Lets be blunt

I feel naked today because I dropped off my engagement and wedding ring at the jewelery shop to be tightened, cleaned, polished etc. and I always feel especially self-conscious not wearing my ring when I'm walking around with a belly sticking out. So what did I do? I went to a nail salon, a place where a lack of wedding ring is SURE to be noticed. But you know what? The technician didn't say anything about it, nor did she comment about my legs while doing my pedicure, which I realized with horror were sporting a good 3 days worth of stubble (it's hard to shave when Emily has decided showering with Mommy is super-fun). The technician DID ask how much we paid for our house though, so it wasn't that she was a super-discreet person. But come to think of it, the guy at the jewelery store asked me if Will and I had gone on a baby-making trip this time around like my mother-in-law told him we did the last time I got pregnant, so maybe bluntness was just going around today.

I have especially enjoyed making this particular errand day into a "Sara day" (Groceries? Bah! We don't need groceries! But look at my pretty nails!) because I have spent the last few days embroiled in potty training, and it has been harrowing. Emily has actually been amazing, yesterday she only wore a diaper while sleeping and the only accident we had was while she was at the gym daycare, and that was because she was terrified of the auto-flushing toilet in the daycare bathroom and chose to pee in her pants instead of sit on the big loud scary toilet. The daycare girls informed me that I could've draped a piece of toilet paper over the motion sensor on the toilet to keep it from flushing. Unfortunately they shared this information AFTER Emily had been reduced to a sobbing trembling heap, so yeah, I'll probably be sending her to daycare in pull-ups until she's 4. At least I'll be able to get in more than 10 minutes of workout before having to run back to daycare to check if Emily needs to use the potty (pssst...the answer is always "NO".)

But as well as she's doing, it's still a LOT of work for me. I have to take her to the bathroom every half hour or so, summon buckets of enthusiasm every time she pees in the potty, then clean and dry the potty so it's ready for its next go-round 25 minutes later. It is also just naturally more stressful to try to do ANYTHING, especially driving anywhere, because at any moment I could hear "Emmy PEED!" and then I will be back on here complaining again that I STILL don't remember how to take apart and clean Emily's carseat. It's actually way more work than just changing her diaper occasionally, especially when she wants to help pour her pee pee into the big potty and ends up dousing the floor with a Bjorn potty full of urine. I apparently have yet to learn that most child-related transitions (feeding Emily solid food, changing to a big-girl bed, potty training) SEEM like they'll save you tons of time and result in a more self-reliant child, but time and again I have to painfully realize that it is actually WAY more work before you get to the point where the child can feed themselves, put themselves to bed, use the potty unassisted etc.

But EVENTUALLY it will be less work, and that's what keeps me going.