We are officially potty training! We were hoping to start over the weekend so that Jared could be around to take it in shifts or get Jack out of the house if the going got tough. But Alice had other plans. She was so excited to have her potty seat arrive, and so intent on pulling off her diapers constantly, that we ended up starting on Tuesday. She took the reigns entirely. I was still dragging my feet, hoping to wait until Jared could be home on the weekend. I needn't have worried though--she basically potty trained herself. She didn't have a single accident the first two days. She went both ways in the potty and even had some successful outings. I didn't pump her full of liquids. I didn't need to use any rewards. I didn't set a timer and give her constant reminders to go. She would just wait until she felt the need, yell "frog!" or "potty!" and run herself to the bathroom. Our biggest problems those first few days were (a) she is very independent and wanted to do 100% of the wiping herself, and (b) she was very upset when we changed her out of her undies and into a pull up to sleep (she's still in a crib--we tried transitioning her out of the crib this week but it was just too much change at once).
We've had one or two accidents since then, but overall she's doing great. I know it'll be a few months before things feel easier without diapers than they did with. (I forgot about needing to keep a car potty handy and being aware of where the nearest restroom is on every outing, and having backup clothes in case of an accident.) But she's excited to be taking on this milestone and we are so proud of her. We love our Alice Lark. And now some photos from our week:
^^Something happened this week that has been good and bad at the same time. We discovered a new-build neighborhood in Highland in our price range. We originally had written Highland off because Jared's commute is already long enough and we thought it would add an extra 10 minutes. But we discovered the commuter lane going from the freeway straight to Highland, and it looks like it would only add 4-5 minutes to his commute after all. And we also feel there's a good chance he'll be able to transfer to Lehi at some point. So with all of that knowledge, and the fact that the schools in Highland are the best in the valley, we decided to casually check out the neighborhood.
Fortunately/unfortunately, we love the neighborhood. LOVE it. It feels quiet and safe. There is an enormous grassy park across the street, complete with a scrub oak forest with a winding creek and trails through the middle. You can follow the trail for a mile and end up in the mountains, with even more trees and trails branching off from there and spectacular views. The park has an enormous disc golf course going through it, long walking paths, incredible views, a huge grassy bowl that would be so fun for football in the summer and sledding in the winter. The neighborhood has such a lovely, homey feel about it. However. The new build community is at the very end of its construction, with no new phases forecast for at least the next several years. There are only three more lots available, and only one of them will have a floorplan on it that we're interested in. The lot is nothing to get excited about. No views, no big yard, but it is right across the street from this incredible park, and the house itself is lovely.
We are feeling torn because we have been dreaming of and envisioning our lives in a specific home in the new-build neighborhood going up right next door to where we're currently living in Lehi. The schools and neighborhood feel aren't quite as nice as in Highland, but we do
really like the floorplan, and the views over here in the Lehi neighborhood on the hill are truly unbeatable. It feels like mountain living. With that, the road conditions in winter and the wind are a little worse in the Lehi neighborhood than they would be in Highland. So basically, ya, we're torn. I almost
wish we had never discovered the Highland possibility, because then we'd be totally content going forward with our Lehi plans and never know we were missing out on anything. In fact, the Highland neighborhood might not end up being possible anyway, seeing as there's only one lot left we'd even be interested in and it sounds like there are multiple other buyers interested in it as well. We'd have to decide to jump in with two feet immediately within the next few days, and we don't want to rush a decision this big. So. Wish us luck. We will be praying and pondering and house touring a lot this week to end up in the right house/neighborhood for our family.
^^Alice is still on her cooking grind. This week she had a sample of the raw beef from our bolognese right out of the pot. She said, "Yummy!" And I said, "Sis. You're done."
^^Sledding with grandpa on some pretty bad snow. But it checked the box and killed an hour when Jack came home on Thursday and reminded me he had a 4-day weekend ahead of him.
I promise there is another child living in our home who I do take pictures of!! But Jack is off at school during the days, and he's having fewer developmental milestones at his current age than Alice is, so I don't have as many pictures of him on my phone. I will try and turn that around. Until next week! Hopefully with updates and a final decision about where our next home will be!
