it the 45-minute drive home. As we were driving, Gracie asked for some water. Oh dear Lord, I hadn’t given the child anything to drink since we left the house that morning. No wonder she didn’t have to pee! Potty training by dehydration!!!! Poor baby. So we gave her some water and not 5 minutes later, we pulled off in Fairfax because she had to go. I’ve never loved my Explorer so much. We had a whole ladies room ready in the back. She sat and sat and nothing!!!! We raced home and no joke, she went in the potty about 5 times in the span of being home for 20 minutes. So far, so good.
Gracie showing Katie how to pee pee on the potty