Milestones

Abby had made the decision a few nights ago that she no longer needed to wear her pull ups to bed. She was a big girl and she could sleep in her underwear. I wasn't quite sure how well this would go over since she doesn't always make it until morning with a dry bum. Not wanting to discourage her, I agreed. The first two nights went great. She woke up both nights around midnightish and asked to go to the bathroom and woke up each morning dry as a bone. The third night she hadn't woken up by the time I went to bed so I half woke her up and asked if she needed to pee. A sleepy no thanks Mommy was the reply. Of course in the morning she told anybody who would listen that she actually had needed to go to the bathroom, but I wouldn't take her. That night also happened to be a dry night.

So that brings us to last night. I tried to wake her up when I headed to bed, but she was in a coma. There was no waking that child for anything. I started out with some gentle nudges and soft talking and it progressed to tickling and rolling her from side to side. She just kept on snoring. There was nothing else I could do at that point, so I went to bed myself. She was either going to make it or she wouldn't . Fast forward to 3:30 am and I am jolted awake by Abby crying her head off in her bedroom. This was no disoriented-waking-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night crying. This was a full blown something's-wrong-I-need-Mommy-NOW cry. So I stumble bleary eyed across the hall and into her room. "I PEED MY BED!!" Is her horrified cry. I pick her up and settle us awkwardly on the floor. So there I am in the middle of the night sitting uncomfortably on my daughter's bedroom carpet, with her soaking wet bottom in my lap, with her and the baby squashing my bladder as I rock Abby trying to soothe her and hoping against hope that I don't pee my own pants.

"I have to go pee, " she announces after a minute or two of cuddling. Great now I have to get up off the floor and get us both downstairs...... quickly. Just doesn't seem possible in my current state. Somehow all the ruckus has managed to wake up Mike. Usually he sleeps through these late night crisises unless I shriek at him to get his ass out of bed and help me. When Mike appears, bleary eyed himself, at her doorway I offer her up to him saying she still has to go. In an effort to get her down to the bathroom quickly Mike very nearly takes her leg off on the newel post at the top of the stairs. Boy and I thought she was crying loud before. I'm pretty sure she woke some of our neighbours up after that.

So with the two of them off downstairs I change her bedding and head down myself to join the "festivities". Abby's calmed down a bit by now and feels better when she gets into clean dry jammies. After the whole family takes a turn on the potty we all head up back up to bed. I guess I've proven to Abby that I'm not to be trusted because she spends a moment or two patting down her bed, making sure the sheets are dry before she actually climbs in. Then it's back into bed for all of us. Of course by this point neither Mike or I can fall back to sleep. I finally managed to drift off just in time for the alarm to go off. Oh how I wished I was on mat leave already and didn't have to go to work this morning.

Abby is loving the glass slippers. The other morning she insisted on wearing them over to the sitter's, still in her jammies I might add. It was a very fashionable look. Now she's been asking me if she can wear them to church because they're just like Grandma's shoes. The first thing she does everyday when she gets home is take off her socks and shoes and put on the glass slippers. Then you can hear her clomp clomp clomping all over the house.

Stan, our heating/cooling man and log time friend of the family, was over to the house tonight to take some measurements before the new furnace goes in on Monday. He walked up behind Abby and gave her a little tickle. She turns around, all smiles, until she realizes it's not somebody she knows and off she runs to me. Mike and Stan carry on to the basement. "I don't like that man," she tells me very seriously which makes me laugh. Next she marches to the top of the basement stairs.

Abby: Mike. Mike!

Mike appearing at the bottom of the stairs: Yes.

Abby: I don't like that man!

By this time I was in tears I was laughing so hard. I don't think Stan took any offense, but I guess we'll know for sure when we get the bill!