Catchin' Up: August

What happened in August in between those two beach trips was somewhat uneventful, but I'll share a few, (mostly cell phone)  photos that capture some of our "everyday."

I think this one was actually from July, but it's cute and sweet.  My girl and sunflowers.

She loves loves loves to swing.  In fact, lately her nighttime prayers have been starting out, "Dear God, thank you for my swing."

And her backyard and woods behind our house, in general.  This afternoon she was taking her puppy ("Ralph") on an adventure.

 Choosing a book to read to Rufus...

Playing dress up (Don't mind the giant basket of unfolded laundry in the background.  That's a constant in this house.)...

She started eating cheerios.  In a bowl.  With milk.  And a spoon.  LIKE A GROWN HUMAN.

We spent lots of time at the local park, sometimes with friends and sometimes with just us.  (And apparently she wore that pink dress a lot.  Not sure why it's in every picture of this post.  I promise they weren't all the same day!)

And I soaked up many days of these snuggles which she still gives me almost every day at naptime.

 

We went on a grown-up double date to Carowinds with our friends the Lindseys and rode coasters like it was 1995.  And we sported awesome fanny packs while we did it.

 We picked blueberries with Chloe and Aunt Wendi (resident blueberry picking experts)

And we POTTY TRAINED!  (One of the best parenting tips I've ever received in my life is to keep a potty in the back of the van.  I highly recommend.)

I guess that was our biggest accomplishment of August.  I felt like Clara was "ready" for awhile now, but I was hesitant to go all in because I'm a teeeeeeeeny bit type A and I kind of only wanted to do it if we were going to have a unrealistically fairly high success rate.  I've always been of the philosophy that if the kid is really ready to potty train, it should happen relatively quickly and if they're not, then forget it.  Well, two and a half days into my "three day potty training boot camp" I said, "forget it."  She was peeing every thirty minutes which is clearly not sustainable and having accidents without showing ANY care for it.  I was D-O-N-E.  And of course, because she's Clara, the minute I gave up she responded with, "Hey, that's cool.  Now that I'm calling the shots and this is gonna be on my terms, I'll go for it."  And didn't have another accident for the rest of the week.

I can't say that streak of perfection continued forever, but overall it was an extremely painless and overwhelming successful potty training experience.  Just one more reason I'm thankful she's a girl.

And with that all done, it was time to head back to the beach again!  Next up: Labor Day Beach!