Update 1 on the "Pee Pee Protest"

As I mentioned last Sunday, Aa. had been having a pee pee in her pants day and Mommy has to be near me day. I had surmised that it might have stemmed from having her routine interrupted by the whole family being together and not doing many formal activities . I also posed the question, could it have something to do with Daddy? It may be a bit of the former, but it seems to be shaping up to be more of the latter. Poor Daddy! He made it home in time Tuesday night to put her in bed. If he's here he gets her ready for bed and does the whole bedtime routine with her. As soon as he arrived home she peed in her pants! Then later when they were saying good-night and came to talking about what she was grateful for that day she made a point of telling him she wasn't grateful for him. He asked her if she was mad at him and she affirmed Yes. He asked me to come and talk with her about it but she would not elaborate with either of us. I discussed it with my friend Jen from MontessoriBeginnings and she suggested that maybe she is upset at not receiving as much attention from me while my husband is home. Whatever it is, we've decided to dedicate one day per weekend as Daddy Day where they will spend exclusive time alone together without Mommy around. They can recapture some close moments like the one below. I'm now excited for them and for me as well! What will I do with my free time! What won't I do is a better question!

A Pee Pee Protest?

It's 11:00 pm and I'm exhausted! It's a weekend and when Aa.'s daddy is home on weekends the familiar schedule with it's comforting and orderly activities gets tossed out the window. I'm beginning to see how this change within the week affects Aa. more now that she's increasingly exerting her 2 year old will.

A. has been out of diapers in her waking hours and consistently using the potty or toilet for the last 8 months. She attends a montessori preschool for 3 hours 2 mornings a week. At school she goes to the bathroom by herself which includes pulling down her pants and underwear, using the potty, wiping, pulling her clothes back on, turning on the taps, washing her hands with soap, rinsing her hands, turning off the taps, and drying her hands. At home I was still under the impression that she needed help with a few of these steps due to Aa.'s frustration level when attempting or not attempting them. Once I found out about her independence at school I decided to take a little harder line on giving her independence in the bathroom so I've been encouraging her to do it all by herself for the last week. All was going quite well until this weekend; 10 pairs of wet underwear and pants today alone, countless screams of "NO" and tantrums relating to mommy not being right beside her in the bathroom. I guess at school she wants to be like everyone else and at home to be our loved little baby girl. Or, does it have something to do with daddy? She rarely sees him during the week so maybe it's a protest when he's around. Time will tell and we'll get through this hurdle.