My dear Ruby,
Tomorrow is your very first day of kindergarten. You may or may not spend the whole day there, since you haven't met your new teacher or seen the classroom yet, we may just have a short visit then you'll spend a few hours playing at Mountain Valley school with your friends from last year before having your first official day on wednesday.
Frankly, I'm wracked with emotion about tomorrow. It's exciting, and scary, and wonderful. You're going to kindergarten!!! And the most amazing part is that you're going to kindergarten in underpants, not a diaper.
A few weeks ago I would have never thought you'd get here. We were having occasional success at home, but most of the time you just couldn't relax enough to pee on the potty. A huge amount of credit must go to your awesome and beloved preschool teacher Susan, who somehow convinced you to sit on the potty long enough to relax. (truth be told, the first day it was 2 hours) She had the patience and the magic to keep you there reading books and singing songs till you finally just let it go. The next day it took an hour and then that afternoon you jumped up, told me you had to go potty... and then you did. It was seriously magical.
After that, you had a pretty good success rate in the afternoons but the rest of the day it was too hard for you to focus on other things and make it to the potty in time. Then on my last day of work before we left for vacation our sitter was sick and you had to come down to the office with me for several hours. It was stressful and challenging, and still for some crazy reason I left you in underpants instead of putting you in a diaper. And lo and behold, half way through my 3rd patient you came running "I have to go potty!" ... and then you did. After that it was game on and you peed in the potty 3 more times before having an accident. Then next day was a travel day, and you wore a diaper on the plane, but asked to use the potty in the airport (where I am convinced that auto-flush toilets are the work of the devil and made to terrify people with autism and sensory issues) and as soon as we got to Grandma's house you went pee in the toilet (after chasing Leo around).
On our vacation in michigan you were pretty successful peeing in Grandma's potty, and one day you finally relaxed enough to pee at Uncle Kurt's house. Our very last day of vacation, you finally finally! peed in a public potty, at the children's museum and I thought I might cry. I didn't think you could top that.
Well, today you did. Since we've been home, you've had a couple of accidents, but managed to get most pees in the potty, only needing a diaper to sleep and for poops. Today you went for a long bike ride with your daddy, having an accident while picking blackberries then when you got home, you were playing on your iPad and told me you had to poop. You ran for the potty and sat down but nothing happened, after a few false starts you sat down and... you did it.
You pooped in the potty.
I have never been so happy to see a turd in the bowl, I was shocked and surprised and so proud that you finally figured it out, on your own terms, in your own time, just like Ruby always does. The day before you start kindergarten, you proved that you don't need diapers anymore. You're growing up by leaps and bounds and you amaze me.
You did it, kid. Nothing makes me happier than seeing your adorable bum in underpants, nothing more than sending you off to kindergarten in them.
I love you, I love you, I love you.
All day, every day, Mama
AWESOME Ruby! This letter made me cry tears of pure joy.
Oh The Places You Will Go...in Panties!!! Love, Nana
Posted by: Nana | September 06, 2011 at 05:20 AM